Four New Sydney Pizzerias for a Hot Slice This Winter

When Appizza hit that buzzy Darlinghurst corner, it signalled the start of a wave of new pizzerias for Sydney. Another slice shop opened just down the road from it, and a Michelin-recommended Japanese spot made its Aussie debut. Plus, two esteemed chefs added pizza to their stables.

Here we have four new Sydney pizzerias for a hot winter slice – plus an excellent newcomer up north.

Pizza’Mare, Barangaroo

The Pavonis are known for an impressive range of Italian restaurants – the likes of Ormeggio, Chiosco and Cibaria, along with Postino Osteria, Vineria Luisa and A’Mare. The couple’s most recent opening marks their first pizzeria.

In a lofted space within the A’Mare dining room is the yellow-walled Pizza’Mare. The water views remain but the energy is much more casual than downstairs. Pizzaiolo Paolo Lacarpia captains the Mam pizza oven, which sends out Neapolitan-esque rounds. The dough is slowly pre-fermented with a biga starter, using Italian flour, resulting in light, fluffy, crunchy rounds.

Toppings-wise, there are classics (Napoletana, diavola and mortadella) as well as signatures like the Amar’inara, where yellowfin tuna crudo joins stracciatella, sweet cherry tomatoes and lemon zest.

The team has more Pizza’Mare outposts planned. But until then, this is the place to come.

Inside A’Mare, 1 Barangaroo Avenue, Barangaroo
@pizzamare.sydney

Pizza Studio Tamaki, CBD

Last month marked the Aussie debut of Pizza Studio Tamaki, the Tokyo-born (and Michelin-recommended) pizzeria from Tsubasa Tamaki. The man is graceful with a peel – using a long paddle to place, turn and pull thousands of pizzas in his career.

From a compact shop in Higashi-Azabu, Tamaki is the talk of the planet, opening restaurants across Asia, in New York and now Australia.

While Tokyo-style pizzas look similar to Neapolitan pies, the differences are in the details. Cedar chips are added to the fire, lending a spicy-sweet smokiness to the crust, while mineral-rich sea salt from his native Okinawa amplifies every topping.

The signature Tamaki pie marries smoky mozzarella, basil and explosively hot cherry tomatoes. But opt for the white-based Bismarck, where an egg is cracked over mozzarella, mushrooms, house-made pork sausage and pecorino romano.

259 George Street, Sydney
@pst.australia

Pizzeria Sotto, Double Bay

Last month, Neil Perry completed his run of restaurant switch-ups – converting his Double Bay bar into a pizzeria.

Pizzeria Sotto’s pizzas are Roman-style (thin and crispy), with classic toppings: margheritas and salsiccias, white-sauced mushroom numbers and a gamberi topped with king prawns and pesto Genovese.

“We’re going to do a roast or braise of the day,” Perry shared ahead of opening. “So it could be a braised lamb shoulder, or it could be porchetta, each day it will change. Then we intend to pretty quickly follow that up with one pasta – a lasagne, a gnocchi – which will change each day as well.”

An ideal way to dine is via the $39 set menu. You’ll start with the house ciabatta and plump burrata sitting atop slow-cooked zucchinis with mint and chilli. Then house salumi and your choice of pizza, with salad and dessert.

24 Bay Street, Double Bay
@pizzeriasotto.doublebay

Paulie’s Pizza, Darlinghurst

When you wield a slice from Paulie’s Pizza, the newbie from Bourke Street Bakery co-founder Paul Allam, it will not flop like its Neapolitan cousins – you can bend the thing neatly in half before cramming the cheesy, golden tip into your gob.

Using a sourdough starter he’s had for 22 years, Allam makes a 24-hour fermented dough that eventually finds itself fired in an electric Moretti Forni deck.

The whopping NY-style rounds are sold by the slice – spicy vodka, mushroom and ricotta or a punchy ’nduja and olive. There are hefty Sicilian grandma slices and garlicky parmesan knots, too.

Paulie’s gets a little closer to the city that never sleeps with midnight trade Thursday to Saturday – and huge slices for less than $10.

Shop 5/90 Oxford Street, Darlinghurst
@pauliespizzapezzo

Attaboy, Byron Bay

When Ciao Mate’s head chef Rob Pearson floated the idea of opening a pizzeria, the team got behind it – teaming up to open Attaboy, in Byron’s vibey industrial estate. The small shop is mostly kitchen, with a few shiny tables for a standing slice and more outside haloed with bright-blue plastic stools. And on the menu are pies powered by Aussie flour and local ingredients.

It’s by-the-slice from 11am till 2pm, Tuesday to Saturday, then whole pies from 3pm till 8pm (or sold out). New York cheese with pecorino and parmesan, maybe, or a Byron Hawaiian using local Bangalow smoked ham, Aleppo peppers, jalapenos and ricotta, zinged up with a pineapple saffron sauce. There’s a double pepperoni serve, a stacked veggie supreme and a vodka pesto pizza with a hypnotic swirl of pesto. A classic round or cheesy Detroit-style deep dish? Your choice – all are well worth a trip north.

4/20 Bayshore Drive, Byron Bay
@attaboy.pizza

Additional reporting by Dan Cunningham and Pilar Mitchell.