Video
Read full review
2011-12-23
20 views
For photos, please visit Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow: http://rubbisheatrubbishgrow.wordpress.com/2011/12/23/crust-pizza-upper-thomson/While Chef Peter Augoustis was studying to be an aviation engineer, he was making pizza as a part-time job. In 2001, in Australia, his cousin asked him to help in a pizza joint. In 2007, Chef Augoustis entered a nationwide pizza competition and came in tops! The competition organization sponsored him to Vegas for the World’s Best Pizza – he won and then spent the win
While Chef Peter Augoustis was studying to be an aviation engineer, he was making pizza as a part-time job. In 2001, in Australia, his cousin asked him to help in a pizza joint. In 2007, Chef Augoustis entered a nationwide pizza competition and came in tops! The competition organization sponsored him to Vegas for the World’s Best Pizza – he won and then spent the winnings at Vegas! Hey, it’s only world’s best pizza right No big deal. Don’t need to rush down here. In ten years or so, Crust Pizza has 100 over outlets in Australia and two in Singapore, Holland Village and Upper Thomson. The success is insane!The decor of the place is – well – fuss-free, neighborhood eatery lor. The open concept makes it friendly but I wish there were aircon.
Some pizzerias claim to be fusion food by, say, just adding jalapenos and calling it Mexican pizza. But the idea behind of Crust Pizza is that it truly reinvents the notion of a pizza; it cooperates the food from a certain culture. For instance, the Roast Duck Pizza($22, duck breast, bak choy, sesame seed on hoisin base) and Five Spice Pork Belly($23, pear slices, wild rocket, crushed walnuts & balsamic glaze) are invented in Singapore and brought back to Australia.
The bad thing about having an event and a food tasting at the same time is we couldn’t take proper notes, so we are not commenting much about the food.
There are four types of pizzas: meat ($23, including pork, lamb & beef), poultry ($22),seafood ($25) and vegetarian ($21). Mr NGFL and Wise Guy tried one from each category.
Wild Mushroom ($21, wild marinated mushroom mix, asparagus, pine nuts, topped with parmesan & truffle oil on Bechamel cream sauce base). There are a few vegetarian options. The wild mushroom pizza has a distinctive, powerful taste of wild mushrooms. You really can taste the wildness or wilderness in the mushroom.
Moroccan Lamb ($23, Moroccan lamb, spanish onions & baby spinach, with mint yoghurt & lemon). This is the pizza that won the Best Pizza in the World. It was very delicious, and certainly reminded Mr NGFL and Wise Guy of lamb kebab, very Arabian. The flavors worked very well together and there wasn’t the stench of lamb. We can’t say in all honesty that it is the best pizza we have ever tasted but it was very excellent. This is a must order if you’re a kebab fan.
Spicy Pesto Scallops ($25, spicy sundried tomato pesto, scallops, spring onions, roasted red peppers & goat cheese with pine nuts). This was not memorable for us probably because pizzas (as dough) tend to dilute the taste and you need a strong seafood (like salmon) to make the pizza stand out.
Peri-Peri Chicken ($22, Marinated chicken breast, spring onions, roasted red peppers, caramelised onions & bocconcini (Italian white cheese) with Peri-peri sauce.) Now Joanne Peh doesn’t need to stomp out of Nando’s. She can do it at Crust Pizza. This is another favorite of ours. It was moist and the flavors came on strongly, sweet and spicy with a creaminess. If you have a second pizza, order this.
Kungpow Chicken ($22). Spicy-hot, decent and easy on the eyes. My one minor gripe is it markets itself as kungpow chicken. It’s hoisin-sauce with fresh red chili and cashews but it’s not dried-chili, sweet-sauce, stir-fried amalgam. It’s good by itself but it just isn’t kungpow-derful.
One of the important criteria for judging a pizza is the crust. Here, the crust is dusted with semolina, a coarse flour-like wheat substance, giving it that oomph and texture. The chef also revealed to us a secret: poke the crust with a fork: this enables the air to go through, fluffing it up, and giving it an airiness.
Overall, all the 5 pizzas ranged from good to excellent.
Post
