It's all about the Dough

These are the words taken directly from Dough: "We believe the artful taste of delicious pizza begins with the DOUGH... Dough Pizzeria was inspired by the authentic aromas, taste & craftsmanship of pizza found on the streets and in the pizzerias in Naples. In fact, the food, wine and service at DOUGH are all designed to reflect southern Italy's proud traditions and gracious hospitality." 

It's a philosophy that this little restaurant seems to embrace and embody, with its friendly Italian staff, wonderful, simple food and traditional but modern take on a pizzeria.

After an exhaustive day at work for both Jeremy and I, we found ourselves tossing around the idea of going out for pizza. Since neither of us have been to Crust or Dough, we went back and forth and finally settled on the latter for no particular reason.

We arrived for an early meal at 6.30pm, the restaurant full down the back end and the tables up the front all featuring a reserved sign. Thankfully there were a couple spare tables and we slid into our seats with wide, curious eyes.

This place looks great - the decor is really simple and rustic. Think exposed bricks, pine coloured furnishings with yellow and green accents. It's open, airy and has this really homely manner about it. I especially like how the menus come on brown recycled looking paper - it all adds to the overall presentation.

The menu is a nice selection and what you would expect from a pizzeria. Salad, tasting plates, starters, pizzas and desserts. But what I particularly like is that the pizzas are separated into two different types - pizze rosse which is a pizza with a rich tomato base, and pizze bianche which is pizza with a delicate white cheese base.

We decide to pick a pizza from each type to give ourselves more of a chance to experience what this place has to offer.

Things start off with Jeremy's choice - Pizza Parma ($23.50). It's a tomato base that's so fresh and juicy - there's still seeds from the real tomatoes used and there's a distinct lack of salt which is usually the first telltale sign that its homemade and not from a jar. Accompanying it is fior di latte, prosciutto di Parma, fresh rocket and shaved parmesan.

The prosciutto is particularly delicious - thin slices of different sizes that melt in your mouth. The fior di latte is creamy and mild and the rocket is wonderfully peppery. It's like a salad and pizza combined and on that thin, doughy but not gluttonous base it works so well. I can definitely see that this naples style pizza is suited to just how I like mine made.

We wash down our food with some drinks from the menu. For me it's a guava jarritos which is one of my favourite sodas at the moment. Jeremy chooses an Italian lemonade which is not overly sweet but oh so refreshing. Shame about how small the bottle is for the $3.50 price tag.

For my pizza choice, I choose the Pizza Provolone ($24). It's a white base pizza with fior di latte, a selection of all different mushrooms, smoked ham and shaved provolone. The cheese on this pizza is obviously thicker since that makes the base up too. But it's creamy and indulgent, and the ham is sweet and savoury all at the same time.

I really fell in love with this pizza - but mainly because of the mushrooms. They add such an amazing woodiness to the flavour palate and each bite bursts with intensity. Very yummy stuff.

I have to say, I really enjoyed our night out at Dough Pizza. The staff were friendly but not pushy; the older Italian lady (who I think may have been an owner) was the perfect mother figure for the venue and was incredibly sweet - even offering to wrap up our leftover slices to take home. Great service and food, there's not much more you can ask for.