Quo-Vadis Pizza Parlour

Swan Hill counts a handful of long-running institutions, but none quite like Quo Vadis. The Tripodi family have been stretching dough and scooping gelati here since 1988, feeding generations of locals along the way.

It’s a proper pizza bar on one side, which means you can put away a Peroni or two while you wait for takeaway; Italian style. But the spacious dining room, which takes up most of the restaurant, is the main attraction. It gets thick with families of an evening, who crowd the wooden tables with pastas, risottos and secondi such as slow-cooked lamb shanks with mash and rich tomato sauce.

The pizza is what keeps everyone coming back though – a slice of the napoletana pizza with anchovies will set you down the traditional path, while Australian-style toppings such as chicken and pineapple will satisfy modern – and controversial – appetites. Dough is made fresh before it’s fired in the restaurant’s workhorse gas oven.

Owner John Tripodi says that, while the restaurant technically trades until late, he keeps rolling that dough until the orders stop coming. It’s that kind of a place.