La Disfida, Haberfield

Whilst Napoli in Bocca is famous for its soft-cooked thicker crust pizzas, La Disfida serves up its polar opposite--pizzas with bases rolled out so thinly that crispiness and delicateness go hand-in-hand.

It's a Friday night and although it's still fairly early at 7pm, La Disfida is already starting to fill up with hungry patrons. There's a modern warm wood-and-brick feel to the place, with none of the red-and-white-checked-tablecloth kitschness of Napoli in Bocca.

A large woodfire oven dominates the groundfloor, the pizzas are being churned out at a furious pace, and the general buzz of conversation both downstairs and from tables overhead echo warmly throughout.


Action stations at the pizza prep bench.

As we waited for our orders to arrive, we had a stickybeak at the woodfire oven, admiring the dexterity and skill involved in propelling flimsy raw pizzas into a hot oven using a giant wooden paddle.


If you squint you can just make out the three pizzas at the back of the oven.


Bocconcini speck $9.00


This was surprisingly tasty, the melted bocconcini stretching endlessly into soft lassos and contrasting well with the crispy salted speck. The toothpicks were a little overwhelmed by the job though (we ended up using forks, and ok, we confess, fingers too) and we were already thinking ahead about the feasability/ease-ability of doing this one at home.


Spaghetti della casa $13.50
Rugola (roquette), prosciutto, fresh tomatoes, garlic, chilli and olive oil

When pasta is good, it's very very good and this one was definitely a winner. I love al dente pasta cooked just-so, and this stuff was devilishly more-ish. The explosion of flavours, the firmness of the pasta, the freshness of the rocket and the hint of chilli was all good baby, all good.


Disfida pizza $18.00
Tomato, mozzarella, ham, smoked mozzarella, olives, anchovies and capers


Barletta pizza $18.00
Tomato, mozzarella, prosciutto, basil, pepper and olive oil

You can see from the photo of the Barletta pizza how thin the crust is. The base was dry and so crispy it was almost like eating pizza made from Lebanese bread. Toppings are sparing here (although the bases probably couldn't cope with much topping anyway) and the menu clearly states that there are to be no topping variations or half-and-half pizzas.

If you like your pizzas thin and crispy then this place is heaven. Ooh and don't forget the pasta.

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La Disfida
109 Ramsay Street, Haberfield
Tel: 02 9798 8299

Pizza and sides menu
Pasta, salads and desserts menu

Wed-Sun 6pm-10.30pm

Related GrabYourFork posts:
La Disfida Pizzeria (Jul09)

Haberfield - Napoli in Bocca
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