This relaxed daytime diner sits at the entrance to Victoria Park racecourse. It’s in the heritage-listed Bookmakers’ League building. Come with a group, commandeer a Victorian-ash bench table and order up big.

Owner Massimo Piscioneri is serving a pizza hybrid that sits somewhere in-between the Neapolitan and Roman styles. The base is still ultra-thin but it’s crisp and holds firm under the toppings. There is also a deep-fried calzone chock-full of pomarola (a simple tomato sauce), fior di latte and basil.

But it’s not all dough and deep-frying.

Italian ingredients rule the breakfast menu: pork-and-fennel sausage, cannellini beans and ricotta. Serial smashed-avocado-orderers can get their fix, too, plus there are freshly squeezed juices and smoothies.

The cold cuts come from Rostrevor’s Parma Quality Meats & Smallgoods, which also supplies York Peninsula pork that’s marinated in-house, rolled into porchetta and spit-fired over charcoal.

On a tight wine list, Italian varietals are well represented, both from local and Italian vintners.

Original barn-style doors retain the space’s heritage feel; the racecourse’s red turnstiles serve as standout shelving. Rustic-tiled surfaces emulate the terracotta bars Piscioneri came across on his travels to Italy.