La Disfida Pizzeria, Haberfield, Sydney

There's only one thing you come to La Disfida for, and that's the pizza.

We're talking thin crust pizzas dressed with only a smattering of topping, and baked in a traditional wood-fired oven.

A firm favourite with locals, La Disfida is the family-run pizzeria well-suited for families as well as BYO wine-toting couples. Timber floorboards and bare wooden tables cluster around the open-style kitchen, pizzas shovelled in and out the fiery furnace in rapid succession.


Bocconcini speck $10.00

The only non-pizza items on the menu--a laminated and concise one-pager--appear in the handful of stuzzichini, or appetisers, and even then, garlic pizza is there for the taking.

At my behest, we orderthe bocconcini speck, a dish I'd enjoyed so much on my last visit over four years ago, but still crystal clear in my gustatory memory.



Oh it's every bit as good as I remembered. The oval dish holds a molten lake of mozzarella cheese, four scrolls of speck sail across the top, a series of toothpicks acting as masts, the speck slightly charred from the oven.

The bocconcini is relentlessly stretchy, a non-stop trail of cheese determinedly following each attempt at separation. We're forced to play with our food, in a moment that brings the child out in each of us.


Bruschetta $12.00

Bruschetta is all the salad we require tonight. Thick rustic slices of toasted ciabatta bread are the perfect vehicle for the dice of juicy red tomatoes dressed simply with olive oil and finely diced basil leaves.


Bruschetta


Pizza diavola $22.00
Tomato, mozzarella, olives, hot salame, anchovies and chilli

The pizza diavola has more heat than I'd expected, discs of hot salami combining with the liberal use of chilli powder for a slow crescendo of chilli that happily smoulders on the tongue. Olives and anchovy add a briney salty flavour.


Pizza Santa Maria $22.00
Tomato, mussels, garlic, octopus, parsley, olive oil

The arrival of the Santa Maria chases away any nightmare encounters of seafood pizzas containing bland and watery marinara mixes. This version is adorned simply with a tangle of octopus and six mussels fanning out from the middle like flower petals.


Freshly cooked mussel

The marinated octopus would bring joy to any salad. It's tender and soft and slightly vinegared. The mussels are freshly cooked and opened, the creamy flesh swaddled in its natural juices.


The crust

And one can't have pizza without checking the base. It's reassuringly crisp and slightly blistered.


Roasted chestnuts

The waitress stops by with a surprise complimentary serve of roasted chestnuts fresh from the oven. Hot and toasted, the skins slip off easily. It's a lovely gesture of goodwill and the perfect homestyled end to our meal.




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La Disfida Pizzeria
109 Ramsay Street, Haberfield, Sydney
Tel: +61 (02) 9798 8299

Opening hours:
Tuesday to Sunday 6pm - 10.30pm

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