Vacanza - Surry Hills

The beloved Bronte Road pizzeria has branched out, bringing their truly excellent pizzas to Surry Hills, along with a mozzarella bar if that's your thing.

The lights are low, the chatter is jovial and the pizza is excellent at the Surry Hills arm of Bronte’s favourite pizza parlour. Take a moment at the door 
to pay your respects to the fallen Hopetoun Hotel – its dark spectre looms 
just across the street from Vacanza – and then turn your mind to brighter things, like the fact that this place has its own buffalo mozzarella bar. You can get imported mozzarella or burrata straight up, or upgrade your pizza with Campania Garofalo buffalo mozzarella for a fiver. They have eight pizze on the menu that can be ordered bianchi (white) or rosso (red). The Brandi is as rigid as a military guard when it comes to following the rules for an AVPN-approved Margherita: six orbs of DOP cheese, a vermillion tomato base and four fresh basil leaves on top. The careful layout looks like an edible quilt piece, and straight out of the oven the bases here stay firm 
all the way to the centre. They adhere pretty strictly to the less-is-more philosophy: there’s no room for grandstanding from any one ingredient and tiger prawns (one per slice), chilli, cherry tomatoes and fior di latte cheese are all applied with a steady, measured hand. Bourke Street always makes for great people-watching, but at Vacanza the best seats in the house are the ones where you can watch the pizza being made.