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Queen Margherita of Savoy

Angie Schiavone

Irresistible: Lovers of Neapolitan-style pizza have a new hot spot.
Irresistible: Lovers of Neapolitan-style pizza have a new hot spot.Sahlan Hayes

Italian$$

Attention, lovers of Neapolitan-style pizza. There's a new spot in Sydney doing the irresistible thin-based beauties. Named for the queen who as legend has it inspired the Italian flag-coloured tomato-mozzarella-basil topped pizza, Cronulla's Queen Margherita of Savoy boasts two pizzaiolo trained and accredited by Italy's Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana.

One of these Neapolitan-pizza masters is a stalwart of Cronulla's dining scene, Lee Carroll, who earlier this year completed the AVPN's intensive course and in May opened the pizzeria. Carroll is also in the process of getting the Naples stamp of approval for the venue itself, which all going to plan, will make the beach 'burb eatery Sydney's fifth AVPN accredited pizzeria (joining Aperitivo, Gigi, Lucio Pizzeria and Pizza Mario).

But what does this all mean? To sticklers it means certain rules relating to every step of the pizza making process are met – from the ingredients (including '00' type flour from Campagna), to the oven (theirs is wood-fired and imported from Naples), and the precise cooking time and temperature. To hungry punters it means deliciously chewy, puffy-edged pizza with minimal, high quality toppings.

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Puffy-edged perfection: The classic margherita.
Puffy-edged perfection: The classic margherita.Sahlan Hayes

Given the restaurant's name it seems essential to order the classic margherita with buffalo mozzarella. The edges are char-spotted and the vibrant red tomato sauce is sweet and rich. It's cut into quarters and the huge slices disappear in a flash.

We make quick work of a funghi pizza bianca too, with mushroom, fior di latte, garlic and thyme, plus a plate of supple, lightly fried calamari, and a bowl of linguine with prawns, vongole, mussels and cherry tomato, tossed in olive oil, parsley and garlic. It's addictively salty and the seafood spanking fresh.

There are also antipasti options, more pizza and pasta (including house-made gnocchi), and a brief dessert menu. We can't quite stretch ourselves to end on a Nutella calzone, but a bocce ball-sized scoop of chocolate gelato supplied by Frangipani – the gelateria just around the corner on Cronulla Street – hits the spot.

Service – led by Carroll's wife Sharon and backed up by a team of young Italian men – is speedy and as warm as the room itself, which is decked out in copper, dark timber and a chequerboard floor. It's a casual, comfortable place and the perfect way to cap off a day at Cronulla beach – a top Aussie prelude to a satisfying Italian feed.

THE LOW-DOWN
DO: 
enjoy the royal treatment (aka, a margherita pizza).
DON'T: BYO, choose something Italian from the beer and wine list.
DISH:  margherita pizza.
VIBE: all-ages beach 'burb chill with Neapolitan char.

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