400 Gradi: Melbourne, Australia
After a day of exploring Melbourne, we headed out to the suburb of Brunswick (a ten minute Uber ride from our hotel) to try the pizzas at 400 Gradi. We'd heard a lot about this place online including the fact that their chef was named World Pizza Champion in 2014. I mean, obviously we had to visit as pizza is Matt's favourite food!
Brunswick definitely has a bit of a hipster vibe and the main street had so many restaurants and bars! We went on a Sunday night so it was a bit quieter than usual but you could tell it would be a fun place to live.
Inside, the restaurant has a modern but cosy feel and the staff were very attentive. One thing that made us laugh: when we walked in, we could see an incredible stack of pizza boxes - they almost reached the ceiling! Clearly they're a popular takeaway option too...
For my dinner, I went with their Porcini pizza. It was pretty tasty with spicy sausage and gorgonzola. To be honest, gorgonzola is one of my menu buzzwords - if a dish has it, I'm probably going to order it! Interestingly, the sausage was sliced as salami rather than crumbled (which is more common in the UK and elsewhere). The gorgonzola added a lovely creaminess and the dough was really well cooked. The only slight disappointment was the mushrooms as they were a little wet and the texture was a little off. Overall though, a tasty pizza!
Matt went with a classic option for his dinner so that we could compare it to others we've had: the capricciosa pizza. The combo of ham, artichokes, olives and mushrooms was delicious as always and the artichokes had a nice tanginess. Again, the dough was cooked to perfection!
While we thoroughly enjoyed our meal, we do have one quick word of warning: the chili oil is homemade and seriously punchy! It has pieces of actual chili rather than just flakes so moderation is probably wise...
We both went with their house wines (a Chardonnay and a Pinot Noir) since they were from a vineyard in the nearby Yarra valley. This was such a lovely and romantic setting for our first night in Melbourne! Our bill came to $84 AUD (£49 GBP) which was a little on the pricey side but the pizzas were top quality so we didn't mind. After we finished, we decided to wander down the street in search of dessert... which led us to: Gelobar!
Located diagonally across the street from 400 Gradi, we couldn't resist the allure of the delicious gelato! We were pretty full from dinner so we shared a scoop of "Cherry Mania", which was a mix of vanilla with ripples of cherry sauce, pieces of tart cherries and chocolate chips. Oh my god, it was delicious! And at only $4 AUD (2 GBP) it was a cheap and tasty way to end the night. Perfection!
Details: 400 Gradi
Website: https://400gradi.com.au/
Address: 99 Lygon Street, Brunswick East, Victoria, 3057
Hours: 5pm - 11pm every day
Details: Gelobar
Address: 74 Lygon Street, Brunswick East, Victoria, 3057
Hours: 7am - 11pm (Sunday - Thursday), 7am - 12am (Friday and Saturday)
