L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele

L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele has arrived in Sydney, named after its creator Michele Condurro whose image adorns the walls and logo. This iconic pizza restaurant from Naples with the movie connection opened 155-year ago in 1870 and are known for their enormous pizzas with thin, soft and elastic bases. They use ingredients like San Marzano tomatoes, Agerola fior di latte and a 24 hour fermented dough. Find out what the pizzas are like!

One of L'Antica Pizzeria da Michele's biggest claims to fame is that it featured in the movie Eat, Pray, Love where Julia Robert's character enjoyed the pizza and proclaims "I'm having a relationship with my pizza". It was filmed at the original Naples branch at Via Cesare Sersale, 1 which is dubbed as the "sacred temple of pizza." There's a framed, signed photo of Julia Roberts that graces the wall of the newest branch in Sydney's Circular Quay.

We're catching up with the Wizard and his new wife Witchy Woman. I haven't seen him for years but he and Mr NQN now work together. The last time I saw him we were doing a pizza challenge across Sydney.

We have a lot to catch up but first, a drink! We order some spritzes - a Hugo Spritz for me and a Limoncello spritz for Mr NQN while The Wizard and Witchy Woman enjoy the red wine.

The food comes out quickly and we start with the burrata. Normally we would have ordered the zucchini flowers which they are known for but they are out of them this evening. The large 200g/7oz burrata is served with thin slices of fried zucchini and mint that are cooked until they have a caramelised quality. We pair this with a focaccia bread which is like an unadorned pizza bread dough round (not sure of the price, it wasn't on the menu).

Confession: I LOVE paccheri especially when it is cooked al dente like it is here. This version is paired with soft braised Angus beef chuck and a sweet and savoury caramelised onion sauce. It is so moreish that I could have easily finished this by myself.

It's time for the pizzas. Usually when we go out, we order one pizza per person but our friendly waitress recommends three pizzas for the four of us. And once I see the size, I can see why. These pizzas are huge. Without getting a tape measure out they look around 35cm or 14 inches and we can only fit three on our four top table.

Normally the Margherita Doppia Mozzarella with double mozzarella is their signature but they steer us towards this one with smoked Fior di latte and black pepper which we all absolutely love. The crust is so thin and soft with a perfect balance from the sweetness and light acidity of the tomatoes and the creamy cheese. I love the extra umami from the smoked cheese too.

My heart always goes for a diavola, this one made with crushed Italian tomatoes, Agerola Fiordilatte, spicy salami and fresh basil which is my favourite of all three pizzas. The Agerola fior di latte comes from Agerola near Naples and is made using 100% cow's milk from the Agerolese breed. Also the pizzas are not meant to be cut up and you do have to ask for it to be cut although ours was without us asking (and cut into huge slices).

The Regina pizza is a white pizza with buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatoes, 18-months-aged Parma Prosciutto, rocket, shaved Grana Padano and Oilalà extra virgin olive oil. It's a nice pizza and we devour it with gusto but personally I really just prefer red pizzas because I love tomatoes so much. This is also good with the house made chilli oil too.

It's time for dessert and they recommend the baba Napoletano which is a sweet yeasted bread soaked in rum syrup with a marshmallow style of cream and crumbled frozen raspberries.

But it would be remiss to miss the tiramisu that is perfect for sharing.

And while many restaurants offer a shot of limoncello, here they also offer a montenegro to help the digestion!

This meal was independently paid for.