Sometime mid last week I saw Melbourne Foodie Winceeee's photo of a pizza joint accompanied by a caption that didn't include a name for the eatery, only a description of its location being close to Melbourne Uni.
The photos were convincing and my curiosity got the better of me, so last Friday I dragged my usual work lunch buddy and partner-in-crime Kimmy towards Lincoln Square to suss out this new kid on the block.
Despite not knowing the name of the pizzeria and unable to find out any information on it via google, thanks to Winceee's mentioning of the address we were able to locate Kaprica without much difficulty. As we arrived smack bang at 12:30, we opened the door to be greeted by a long rectangular room filled with tables and chairs and ..(surprise surprise) lots of human beings.
The interior of Kaprica was rustic and laid-back. Perfect for Carlton without trying too hard to be cool and relevant. These days too many cafes try to outdo each other by installing upsidedown teacup lights and provide menus attached to clipboards. Here the menu is scribbled on a single piece of paper, it's minimalistic but adequate.
After a quick inspection of the menu, Kimmy and I chose the Salmone and Proscuitto pizzas to order. Choosing our items seemed to be the easier part of the ordering process as the restaurant was by then filled to the brim will people and many were already spilling out onto the street, waiting patiently for existing patrons to vacate their tables. It was almost impossible to grab the attention of the frantic waiter who was trying so hard please all.
It took over 20 minutes to place our orders and a further 20-minute wait ensued before any food reached our table. Conscious of time and mind racing with thoughts of work, I couldn't stop staring at Pietro Barbagallo across the room, in the open kitchen tossing the dough and churning out the pizzas. He was in his element, in a world of his own, as if he was completely isolated from all this lunchtime mayhem that was unfolding around him. It was a super impressive thing to watch.
And of course the pizza. When they were finally placed before us, I instantly forgave them for making me wait my entire lunch hour for their arrival. The flavours of the salmon and the little pops of roe complemented each other so well and the proscuitto was, well, its always a winner. But the most impressive thing about the pizzas were definitely the dough and the tomato base. The base managed to pull off both a wonderful chewiness in the middle and a delightful crispy edge. The tomato base was rich and wholesome and did a great job in keeping the toppings grounded so they didn't go overboard.
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| Salmone (Small) $12 |
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| Proscuitto (small) $12 |
Okay I am salivating just thinking about it.
Given that I have already raved about this place to pretty much every person (who can be bothered with my foodie rants) this past week, Kaprica is definitely my new fav pizzeria, knocking Pizza Religion off the top rank. With it's close proximity to work and their pizza priced at almost half the price of your average D.O.C fanfare, I will definitely be revisiting in the next few weeks. It might be a good idea though to adjust my lunch hour slightly to avoid peak hour pizza rush.
Kaprica
19 Lincoln Square South
Carlton
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