Pinnocchio Pizza

on satruday i ordered pollo pizza roast chicken. barely any chicken on pizza cost $ 21 where was the roast chicken who makes your pizzas they have no idea.

I only got 5 pieces of ravioli in my main. They were tasty and beautifully presented but it was still 5 pieces! My colleague got the salmon special of the day and he said, while also tasty, there was a surprising amount of bones in the fish. This not that great experience was offset by the nice starters, which were the salt and pepper calamari and the fancy sausages. The place was well decorated, if a little hipster, and the waitresses were super friendly and even split the bill for us, which was convenient. She also complimented by hair, so I thought she was extra awesome. So I’m going for 3 stars overall. The ok mains were offset by the goodness found elsewhere in the meal.

Geppetto, Monstro, Pinocchio… just look around and you’ll find them! This is a nice spot for some fairly good Italian food with a fair mid-​ranged price tag attached. Unlike some Pizzerias where flavour tends to get lost amongst the piled on ingredients, their Pizza’s are simple with a focus on taste, and the beer… well if you like Italian beer then there’s a few options on the menu to choose from — my recommendation is the Ichnusa… served ice cold its perfect on a warm summer’s day!

I order regularly from Pinnochio’s at my home in South Yarra however when trying to order from my office in Cremorne which is clearly in their delivery area, they refused to.
It is 3 minutes from Pinnochio’s to my house in South Yarra and 6 minutes to my office in Cremorne. Ridiculous.

Pinocchio on Toorak Road — no dead wood here
BY SHARKING FOR CHIPS AND DRINKS
Turning off Chapel Street we break into a light jog along Toorak Road — it is pouring with rain and we are tempted to dive into the tried and tested spice temple that is Dainty Sichuan. But we persevere, passing South Yarra station (a first for us — we normally catch a glimpse of France Soir as we scooter by, but have never really explored this stretch) and reach our destination feeling more than a little bit bedraggled.
Happily, within seconds we are seated — him with a tumbler of negroni, her with a 250ml carafe of sangiovese — phew. Now a quick word about serving sizes and wine. Sometimes, 150ml just doesn’t do the job, but ordering more than a couple of glasses of wine feels excessive. And sometimes you want the same wine as your co-​eater, but aren’t sure you can stretch to a bottle. Hoorah then for the tiny handful of restaurants that offer carafes. With 250ml and 500ml serves available, the gap between one glass and one bottle is bridged perfectly. The negroni slips down a treat and is swiftly followed by a stronger negroni (thanks bar people) and a bugiardo (gin, campari, chinotto, orange), which apparently means ‘liar’ in Italian. Although I have always found three cocktails in quick succession tend to have opposite affect, but each to their own.
In between trips to the bathroom to dry our hair, clothes and shoes, and downing drinks while agonising over a menu on which everything looks amazing, we do manage to take in our surrounds. The décor is clean and crisp — sketches and lines of text chart the classic tale of Pinocchio (the story by Carlo Collodi published in 1883, not the Disney derivation) and the idea of an artist’s studio is conveyed by the wall-​mounted desk lamps (you know, the ones with the bending arms, like in the Pixar opening logo). The space manages to look modern and homely all at the same time — Melbourne’s funky take on the traditional trattoria.
Our waitress, Francesca, deserves a shout out. Just six weeks into her international adventures she hails from Le Marche and was a great source of information on regional specialities and ingredients. She also guided us through the menu in our moments of indecision — suggesting we start with an antipasti plate of pecorino, chunks of salty parmigiano, salami, San Daniele prosciutto, plump olives and caperberries. Accompanied by triangles of herby, fluffy focaccia, all our happy aperitivo memories of travelling in Italy came flooding back.
Why haven’t we heard about this place before? How has a restaurant so welcoming, serving food so tasty, completely escaped our noticed? We were beginning to doubt our food blogger credentials, when owner Renato came to our rescue explaining that Pinocchio’s previous incarnation was not as attractive as it is today. A bit dark, a bit behind the times, in need of a makeover. An honest critique, but this cheerful Italian clearly has nothing to worry about now.
Next, a selection of small dishes to share — ‘cicchetti’. Panino di agnello (sticky pulled lamb shoulder in a soft little panino with garlic aioli) and fiori di zucca (zucchini flowers stuffed with burrata and Morton Bay bugs, with a saffron aioli).
Flavourful crushed tomatoes really helped in the lamb dish, as the meat was super rich and dense (in a good way), while the zucchini flowers were a lighter contrast with the sweet seafood flavour working brilliantly with the creamy aioli and melted cheese. Delicately battered and perfectly cooked, we could have happily worked our way through the whole section of this menu, but decided instead to press on.
On to the pastas and a plate of agnolotti to share — a further dose of Morton Bay bugs and burrata wrapped in squid ink pasta and served in a rich lobster sauce with fresh peas that were bursting with just cooked, pop-​in-​your-​mouth perfection. Worth pointing out that larger serves for parties of 2, 3 or 4 people can also be whipped up. Useful to know. Oh, and the pizzas can be prepared as half yard or yard length on a wooden plank.
It was a tough choice, but we decided to go for a pizza over one of the secondi dishes, although passing up the special — pork shoulder braised in Peroni Reserva beer with parmesan polenta — was a bit heartbreaking.
With more than 20 pizzas to choose from (not to mention bianca and calzone options) we were won over by the diavola — a yellow San Marzano tomato base (sweeter than the traditional red Roma variety) with hot N’duja salami (traditionally from Calabria, but Matt the chef sources his from a guy in Byron Bay), buffalo mozzarella and wild rocket. It really is very spicy, but too good to stop eating for a sip of water. After being caught out in the rain this is the perfect way to ward off any unwanted bouts of flu — it’s pizza to put hairs on your chest.