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

Darlinghurst: Detritus: Flying Dream

I had a dream last night that I was flying above Sydney. 

I came in from the harbour and soared over Woolloomooloo.

I wanted to fly home to my bed but the wind was strong and my wings weren't powerful enough. So I glided downwards where I was protected by tall buildings and I flew along the streets back towards Darlinghurst, round the bend of Cowper Wharf Road, over Wylde and on up to William Street.

It was a strange flight. 

The streets were deserted and looked more like they had been torn from the pages of a three-dimensional street directory.

Darlinghurst did not look the same.
Many buildings were missing and there were deep holes in the ground. 

My apartment had vanished, so I flew on, looking for signs of life. 

Even at Central Station and Hyde Park there was no one to be seen. 

So I flew back towards the harbour, from where I had come; over the Opera House I flew and continued on out towards the Pacific Ocean.

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Darlinghurst: Detritus: NSW State Election 2011

In case you hadn't noticed there is a state election coming up in 10 days. Power poles around Darlinghurst and Sydney are covered in placards featuring the grinning faces of those who wish to represent our neighbourhood's needs on a state level, while on the streets politicians and would-be politicians are handing out flyers in a bid to win our votes.

Last weekend Kings Cross Markets at Fitzroy Gardens was full of pollies. Outgoing NSW Premier Kristina Keneally wandered around the gardens with a bunch of NSW Police's finest and Sydney Lord Mayor and State Member for Sydney, Clover Moore. There was also a couple of people handing out fliers for the Australian Sex Party's candidate Andrew Patterson. 

It doesn't seem as heady as it was in the lead-up to the federal election in September last year, when you could barely walk through the gardens without being harassed by Malcolm Turnbull, but the state pollies are putting up a good enough fight.

Without revealing my personal political preferences, Christian Democrats candidate Peter Madden would be wise to crawl back in to whatever dark and damp place on earth he emerged from.

Darlinghurst is in the Seat of Sydney, which covers an area of about 91sqkm of the CBD and the inner east and includes suburbs such as Pyrmont, Ultimo, Chippendale, Surry Hills, Edgecliff, Woollahra and all islands in Sydney Harbour. 

Ms Moore has held the seat since 1988, when it was known as Bligh. The seat was renamed Sydney in 2007 when it gained the CBD in a redistribution. Ms Moore has also held the office of Lord Mayor since 2004.

The City of Sydney remains a very safe seat for Moore with a 16.6 per cent margin over Labor. 

So who are the alternatives and what are their policies? Here is a quick potted look at the five main candidates for the seat. Click on the candidates's names to visit their websites.

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Clover Moore, Independent

I know that Ms Moore likes dogs and cycleways, but I can't find a list of policies or election promises on her website. I received one of her pamphlets in the mail but it only talks about the things she has done in the past, which date back to 1993 and include the introduction of the Same Sex Adoption Bill, changes to the liquor licensing laws to encourage small bars, and some changes to strata legislation.

Sacha Blumen, NSW Labor

Mr Blumen has lived in Sydney for 10 years, holds a doctorate in pure mathematics, is a national energy policy advisor and a past president of the 2011 Residents's Association. He presently lives in Elizabeth Bay. His vision for Sydney includes reducing alcohol-related violence, campaigning for marriage equality and introducing early intervention programs for people experiencing homelessness. 

''I stand for a Sydney that is an even better place to live, has a full time voice in parliament and is diverse and inclusive,'' he writes on his election material. 

''This is my vision for the Sydney I love.''

Mr Blumen also supports a national price on carbon. He has taken aim at Ms Moore by promising to be a full-time MP and says he wants to reclaim community rights to appeal State Government development decisions.

Adrian Bartels, NSW Liberal

Mr Bartels is just 33 and a mortgage broker with his own Potts Point-based business, Bartels Property Finance. He was raised on Sydney's north shore and moved to the city electorate 14 years ago. Mr Bartels is the chairman of the Potts Point Partnership, which supports local businesses. He is opposed to the demolition and re-development of Fitzroy Gardens. 

Mr Bartels also promises to be a full-time MP, unlike Ms Moore, who juggles positions. As part of the new wave of Liberal thinking, he believes in climate change science and wants an investment in renewable energy technology to create jobs for Sydney. Mr Bartels also wants a whole of government approach to managing late night areas and reducing alcohol-related violence. 

De Brierley Newton, NSW Greens

Ms Brierley Newton was born and raised in Sydney and is the former head of the Billy Blue School of Graphic Art. She presently runs a communications and advertising consultancy, but promises to be a full-time MP and to run for ''the people of Sydney and not corporations''. 

Ms Brierley Newton wants to extend the city's light rail from Central to Circular Quay and the new suburb of Barangaroo, as well as introducing high speed rail between Sydney and other capital cities. She wants greater investment in renewable energy technology and promises to protect the city's food supply by zoning land on the Sydney fringes as agricultural, so that it can't be developed. 

Andrew Patterson, Australian Sex Party

Mr Patterson spent 13 years with the Western Australia Police, working up to Detective Sergeant and specialising in child protection and the adult industry. He was a former chief investigator with the NSW Independent Commission Against Corruption and presently works as an internal ombudsman with the Waringah Council in the city's northern suburbs. He lives in Ultimo. 

Mr Patterson joined the Australian Sex Party last year because he is a strong believer in civil liberties, and holds a masters in ethics and legal studies. He wants to extend trial ethics classes to all public schools, introduce voluntary euthanasia laws and stop police sniffer dogs in venues and on the streets. Mr Patterson also advocates for the decriminalisation of drugs for personal use and wants drug use to be treated as a health issue and not a criminal one. He also wants to extend the use of drug injecting rooms beyond Kings Cross. The party would also campaign for 24-hour weekend public transport and would argue against internet filtering. 

Peter Madden, Christian Democrat Party

Mr Madden is the director of Heal Our Land Ministries, a frightening religious cult. He claims to be a former sex addict so, naturally, he is now anti-prostitution and wants to halve the number of brothels in Sydney over the next eight years. Mr Madden wants to move Mardis Gras off the streets and in to a stadium, as a bid to curb teenage binge drinking and teenage pregnancy. I really don't want to waste any more time on this bozo, so if you are interested in his polices, visit his website. That's him on the right, with CDP leader Fred Nile. 

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Election day is Saturday March 26. Polling places open from 8am to 6pm. 

Polling places in Darlinghurst include St John's Church Hall, Darlinghurst Public School, St Vincent's Hospital and St Peter's Church Playhouse (Forbes Street). 

For more details about pre-polling and enrolling, visit the Australian Electoral Commission's Vote NSW website:

http://www.votensw.info/

Darlinghurst: Public Transport: Village to Village Bus

If you have been reading My Darling Darlinghurst for a while, you may know about my passion for the 311 Bus; that wonder on wheels that glides through the suburb like a phantom. Sometimes you see it, sometimes you don't, sometimes you can hail it, but most of the time it never appears and you are left wondering if the 311 ever existed at all. 

But while I love the 311 Mystery Bus, recently a new people-mover has been vying for my patronage. The Village to Village Bus runs through the neighbourhood on Thursdays and Fridays. It begins its route down at the Mary Macdonald Activity Centre on Bourke Street, Woolloomooloo and then moves up through Kings Cross, Darlinghurst and on to Central Station and Redfern.

So it traverses much the same route as the 311 but unlike the 311, the Village to Village Bus costs absolutely nothing for a ride. Yes, it's hard to believe, but some things in life are still free. 

So now, at the end of the week while going to work, instead of seeing this:

I see this:

It's a much cosier ride and the driver is really chatty. Because it is a small bus, whenever I catch it, I feel like I am part of some weird church group or school student going off on a day trip to the museum. It definitely has that community bus vibe about it. The bus takes the community route too, stopping at St Vincent's Hospital:

The Village to Village Bus first began spinning its wheels through the streets of Sydney in 2007, with a limited route between Redfern, the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital on the outskirts of Newtown, and inner city Glebe. 

It is run by the South Sydney Community Transport group and funded by the City of Sydney council as a means for residents without cars to connect to shops, health care and other services. 

The Woolloomooloo to Redfern service, which I catch, was established in 2008 and last year they extended the route to include Onslow and Billyard avenues in Elizabeth Bay. 

The council committed a further grant of $36,000 in the last budget to keep the service going. But I imagine they won't continue the funding unless people catch it, so if you happen to see it cruising along, make sure you flag it down and go for a free ride. 

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Village to Village Bus

Every Thursday and Friday

Woolloomooloo to Redfern

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TIMETABLE 

(use the times as a guide to the stops in between)

TRIP ONE:

8am: Mary Macdonald Activity Centre 

8.15am: St Vincent's Hospital

8.45am: Poets Corner, Redfern

TRIP TWO:

9.45am: Mary Macdonald Activity Centre

10am: St Vincent's Hospital

10.30am: Poets Corner, Redfern

TRIP THREE:

11.30am: Mary Macdonald Activity Centre 

11.45am: St Vincent's Hospital

12.15pm: Poets Corner, Redfern

TRIP FOUR:

1.30pm: Mary Macdonald Activity Centre 

1.45pm: St Vincent's Hospital

2.15pm: Poets Corner, Redfern

TRIP FIVE:

3.15pm: Mary Macdonald Activity Centre 

3.30pm: St Vincent's Hospital

4pm: Poets Corner, Redfern

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The Village to Village bus stops at most of the usual bus stops.

There are also four trips in the reverse direction. 

Timetables are available from the bus and from the council's website here.

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www.ssct.org.au

Across the Border: Woolloomooloo: Food: Harry's Cafe de Wheels

Harry Edwards first operated a pie shop out of a caravan at Woolloomooloo in the 1930s, right outside the gates of the Garden Island Naval Base. Edwards closed the caravan in 1938 to join the Australian Imperial Forces fighting in the Middle East during World War 2.

When Edwards returned to Sydney in 1945 he was disappointed to discover that the city hadn't changed and you still couldn't ''get a good feed late at night''. 

Edwards opened up his caravan again and it has been selling pies from a spot east of the wharf on Cowper Wharf Road in Woolloomooloo ever since. 

The caravan pie shop was initially just called Harry's but council regulations required mobile food vans to move at least 12 inches each day. So wheels were a necessity, and the pie shop became known as Harry's Cafe de Wheels.

Edwards ran the business for 30 years before selling to Alex Koronya in 1975, who in turn sold it in 1988 to Michael Hannah, who still runs it today.

Harry's was classified by the NSW branch of the National Trust of Australia in 2004 and was described as a ''quintessential Sydney icon and an institution''.

During it's 56 years, Harry's has become a bit of a tourist destination, perhaps because of its history and its location, right on the water at Woollomooloo. International guests also probably think it's quite a novelty to eat a meat pie, perhaps the only Australian cuisine they know about. 

Harry's is covered in photographs of all the famous people who have dined on a pie on the footpath outside the caravan. There are pictures of Elton John, Brooke Shields and British comedians Jennifer Saunders and Joanna Lumley, who appear dressed as their characters from the television show, Absolutely Fabulous.

There is also a photograph of Colonel Harland Sanders, aka the King of Kentucky Fried Chicken, scoffing down a Harry's meat pie and sauce in 1972.

Colonel Sanders was no doubt amazed that he had managed to find a food product that had less nutritional value than his own deep fried chicken. Still, despite Colonel Sanders's greasy diet, I must point out that he lived to the age of 90.

I suppose another reason Harry's has survived for 56 years is that it is open until 2am and 3am early in the week and until 4am on Friday and Saturday nights. I imagine that Harry's sells more pies in those hours after midnight than it does throughout the rest of the day.

It was day time when I visited Harry's and I wasn't drunk - two good reasons why I probably should not have eaten there. 

The menu features the Harry's Tiger, a meat pie topped with mash and mushy peas, but I could not find the Pie Floater listed. Harry's was famous for its Pie Floater - a meat pie floating upside down in pea soup.

I ordered the Lean Beef Pie with Mash, drizzled in tomato sauce and my friend had a Lean Beef Pie with Chili Beans. I quietly groaned when I saw the pie, but in the interests of research and my blog, I grabbed the plastic spoon and dug in to it. 

Well, for starters the mash on top was made from powdered potato mix and had that weird chemically taste. The rest tasted just like any other meat pie. Afterwards, I regretted eating it because I had that horrible feeling that I had just put something of zero nutritional value in my body. I swore to myself that for the next three days I would live on cucumbers and lettuce. Which of course I didn't.

The high point of my Harry's visit was seeing actor Russell Crowe and his two sons toddling along the wharf. Crowe has a top floor garden apartment at the very end of the Woolloomooloo Wharf, so this is his children's playground, I guess. The boys looked adorable with their big mops of hair, holding their father's hand. I snapped this picture from afar:

Yes, that is the back of Russell Crowe's head:

Those other two blokes were just passing by and look like they made some dumb joke.

Russell Crowe and the kidlings then made a beeline straight for Harry's. I don't know what they ordered and I didn't take any more pictures of them because I didn't want to invade their privacy. 

In fact, everyone who was eating outside Harry's acted very cool, and did not even glance in their direction. Don't you just love Sydney. 

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Harry's Cafe

Cowper Wharf Road, near the corner of Brougham Street

Woolloomooloo NSW 2011

02 9357 3074

www.harryscafedewheels.com.au

Across the Border: Woolloomooloo: Retailers: Glendinnings

You've possibly walked right by this shop on Cowper Wharf Road in Woolloomooloo and never noticed it, or if you did, maybe you stood at the window and looked in at the naval badges on display, metaphorically shrugged your shoulders and thought, ''hmm, obscure''. 

Glendinnings Menswear certainly is a niche shop, specialising in Navy uniforms, merchant marine uniforms, charter vessel uniforms and other naval supplies. But considering it is right across the road from the Royal Australian Navy's East Fleet Base at Garden Island, the location is perfect. 

Most of the Navy's main fleet was in port, except for HMAS Success, which is in Singapore being re-hulled, and another couple of submarines are at HMAS Sterling in Western Australia, while there are a few other ships in Darwin and the Gulf.

How do I know this? I learned a lot about the Navy when I popped in to Glendinnings to have a snoop around, as I do.

The shop was established at Woolloomooloo in 1951 to make and supply naval uniforms but has since branched out to include racks and racks of surf-wear labels including clothes, hats, sunglasses, back-packs and shoes for men and women.

Glendinnings also has branches at a handful of other Navy bases around Australia, so it has become a first stop for sailors as they return home. They also sell toasters and other electrical goods.

The shop is owned by Dennis Stokes who runs it alongside his son, Jason. They also have a team of about three or four other sales people and a crew of seamstresses and tailors.

Endless Navy mementos.

This HMAS Kuttabul thing being shown below, is called a Tally Band and is just one component of the Navy's full-on dress requirements. Seriously, they must take hours to dress in the morning, especially when they have an official or formal event to attend. 

Take, for example, this simple sailor's collar (below), which comes with four components: the collar, a bow-tie, a length of thick string and a black satin band. 

The collar is first buttoned on to the sailor's jacket, with the black band placed underneath and secured with the bow-tie. The string then has to be knotted and placed in a certain way so that it runs under and over the collar before finally picking up the bow-tie at the end. Even Dennis had a hard time trying to piece it all together. 

I loved the sailor collar so much, and it only cost about $25, so I asked for one for Christmas - which I received! I also loved it when I was taken to the sewing room out the back of the shop, where Betty, Vanessa and another tailor were hard at work making naval uniforms.

It's hard to believe but most of the naval and merchant sailor uniforms and components are made right here by this small team of three hard workers. They make the trousers, the jackets, the shirts and other little bits and pieces. Glendinnings is actually renowned around the world, especially for its shirts, which are made of cotton. British merchant sailors are issued with their uniforms in London, but their shirts are made from a rather thick and sweat-inducing fabric, so when they visit the tropics they nearly pass out from the heat. Savvy sailors have started ordering the cotton shirts from Glendinnings with the Woolloomooloo shop sending out batches of parcels every day. Some British sailors order eight to ten of the shirts at a time. 

As a former seamstress, I was tempted to sit down at one of the ready-machines and put my foot down, but I restricted myself to just taking photos of all the beautiful trimmings, such as these striped naval ribbons for carrying medals:

Vanessa was working the embroidery machines, stitching names on to fabric patches:

Betty was busy pressing the seams of a pair of white Navy trousers she had just sewn:

I would have like to have chatted with Betty at length but she was busy and I didn't want to disturb her for too long. Betty was born and raised in Surry Hills and recalls the Razor Gangs of the late 1930s or 40s. She said a couple of fellas in the gangs lived up the road from her on Albion Street, Surry Hills. I asked if they were rough and scary and she said, ''not at all, they were just regular blokes''.

I also asked her about Ruth Park, the novelist who wrote about Surry Hills during the late 1940s and who died on December 14, aged 93. But Betty was not a fan of Park and claimed the author had got it wrong about the neighbourhood. This was a common criticism of Park, who was born in New Zealand. Many Australians did not appreciate her depiction of the neighbourhood and its poor living conditions in her novels The Harp in the South and Poor Man's Orange. 

So I said goodbye to Betty, Vanessa, Dennis, Jason and the gang and headed across the road to Harry's Cafe de Wheels for a disgusting pie, where I bumped in to actor Russell Crowe and which I will write about in a forthcoming post. 

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Glendinnings Menswear

Shops 2 and 3

7-41 Cowper Wharf Road

Woolloomooloo NSW 2011

02 9358 4097

http://www.glendinnings.com.au/