Everything about Antica Pizzeria’s first city location embodies the Italian way of life, from the exterior and interior design to the warm and friendly hospitality.
From Morphett Street passers by will spy a small, arched private entrance, which made me reminisce about the buildings in Italy. The long corridor after the vaulted ceiling leads to two separate bars to walk between and a large open plan dining area, which will be able to accommodate many people for hours on end.
Antica’s open kitchen
The open kitchen stretches along the back of the building providing fantastic views of the chefs gracefully tossing pizzas and the large wood fire oven, designed to fit approximately ten pizzas in it at once.
Antica Pizzeria has only just recently opened their doors in the city but has already built a large fan base with the much-loved location on King William Street in Hyde Park.
Antica’s modern and warm interior
The happy and friendly team members along with owner Anthony Crea greeted us as we walked in and we instantly knew we were in good hands.
In front of each chair was a special gift hamper, wrapped with a red and white checked cloth and filled with tasty and traditional Italian nibbles including cheese, salami and coffee beans.
A selection of antipasti including polenta chips, mozzarella in carrozza, arancini and frittura di calamari
Along with either red or white wines, an assortment of antipasti was served first including cheeses, olives, cured meats, polenta chips, and delicious mushroom arancini. From the amount of these I have consumed this week,Ie think if you cut my arm off (please don’t though) I would bleed arancini.
After sampling the antipasti and reminding ourselves to leave enough room for what was to come, the wood fired oven pizzas and pastas were served.
Pizze rosse magherita
The various pasta offerings included an orecchiette with broccolini and pork sausage, a slow cooked duck ragu with toasted hazelnuts and a four cheese gnocchi, which truly knocked my socks off.
Put it this way, I didn’t learn a lot of Italian in my month abroad but I knew what quattro formaggi meant after the first night. The four-cheese sauce along with small, cloud like gnocchi and a mushroom cream was so divine I had second helpings.
Orecchiette salsiccia e broccoli
My favourite pizza had to be the parmigiana, with tomato, fried eggplant and buffalo mozzarella along with fresh basil to garnish. So often restaurant food is overdone, but Antica have simplified their take on food, preferring to let the traditional Italian flavours speak for themselves. With as much produce sourced from Italy as they could, Antica have gone above and beyond to try and create an authentic Italian experience.
The stand-out table settings were custom pieces, copper stands designed by Anthony himself. As each course was served, they were place on the stands which allowed easy access for us hungry diners.
Pizze rosse quattro salumi
For those looking to dine in for lunch, Antica’s pizza and pasta menu is pleasing to the eye and wallet. With 9-inch pizzas for only $13 and pastas for $15 you will still have money to burn on their impressive wine or dessert list.
Speaking of desserts, to complete the Antica experience we were served a custom one-metre tiramisu. Yes you read that correctly. It required three stands to hold up its greatness. It was the first time Antica had produced a Tiramisu of this size and we were instructed by Anthony to warn our readers they must “call ahead” if they would like something of this grandeur. One of the bloggers joked about flipping a table too if this masterpiece was not on offer during their next visit. I think they were only half joking. The tiramisu was light, refreshing, sweet and the perfect end to a wonderful meal.
Is one metre of tiramisu enough? Still unsure.
Antica Pizzeria is an experience where diners will want to stay for hours. We really didn’t want to leave, however if I had any more food and I would have required a wheelbarrow to transport me to the car. Antica Pizzeria is the closest Italian experience I have had since living in the heart of Florence earlier this year. From the wood fired pizzas to the hand made pasta and the warm and friendly hospitality, Antica allows diners to experience Italy in the heart of the city.
You can find Antica Pizzeria’s city location at 226 Morphett Street, Adelaide.
