Ladro
Thanks to Mikeyboy on Flickr for the photo.
Let’s get one thing straight. When it comes to pizza, I’m generally pretty easy to please. I am by no means a pizza snob. If the base isn’t reminiscent of cardboard and the rest doesn’t feel like it’s been bathing for some weeks in a pool of oil, that’s usually enough to satisfy me and my inner pizza fiend. That’s not to say that I can’t tell the difference between your average Pizza Hut chain store situation and your gourmet pizza-rific delicacies. In fact I have set the bar particularly high, making Ecco in Subiaco my benchmark (if you’re ever in Perth check it out – it’s life-changing). I’ve yet to find a pizza on par with the perfection Ecco has to offer.
But Ladro on Greville Street comes pretty darn close.
When Ladro’s sparkling reputation reached all the way to the West Coast (the Australian Magazine gave it 4 “Australias” out of 5 which almost never happens, so my mother tells me excitedly from back home in Perth), I thought a pizza enthusiast such as myself best pay it a visit.
With a set up evocative of a New York studio apartment, Ladro’s rustic, minimalist décor is unpretentious and relaxed, while still maintaining that uber chic feel belonging to restaurants in that part of Melbournetown. The menu is sophisticated, with a few fun gourmet twists on the classics as well as some unique creations. I contemplate the merits of pizza versus pasta, as everything on the menu reads like culinary poetry. Then along comes our super smiley waitress and throws a list of specials in the mix which all sound stupendous. I opt for pizza because, at the end of the day, my inner pizza fiend will always triumph.
My eyes zero in almost immediately to the pizza decorated with more varieties of cheese than any other on the menu. I mean it also had rocket and caramelised onion and whatnot – but 3 types of cheese! And where the cheese goes, I will follow. The stinkier the better. My inner cheese demon is probably the only force capable of taking on my inner pizza fiend and when the two combine, there’s no stopping them.
The staff is friendly, attentive and knowledgeable. Our waitress knows so much about the different cheeses featured on the menu that I am very confident we were either separated at birth or should be best friends. Service is speedy, leaving us just enough time after ordering to work ourselves into a pre-pizza frenzy. When I catch a glimpse of the meal being placed on the table I’m not sure whether to eat it, embrace it, or face-plant directly into it. It smells sensational. I abandon the usual “knife-and-fork versus fingers” debate that usually precedes eating at these up-market pizza establishments and dive straight in. The base has that marvelous pizza-oven crunch, the cheese is warm and gooey without being drippy and greasy, and the flavours work so well together I believe my taste buds might be doing a little jig of joy. It took all my self restraint not to lift the giant, empty plate to my face to savour the last remaining bits of taleggio. But then I was gently reminded that I was in public and such behavior is not terribly ladylike.
As far as portion size is concerned, you will not go home hungry. My culinary partner in crime (who is a big, strong, handsome boy with a typical boys’ appetite) was only just able to finish his pizza, which I believe is saying a lot. The scrumptious dessert menu was calling my name (don’t even get me started on my inner sugar gremlin) and if I hadn’t been so full I probably would’ve asked for one of everything. But as it was, it already looked like I was going to need to be rolled to the car.
So kids, the moral of the story is that: 1) Ladro pizza is great, 2) Don’t eat anything for some hours before you plan to go, 3) I am possessed by a variety of food monsters.
If the new restaurant on Greville Street isn’t local, you can go to the original Ladro on Gertrude Street in Fitzroy. Oh, and a word of advice ladies – this is not a skinny jeans situation. Whip out the fat pants for this one.
