Young Alfred
Customs House, 31 Alfred St
Circular Quay, NSW 2000
$$$–
Had lunch with a girl friend earlier this week. Choice of venue was Young Alfred. Famous for their gourmet pizzas, I was initially thinking that it meant really thin pizzas with not much topping, as from my previous experience with most gourmet pizzerias. I was so wrong!
Anyway, it was pretty packed when we arrived, as it’s popular with the office lunchtime crowd. It has a casual atmosphere but at approx $20 per pizza, it’s certainly not an el cheapo place 😉 We promptly ordered and a few minutes later, the waitress came round with 2 plates of what looked like bruschetta. We told her we didn’t order it, so she took it back.. only to return a few seconds later saying, “It’s on the house” We were delighted, you can’t go wrong with free food! 😀 However, I noticed no other table seemed to have scored this freebie, so we decided that the kitchen probably accidently made an extra or something. It was Bruschetta with marinated mushrooms, cheese and spinach leaves, drizzled with balsamic vinegar. The dish tasted mild, which brought out the flavour of the mushrooms.. and it was a nice, non-filling appetiser. However, the edges of the bread was a bit burnt, which is a no-no.
For our mains, we had Pizza with sliced potato, caramelised onions, gorgonzola cheese, rosemary which was my choice. I’m a carbaholic and am almost constantly craving carbs. The pizza obviously appealed for that very reason 😉 It was COMPLETELY DIVINE!!!!! I think I’d rank it up there as one of the best pizzas I’d ever had. It was bursting with flavour and the mild potato went so well with the sweet caramelised onions, off-set by the strong gorgonzola cheese. Totally luscious.
We also got the Pizza with prosciutto and marinated mushrooms and olive tapenade that I was eyeing because of the marinated mushrooms. Happily, it came laden with mushrooms and slices of real prosciutto, not those little bacon bits so many pizza places love to use. The pizza sounds salty, but it wasn’t at all.. just really tasty :)~
No dessert as we were too full, but I’ve marked it as a must-revisit place, and am really keen to bring Chris back there. The pizzas really are stellar, and worth every cent since they’re packed with quality ingredients. Yum!
Young Alfred @ Customs House
Bruschetta with marinated mushrooms, cheese and spinach leaves, drizzled with balsamic vinegar
Pizza with sliced potato, caramelised onions, gorgonzola cheese, rosemary
Pizza with prosciutto and marinated mushrooms and olive tapenade
After living in Italy for six months I am now SUPER picky about my “gourmet” pizza. Also I’ve found that some things really just shouldn’t go on pizza (duck, bok choy and crispy noodles?? WTF??)
I heard that a lot of places don’t make their own bases (shame!) and just buy ready made ones (boo!), could you tell if they did or not? Usually the base just tastes that much fresher and more delicious. Do you know if they do??
Also I’m coming up to Sydney on Sunday for a few days, is there any restaurant you really recommend I should try that isn’t too expensive? Under $20 per person for a filling meal I mean. Doesn’t have to be a really nice place, just good food! 🙂 Otherwise I might go through some of your older entries! 🙂
Yeah, so many places call theirs “gourmet pizza” but generally it’s just flat pizza with not much toppings (and not great quality too). Hrmph. Dunno about the base.. I was more intrested in the ingredients, hehe!
Id’ recommend Kingsleys for steak or Kobe Jones for Jap/western fusion.. those are the 2 best places in the city IMHO! But a bit over $20pp.. worth it though 🙂 Otherwise, Chinatown food is alwas a winner!
That prosciutto pizza looks amazing. I had prosciutto for the first time last week and it was also on a pizza. Delicious!
I love it wrapped around chicken and baked too – that’s so nice!
Mmm that potato pizza looks so heavenly. Damn you!
It was yummmmmmmy :)~ I love carbs!
not a big fan of prosciutto, but everything else looks divine!
oops, that’s me 🙂
Really?! You don’t like bacon in general, or just that? I love sausages/bacon/etc… mmmm… :)~
That must be some crazy good pizza for $20 a pie. It certainly looks delicious!
Ya it was $$ but had so much toppings and tasted so good that I’d still go back 😛
Me wants some of those pizzas now! They look SO good, especially since I’ve not yet had lunch today!
Hee, I really liked them! Def one of the best pizzas I had.. PIzza Hut, etc, seem so yuck now :X
Oooh yeah, gourmet pizzas are gooooood. I actually made one last week with sliced potato, but man, do I wish I’d had some caramelised onions and gorgonzola to put on it! I did have some rocket and cashew pesto and that went quite well.
Have you tried Arthur’s? There’s one at Paddington and at Bondi Junction. My fave there is a potato and gogonzola! They do it a bit different though, the potatoes are pan-fried beforehand then added to the pizza. Soooo good! The only thing is (and I didn’t think this was possible for me, being a huge cheese lover!) they sometimes use ust a bit too much cheese!
Ya I’ve been to the one at Paddington i think, but that was so longggg ago. The pizzas we had had really little cheese, which was good. And even though we had 1 each, we didn’t feel stuffed at all, like you would with a PIzza Hut pizza
oh, the pizza and bruschetta look so DELICIOUS!!!!! 🙂
~~~ drooling ~~~
The food really was super, I’ll def be back! You should come to Sydney for a visit sometime 🙂
Yum, everything looks like it tastes so good and I like how it is presented as well. Gorgonzola cheese is the best. I love the strong flavour.
I agree, presentation is a big deal.. I do judge a book by it’s cover when it comes to food 😉
After living in Italy for six months I am now SUPER picky about my “gourmet” pizza. Also I’ve found that some things really just shouldn’t go on pizza (duck, bok choy and crispy noodles?? WTF??)
I heard that a lot of places don’t make their own bases (shame!) and just buy ready made ones (boo!), could you tell if they did or not? Usually the base just tastes that much fresher and more delicious. Do you know if they do??
Also I’m coming up to Sydney on Sunday for a few days, is there any restaurant you really recommend I should try that isn’t too expensive? Under $20 per person for a filling meal I mean. Doesn’t have to be a really nice place, just good food! 🙂 Otherwise I might go through some of your older entries! 🙂
Yeah, so many places call theirs “gourmet pizza” but generally it’s just flat pizza with not much toppings (and not great quality too). Hrmph. Dunno about the base.. I was more intrested in the ingredients, hehe!
Id’ recommend Kingsleys for steak or Kobe Jones for Jap/western fusion.. those are the 2 best places in the city IMHO! But a bit over $20pp.. worth it though 🙂 Otherwise, Chinatown food is alwas a winner!
That prosciutto pizza looks amazing. I had prosciutto for the first time last week and it was also on a pizza. Delicious!
I love it wrapped around chicken and baked too – that’s so nice!
Mmm that potato pizza looks so heavenly. Damn you!
It was yummmmmmmy :)~ I love carbs!
not a big fan of prosciutto, but everything else looks divine!
oops, that’s me 🙂
Really?! You don’t like bacon in general, or just that? I love sausages/bacon/etc… mmmm… :)~
That must be some crazy good pizza for $20 a pie. It certainly looks delicious!
Ya it was $$ but had so much toppings and tasted so good that I’d still go back 😛
Me wants some of those pizzas now! They look SO good, especially since I’ve not yet had lunch today!
Hee, I really liked them! Def one of the best pizzas I had.. PIzza Hut, etc, seem so yuck now :X
Oooh yeah, gourmet pizzas are gooooood. I actually made one last week with sliced potato, but man, do I wish I’d had some caramelised onions and gorgonzola to put on it! I did have some rocket and cashew pesto and that went quite well.
Have you tried Arthur’s? There’s one at Paddington and at Bondi Junction. My fave there is a potato and gogonzola! They do it a bit different though, the potatoes are pan-fried beforehand then added to the pizza. Soooo good! The only thing is (and I didn’t think this was possible for me, being a huge cheese lover!) they sometimes use ust a bit too much cheese!
Ya I’ve been to the one at Paddington i think, but that was so longggg ago. The pizzas we had had really little cheese, which was good. And even though we had 1 each, we didn’t feel stuffed at all, like you would with a PIzza Hut pizza
oh, the pizza and bruschetta look so DELICIOUS!!!!! 🙂
~~~ drooling ~~~
The food really was super, I’ll def be back! You should come to Sydney for a visit sometime 🙂
Yum, everything looks like it tastes so good and I like how it is presented as well. Gorgonzola cheese is the best. I love the strong flavour.
I agree, presentation is a big deal.. I do judge a book by it’s cover when it comes to food 😉