Pizza Picks at Frankly Nicks, Hurlstone Park

Heads up pizza lovers! Frankly Nick's in Hurlstone Park serves up a range of classic pizzas as well as a Greek inspired spanakopita pizza topped with wilted spinach, parsley and feta. Find out what else you must order.

It's a rainy Saturday night when Sophia and I arrive at Frankly Nick's on Floss Street in Hurlstone Park. The pizzeria's owners are lifelong friends William Kay and Georgio Panousos, who grew up working in their fathers' pizzerias. They named Frankly Nick's after their own fathers Frank Kay and Nick Panousos. It was only when William's father Frank suggested that the two friends open up a pizzeria together like he and Nick did that they settled on a pizzeria.

The choice of location was a middle point between Belmore where Frank grew up and Stanmore where Nick grew up. The main shopping area of Hurlstone Park doesn't have many open businesses at night apart from the pizzeria and one other bar and both the bar and Frankly Nick's are very busy. They don't take bookings here and we arrive at 6:30pm and we manage to get a table outside. Ordering and paying is done at the counter and staff are very friendly and helpful.

The pizzas here are made using Italian Caputo flour and have a 3 day proof but sometimes more. Case in point: tonight's pizzas are made using dough proven for 4 days.

Their Greek heritage means that while you do get the classic pizzas like Margarita and Pepperoni there are also ones like the Spanako-pizza inspired by the iconic Greek Spanakopita. This pizza is topped with wilted spinach, Spanish onion, garlic, lemon, dill, parsley, olive oil and dabs of whipped feta. There's an appealing freshness to this and it still manages to convey the delicious savoury, salty and earthy flavour of spanakopita with a pizza.

Sophia's pizza choice is the Italo Sausage made with crumbled Italian pork sausage, ricotta, mozzarella, artichokes, gremolata and Pecorino Romano. It's a lighter touch than a classic Italian sausage and mushroom pizza thanks to the marinated artichoke hearts and gremolata. The base is fantastic with a beautiful chewy, soft quality to the edges. There is no crust being flung back on the plate here.

It was a bit difficult to choose pizzas because I loved the sound of many but the most popular pizza is the Dolce Diavola so I add that onto the order. It has Napoletana sauce, mozzarella, salami, kalamata olives and hot honey. It's probably my favourite pizza of all three although it's very close between all of them. Nothing hits quite like the combination of salami and chilli for me.

We were told that the Caesar's Sister salad was a must order. It's made with shredded kale, pangrattato crumbs, Caesar dressing and plenty of soft, shaved Pecorino Romano on top. It's simple but absolutely delicious and goes well with the pizzas.

Normally we would go elsewhere for dessert but the rain seems to have gotten heavier so we try some of the desserts here. The house made tiramisu is said to have Nutella but it's just a tiny amount of Nutella.

The gelatofogato is like a version of the famous gelato affogato or Gran Crema Caffe from Vivoli il Gelato in Florence, Italy but alas it doesn't quite look like it as there isn't enough gelato so that the espresso shot doesn't quite reach the level of the top of the gelato. The pistachio gelato is nice however but next time I'd just stick to the pizzas which we absolutely loved.

So tell me Dear Reader, do you like hot honey on pizza? And would you try the Spanakopita pizza?

This meal was independently paid for.

Frankly Nick's

36 Floss Street, Hurlstone Park

Tel: +61 (02) 9326 4436

Open: Tuesday – Saturday 5pm–9.30pm, Sunday 5pm–9pm