For the love of Pizza

Pizza Porn

My insatiable pizza lust has led me to eating more pizzas around the world than you can shake a stick at and I have finally realised that I may have used up my pizza quota for a lifetime. I am now on a pizza free diet [Boooo!] as none of my clothes fit and my face is looking like a calzone. But before I go cold turkey, please let me share with you some of the best I have had recently and quietly reveal that the number 5 top spot that was open in my top 5 best pizza joints in the world, has now been filled.

In Auckland New Zealand, I was pleasantly surprised at a pub called the Country Club [nothing to do with a golf course] which had great thin based tasty pizzas! [See photo above and below] They were generous and unconventional with their toppings but each one was a reasonable size [ie not that much bigger than your head - Miss Piggy would approve] and no soggy bottoms! We had the additional excitement of the rugby world cup and the joyous reunion with our beloved Kiwi mates, which made the pizzas taste even better!

chicken, chorizo and red onion

Next in line came SPQR, again in New Zealand, in the stylish Ponsonby road area of Auckland. This restaurant was my final meal before heading back to Melbourne and boy oh boy did it meet the mark. We sat outside on the pavement seats, soaking up the sun and being thoroughly looked after by a very flamboyant & gregarious waiter! The pizza I had was incredibly thin and crispy and the toppings were numerous but the best bit was the tomato sauce - it made the pizza one of the finest I have had! The flavours were bold and robust with so many strong topping ingredients but it was thin enough to make the mark! Check this out...

Salami, Black olives, Anchovies and mushrooms

My 3rd and final venue is a little wood fired pizza shack or beach hut called Champling, in Seminyak Bali, Indonesia. I was a very lucky girl to not only spend my birthday in Bali this year but I also got birthday pizza for lunch [who needs cake!]. This hut was behind our Hotel, right on the beach with a massive wood fire and looking out towards the water. When I went up to ask if their pizza was thin or fat based, the little Balinese girl serving behind the bar squeeked 'it's crispy' at me and I was sold! The view was just incredible - the continual & mesmorising rolling waves of the Indian ocean & miles and miles of clean beach was stunning. With music in the background and the warm ocean breeze, I had died and gone to paradise!

Okay so the location, view and warm weather made a huge impact on the choice, but Champling wins hands down and makes it onto my top 5 Pizza list! I found the lunch options on Bali to be pretty aweful - their salads made me ill [probably to do with the running water used to wash leaves not being drinkable or clean - raw food is a no no on this Island] and the other options were the burger/chips-Aussie/British- male-on-holiday-and-junk-food-diet variety. I tried going for Indonesian curries but they rendered me unwell for hours afterwards too and to be honest they were not that impressive. It was best to stick to food made to order in a fire that would cremate all microbes! So I pretty much went back there for lunch on most days but to keep it some what healthier and guilt free, I asked them to make mine without cheese. The toppings were simple, tasty and kept to a minimum. The star of the show was the delicious tomato sauce base and the crispy slightly smoky base. Simple and perfect.

So that's it. Sigh! Back to being healthy. No more Pizza. At least not for the rest of THIS year...[ahem.]