Across the Border: Woolloomooloo: Food: Lanzafame

Every now and then I have a craving for pizza. 

Not the thick, oily crust type of pizza, covered in glue-like cheese. 

When I crave, I want real Italian pizza with minimal toppings but strong flavours. 

And my absolute favourite pizza treat in the neighbourhood is Lanzafame. 

Lanzafame was where I invited my friends to celebrate my birthday last year, and where I often go with my friend, Ruby, for pre-show or early dinners, because it costs just $15 for a pizza and a glass of wine during lunch and between 6-7pm. That must be the most inexpensive meal in Sydney.

Lanzafame is hidden away down the hill on Crown Street on the northern side of William Street.

It's rather obscure location with its lack of foot traffic, means that I never have a problem procuring a table as the restaurant is often quite empty.

I don't mind that at all, because it means Ruby and I can relax, drink our wine and enjoy the peace and quiet.

There's a large area inside, as well as an "outdoor area" which we booked for a fairly large group for Ruby's birthday last weekend. We ate early so everyone paid just $15, plus any other drinks they had. Bargain! Lanzafame also does gluten-free pizza bases, so people with coeliac disease can enjoy the normally forbidden food.

Ruby had wanted to host the party at her house but because her apartment is fairly small, there was no way we would all fit inside comfortably.

Lanzafame was perfect because we had the entire area outside, with one long table and a few lounges on the end, where a couple of the smokers in the party could go and have a fag. It was so relaxed, Ruby didn't have to wash up, and the waiter really looked after us.

The restaurant is owned by John Lanzafame, who was the chap that made Hugo's Lounge, on Bayswater Road in Kings Cross, famous for its pizza. 

John Lanzafame also won an international pizza cook-off in the United States, so can lay claim to the title of "World's Best Pizza Champion".

John Lanzafame comes from an Italian background, so apart from pizza, there are a range of pastas, risottos and lovely Italian entrees and desserts. The tiramisu is a delight, but I've never tried anything else on the menu, because I can't even finish an entire pizza, and would never be able to squeeze any more food in.

My absolute favourite pizza is the mushroom one (above). It has nothing but mushrooms, cheese and a dash of chili. I'm also partial to Lanzafame's ham and pineapple pizza (pineapple being a great Australian addition) and I adore the rocket and parmesan salad:

John Lanzafame has also two published cookbooks: one is devoted entirely to pizza, Pizza Modo Mio, while the other is a collection of Italian recipes, Family Italian, which includes these yummy looking asparagus fritters:

On Saturday night, our friend Lucas was keen to try the Italian doughnuts on the menu, but after devouring his pizza had no more appetite, so I very naughtily copied down the recipe from Family Italian.

I don't think John Lanzafame will mind too much if I share it with you here:

John Lanzafame's doughuts (sfingi)

Ingredients:

7gm dried active yeast

3 teaspoons caster (superfine) sugar, plus extra for dusting

500gm self-raising flour, sifted

150gm sultanas

canola oil, for deep frying

Method:

Combine the yeast, a pinch of the sugar and 250m warm water in a small bowl and stand for 10 minutes or until foaming.

Meanwhile, place the flour, sultanas, remaining sugar and a pinch of salt in a large bowl and combine well. Make a well in the centre, pour in the yeast mixture, 150ml water and stir until a wet dough forms. Allow the dough to stand for 40 minutes of until nearly doubled in size.

Heat the oil in a large deep saucepan or deep-fryer to 160 degrees Celsius, or until a cube of bread dropped in the oil browns in 30 seconds. Carefully drop 2 tablespoons of the mixture into the hot oil, making sure not to overcrowd the pan. Cook for 4-6 minutes or until golden all over and cooked in the centre. They should have the texture of a thick sponge. Remove using tongs and drain on absorbent paper. While still hot, dust with sugar and serve immediately.

And now I am craving hot Italian doughnuts.

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Lanzafame

88 Crown Street

Woolloomooloo NSW 2011

02 9331 8881

www.lanzafame.com.au

Across the Border: Surry Hills: Street Art: A&M Perkal Bros

For decades this terrace house (on the right) at 386 Crown Street has been home to a small family business, A&M Perkal Bros, makers of surgical and bespoke footwear. I have never had the need for any such footwear thankfully, but I always notice the building when I walk by because it is covered in old-fashioned hand-painted advertising signs. 

The wall of the building on the Albion Street side also had one which seemed to be positioned without much thought or strategy, just simply wherever the sign-painter chose to pull out his brush one day many, many years ago. It read simply: Perkal Bros, Surgical and Bespoke Bootmakers. It always made me laugh thinking about surgical footwear and what exactly that might entail.

Then a few weeks ago, maybe a month or more, a street artist hit the wall with a bright purple, pink, yellow and green stencil piece featuring a city skyline. It was genuinely impressive, but oh, so badly placed: right over the old Perkal Bros sign. Bad move, I thought as I walked by shaking my head in dismay.

Well someone else obviously felt the same way and took action. They covered the piece in white paint, as you can see in the photograph above. 

You can even see the fury they were driven by, as the white paint begins in large brush strokes and ends with the contents of the paint bucket being splashed at the wall. Take that.

So thank the archive gods for google maps street view, for here is an online record of the original Perkal Bros sign:

Anyway, if you happen to need some surgical footwear, details here:

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A&M Perkal Bros

386 Crown Street

Surry Hills NSW 2010

02 9331 3692

Darlinghurst Blog: Food: Jazz City Diner

The things I do for this blog. The sacrifices I make. For you, dear reader, I went to the 50s themed Jazz City Diner on Crown Street and ordered possibly the most fattening concoction I have ever consumed. The things we do for love. 

It was an ominous evening: the night when school student Madeleine Pulver, from Mosman, in Sydney's north, had a fake bomb clamped to her neck. 

I was desperate for news and spent most of the evening checking Twitter for updates to see if the NSW Police bomb disposal unit had managed to remove the suspected explosive device. 

Sitting with me in the booth at the shiny laminex-topped table were my old chum, Ruby Molteno, writer Peter Pigeon and a filmmaker who I like to call Double-O-7.

They were talking film, I was checking my Twitter account, and at some point I ordered the craziest thing on the menu.

The Jazz City Diner opened earlier this year and is just like a set from that old American TV show, Happy Days. Except there was no Fonz. There's just chefs in 50s style peaked caps and waitresses in pink diner-dresses with cutesy aprons and name badges. 

The room is kitted out with chrome trimmed tables and chairs and Cab Calloway's 1947 film track, Hi-De-Ho, was streamed through speakers and broadcast on small, retro-looking screens mounted on the walls. 

The menu is as American as apple pie, except there is no apple pie. Instead there is Banana Cream Pie with caramel drizzle ($12) or Pecan Pie with butter pecan ice cream ($10). 

On the savoury side are burgers, such as The Ultimate Texas Chili Cheese Burger with Texas-style spicy beef chili, guacamole, jalapeno, fried tortilla chips and cumin cream ($20) or Specialties, including Seafood Jambalaya, a spicy rice dish with an assortment of seafood, New Orleans andouille sausage and a sauce piquant ($28). 

The menu also has a Soups, Salads and Sides section that features Macaroni and Cheese ($12) and a Fried Green Tomato Salad with mixed greens and herbs and the choice of a buttermilk, green goddess or blue cheese dressing ($16). 

I would have loved to order a beer, but the diner isn't licensed, so I could only have an A&W-brand root beer ($5), while Ruby had a Jarritos-brand lime soda ($4.50). There are also milkshakes for a whopping $10 and ice cream sodas or spiders for $8. 

Double-O-7's meal was the first to come out of the kitchen and didn't look all that healthy. He only ordered the Jamaican Jerk Chicken Wings with onion rings and a citrus dipping sauce ($20; below) because he is obsessed with James Bond, and author Ian Fleming had a home in Jamaica called GoldenEye, which Double-O-7 made a pilgrimage to last year.

The dipping sauce for the wings came in a weird little toothpaste-style tube:

Ruby and Pigeon both ordered burgers ($15-$20), which they were very happy with. The burgers came with sweet potato fries, which was one of the few nods to healthy eating on the menu. Although I don't think they are that healthy, but possibly better for you than regular potato chips. Ruby's burger had a ground beef patty as well as Swiss brown mushrooms sauteed with caramelised onions and a ''blue cheese foam''.

But what you really want to know is what I ate. 

I had the Chicken and Waffles dish, which included a Belgian waffle, southern fried chicken pieces, spinach, chicken stock reduction and maple syrup ($18; below). 

It was quite bizarre and I wasn't really convinced about eating mouthfuls of chicken and waffle, so instead ate it as if it were two meals. First course: savoury chicken. Second course: sweet waffles. In that sense, it was quite well priced because I didn't have to bother with dessert. I don't recall the chicken stock reduction at all and the ''spinach'' was just the tiniest mound:

It's not something I would ever eat again, but I thought you, dear reader, would want to see what such a dish looked like - as I did. As for Madeleine Pulver, the bomb was declared a fake around midnight.

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Jazz City Diner

238 Crown Street

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

02 9332 2903

www.jazzcitydiner.com

Across the Border: Surry Hills: Bars: Yulli's

I was looking forward to a middy of New at my favourite Surry Hills pub on Thursday night and was already in the door when my friend, Eames Periwinkle said, ''Let's keep going, there's a new pub around the corner''. 

I looked longingly at the tap of New - yes, I have bogan beer tastes - and then reluctantly followed my friend back out in to a humid Surry Hills evening. 

"So, what's this new pub?'' I asked as we set off down Crown Street.

"They sell beer, you'll like it,'' he said.

''But is it expensive, because I'm a bit broke,'' I said.

''Don't worry, you'll like it and the bar man is really nice. He is the nicest bar man in Surry Hills.''

So with that in mind, I carried on with him down the street and then just across the road from the Clock Hotel, we pulled in to the door of Yulli's. 

I don't know what young Eames's definition of a pub is, but Yulli's is actually more of a bar and restaurant. As we walked inside, the place was full of people eating. There was food being devoured everywhere. 

But you don't have to eat if you don't want to.

Eames headed straight to the bar and ordered two Stone and Wood draught ales, which are brewed in Byron Bay. It was all a bit fancy pants and at $6.80 for a beer, I was wistfully thinking of my $3 middy, but then Eames introduced me to The Nicest Bar Man in Surry Hills.

Karl Cooney managed bars in the Sydney CBD before he and his girlfriend opened up Yulli's about a year ago. Cooney was shockingly unpretentious for a Sydney bar owner and hastily made us welcome by re-arranging some outdoor tables and chairs so we could enjoy the balmy night air.

Yulli's has one large main room, the footpath tables where we sat, as well as a narrow, open air alley out the back. 

I hastily settled in to my footpath spot where Eames and I efficiently knocked back about three or four beers. I suspect the alcohol content in a Stone and Wood draught ale is much higher than in the old New. 

Eames had to leave after that but his seat was smoothly taken by another friend, Jayne Green, who had just arrived back in Sydney after a day on the road and was urgently in need of beer. So she joined me for another Stone and Wood.

Wisely we also decided to order some food and Cooney magically appeared on cue with some menus and suggestions. His first recommendation was for the Salt and Pepper Tofu, served with a green papaya salad ($15.50).

The tofu was deliciously crunchy on the outside and was so yummy with the sweet and sour papaya salad. 

The Yulli's menu ranges in price from $12.50 for Steamed Leak and Ginger Dumplings with fresh plum sauce, up to $17.50 for Eggplant Involtini, which is basically grilled eggplant, stuffed with buffalo mozzarella and spinach, topped with lemongrass and tomato sauce. 

There's also a yummy sounding Porcini Mushroom and Haloumi Pizza with kalamata olives, topped with rocket ($16.50), or Zucchini Flowers Stuffed with Hazelnut Ricotta, served with chili mayo, wasabi mayo and balsamic ($13.50). 

It was only after much indecision about what to order and after consulting with Cooney that we learned the menu was exclusively vegetarian. How's that for a novelty? I must tell my vego friend, Sarah Allely, of Billie Bites fame. 

In fact, after Cooney told us it was all vego, I begged him to put Sarah's Pecan and Tofu Sausage Rolls on the menu. But while Cooney is The Nicest Bar Man in Surry Hills, he leaves the chef job to someone else. 

We also ordered some dumplings that were on the specials board. They were fried and delicious, but I can't remember what was in them or how much they cost. Too much Stone and Wood I suspect.

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Yulli's Bar and Restaurant

417 Crown Street

Surry Hills NSW 2010

02 9319 6609

www.yullis.com.au

Darlinghurst: Food: The Owl House

Night owls who don't like night clubs are hooting it up in Darlinghurst and the surrounding suburbs at the moment thanks to the City of Sydney council's new liquor laws, which make it easier for cafes to gain licenses to serve alcohol. 

Small bars with loads of character and cute names are popping up everywhere. For starters Darlinghurst has Pocket Bar (13 Burton Street), Ching A Lings (133 Oxford Street) and the Shady Pines Saloon (5/256 Crown Street), while Surry Hills has the Absinthe Salon (87 Albion Street) and Potts Point has Velluto (50 Macleay Street) amongst others.

Even so, I still miss Barons!

The Owl House opened less than a fortnight ago, sandwiched between a brothel and a gym-clothes shop on the William Street end of Crown Street.

My friend Ruby Molteno is a dedicated night owl, so when she spotted The Owl House last week, she was determined we go and visit and see if this new bar was perhaps her spiritual home. The only problem is The Owl House is only open to midnight, which doesn't seem very night-owlish at all.

The Owl House is spread across two floors with a ten-seater bar taking up most of the space downstairs, while upstairs there is a room with a mix of communal seating areas, tables for two or four and a small veranda that can seat two couples.

I like being where the action is, so we each grabbed a bar stool at the downstairs bar and set to work perusing the cute homemade menu that was held together with a length of wool.

The Owl House is owned by former New Yorker Amir Halpert and former Brit Paul Coulli, with chef Ruddy Nurkoo making North African inspired tapas. 

Surprisingly, The Owl House did not take advantage of the new liquor laws and instead holds a restaurant license because, Amir told us, he wants the emphasis to be on good food and drink, rather than booze alone. 

There are about a dozen items on the menu, which starts at $5 for a bowl of mixed olives and goes to $16 for a braised lamb shoulder in red wine with baby vegetables and chat potatoes.

We wanted to order the steamed zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta and mint, over crushed peas ($8) and the braised chicken drumsticks on apricot, pistachio and coriander cous cous ($14). But they were both sold out. 

Luckily, they still had the garlic prawns, pan-fried in white wine and roasted garlic butter ($13):

And the portobello mushroom stuffed with ricotta, porcini, served with rocket yoghurt foam and balsamic glaze ($9):

As well as the Shakshuka, a mix of fried tomato and capsicum, baked with quail eggs and served with Iggy's sourdough bread ($9):

That's Amir laughing in the photograph above, because he thought he was escaping the prying lens of my camera. When not mixing drinks Amir doubled as happy, welcoming and talkative host. Ruby and I were having a jolly good time too because the food was excellent and the service even better.

One of my pet hates is flat sparkling wine. You can't imagine the number of times, stony-faced bar staff have filled my glass with the dregs of the bottle and then expected me to not only pay for it, but to drink it too. Flat sparking wine = migraine. 

There is no way I am touching the stuff and I always feel insulted when bar staff pour me a glass of flatness and don't even seem to notice. That inevitably means I have to ask them kindly to please pour me a fresh glass, which always seems to bother them, as if they can't see what is wrong with it in the first place. And it makes me appear as if I am some annoying, complaining hag, when all I want is the drink I am paying for.

My other pet drinking hate is when they pour wine from two bottles in to the one glass. Argh! Don't mix it, I almost yell. 

Anyway, I was so happy when Amir poured me a glass of sparkling wine, realised it was flat, and then immediately tossed it down the sink and opened a fresh bottle. I didn't have to say anything and I was so grateful for that. So The Owl House receives ten out of ten from me.

The other reason for their immaculate score, is their immaculate bathrooms. You can always judge a place on the cleanliness of their bathrooms:

Outside the door to the upstairs toilet was this cute little scene featuring an old fashioned laptop:

Inside the bathroom there was a book and cactus theme:

You must also visit The Owl House bathroom to see this view:

Another good reason to visit The Owl House and sit at the downstairs bar is for a bit of gossip about the neighbourhood. I love Darlinghurst gossip and information gleaned from business owners, who always seem to be the first to know about new developments in the neighbourhood. 

Amir told us that a new Woolworths is opening in the old City Ford building on the Woolloomooloo side of Crown Street. If that is true, it's quite good news for the residents of Darlinghurst Flats, who either have to walk up the hill to Coles in Kings Cross or go to the IGA in the Oxford Square shopping centre for their groceries.

I immediately set to work online, checking the City of Sydney council's development applications and approvals as well as the website for the Department of Planning, which approves major projects. But neither contained any applications from Woolworths or approvals for the Crown Street site:

Anyway, we will know soon enough as City Ford has already vacated the building and I doubt Woolworths will waste any time moving in and putting the $elf-$ervice check-outs to work.

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The Owl House

97 Crown Street

Darlinghurst NSW 2010

02 9357 5060