Now Open: Neapolitan Pizza and Handmade Pasta at Miss Kneady, Templestowe’s New All-Day Diner

As its bright-pink sign lights up on Templestowe’s James Street, it’s hard not to be drawn to Miss Kneady. The naturally bright space (there are two large skylights) feels open and roomy. There are polished-concrete floors, a terrazzo-tiled bar stocked with Italian and local wine staples, and the occasional pot plant hanging from the pastel-pink-and-white walls.

The fit-out is by interior designer Elle Critchley (Youngs Wine Room, St Cloud, Feast of Merit), who transformed the once-dark and gloomy dining room into a fun and vibrant space.

“When it came to designing the space, we wanted something that was fresh, inviting and exciting, but we needed a space that would translate from breakfast through to dinner,” says Attil Filippelli, who owns Miss Kneady with his brother Mark, and business partner Anthony Stagliano. (The Filippelli brothers are also responsible for vegan spots Matcha Mylkbar, Weirdoughs and Sydney’s Mark + Vinny’s.)

On your left, one wall presents portraits of Audrey Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Kate Moss blowing bright pink bubblegum bubbles. To your right, more bright-pink, this time in the form of a neon sign reading “All you Knead is Love”.

The name comes from a joke Filippelli would make with Stagliano’s wife, who had so many dietary needs her friends called her “Miss Needy”. “Miss Kneady represents the different food needs of today’s customer,” he says.

Pizza dominates the menu, and you can sub in house-made gluten-free bases and a vegan mozzarella substitute for an extra $4 each. Stagliano makes the diner’s mozzarella, and is also the pizzaiolo, presiding over the woodfire oven. The pizza bases are all fermented for 72 hours, then cooked at 450 degrees for 60 seconds each. What results is a true Neapolitan-style pizza that is light, fluffy and slightly charred.

All the textbook pizza varieties are here – margherita, capriccosa, Hawaiian and pepperoni – and you can also build your own from ingredients such as pork belly, local prawns and lamb shoulder.

The rest of the menu is by Jamie Evans, who’s spent time as sous chef at the Portsea Hotel and Perth’s Cottesloe Beach Hotel, and brings with him an Italian-inspired menu that highlights traditional-meets-contemporary flavours.

A wood-roasted porchetta is hand rolled in ‘nduja, seared in the woodfired oven, and served with parsnip mash, broccolini and salsa verde. Pastas are handmade in-house. There’s a 36-hour-braised beef-shin ragu flecked with chilli and oregano, and a lemon and goat’s cheese ravioli simply dressed with pink peppercorn-infused butter. You can swap out your pasta for gluten-free spaghetti ($3) or vegan gnocchi ($4).

To finish, sugar-coated ricotta zeppole – traditional deep-fried Italian doughnuts – are crisp, light and fluffy, filled with Nutella and caramel sauce.
In addition to the Italian and Aussie wines on the list (Innocent Bystander, for example) there are Bellini cocktails on tap.

Miss Kneady
124 James Street, Templestowe
(03) 9846 5355

Hours:
Mon & Tue 5pm–9.30pm
Wed to Sat 8am–11pm
Sun 8am–10pm

misskneady.com.au