Little Caesars
It was our 22nd Monniversary when Bruce decided he'd take me to a mystery cafe for dinner. So we drove up Great Eastern Highway, ignoring all the food stops along the way until we reached Little Caesars in Mundaring.
It's an understated but packed little cafe. The counter is overrun by staff, and there are only three booths, and about 4-5 tables scattered inside the premises and on the sidewalk. If not for the reputation of this joint, you'd be forgiven for thinking this cafe was just another neighbourhood pizza parlour which is just trying its best to make ends meet.
But Little Caesars is anything but that. Looking at the wall, you see a menu for over 40 unconventional pizzas ( Red Chicken Curry or Oyster Kilpatrick anyone?) and 6 dessert pizzas. And that's just the regular menu. Just looking at all the combinations brought out the wannabe chef in me - it inspired me to try out my own new combinations at home instead of sticking to the usual combination of mediterranean vegetables.
On another wall of Little Caesars, you see awards. And no, these aren't just your national awards... but the Inaugural America's Plate from an International Pizza Show in New York proclaiming that the pizzas won BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD in various categories. You heard me right, this little cafe has beaten the pizza chefs of Italy. ALL of them.
Bruce and I shared two pizzas - a large savoury and a small dessert pizza. He chose the Smashing Pumpkin and I (naturally) chose the Mud Honey Pizza before we settled into the couched area at the corner.
The cafe has the feel of the 50s diner without the cliched retro trimmings. Perhaps the warm and friendly staff had a role to play in creating such an inviting atmosphere. The chef is also unlike the "too busy to socialise" chefs you get in most restaurants and greets patrons with humility - I didn't even realise he was the pizza maestro until I googled Little Caesars.
The first pizza arrived, perched on a raised, silver serving platter. I had never eaten a non tomato-based pizza before, so I was quite eager to sink my teeth into a piping hot slice of the Smashin Pumpkin - garlic cream sauce, mozzarella cheese, roasted cashews, butternut pumpkin in pesto, parmesan cheese and parsley.
Who knew nuts would go so well with pizza? The pumpkin was beautifully flavoured, although we reckoned that the sauce could have used a more liberal lashing of herbs. However, perhaps we were just a little thrown off by our first experience of a cream style pizza base. Overall, the pizza toppings were generous and well distributed.
The staff at Little Caesars must have perfected the art of precise timing. Five minutes after our serving platter was cleared of the Smashing Pumpkin pizza, came the award winning Mud Honey Pizza - chocolate mudcake on a pizza base with honey icing sugar, chocolate buttons and chocolate sauce. My mouth was watering... and I was still finishing off my last slice of Smashing Pumpkin! The sight of the chocolate sauce oozing out of the icing sugar covered mudcake, peppered with chocolate buttons was too much to bear.
I didn't expect the mudcake to actually be BAKED on top of the pizza crust! Biting into the pizza, you are convinced of it's award-worthiness; the only way you could make that pizza any richer was to use Lindt 70 or 85 percent cocoa chocolate bars. We could only manage 3 slices between us, and we took the resst home.
My only gripe about Little Caesars - it's too small!! Well, and the fact that it's all the way in Mundaring, which is about 30-40 minutes away from Perth. The chef refuses to open another outlet in Northbridge or the city - saying that he doesn't want competition from other chefs to hamper his creative ability and commitment to creating superb pizzas. And you just HAVE to respect his prioritising quality over profit.
So I guess we'll just have set forth to Mundaring to pay tribute to this pizza artist - not that I'm complaining of course.
Rating:
4 and a half out of 5
Items we wanted to try:
Red Chicken Curry Pizza - Mozarella Cheese, sweet potato, chicken, red curry sauce, coconut cream, onion and parsley.
The Don - Pizza sauce, Fremantle Sardines in Lemon, Myrtle, Mozzarella cheese, fresh tomato, fresh chives.
New York Pecan Pie - Butterscotch pudding mix, pecans, icing sugar, golden syrup, caramel sauce, pecan toffee.
Updates:
None yet.
Pop on over to:
Little Caesars
Shop 7, 7125 Great Eastern Highway
Mundaring
Phone: 92956611
It's an understated but packed little cafe. The counter is overrun by staff, and there are only three booths, and about 4-5 tables scattered inside the premises and on the sidewalk. If not for the reputation of this joint, you'd be forgiven for thinking this cafe was just another neighbourhood pizza parlour which is just trying its best to make ends meet.
But Little Caesars is anything but that. Looking at the wall, you see a menu for over 40 unconventional pizzas ( Red Chicken Curry or Oyster Kilpatrick anyone?) and 6 dessert pizzas. And that's just the regular menu. Just looking at all the combinations brought out the wannabe chef in me - it inspired me to try out my own new combinations at home instead of sticking to the usual combination of mediterranean vegetables.
On another wall of Little Caesars, you see awards. And no, these aren't just your national awards... but the Inaugural America's Plate from an International Pizza Show in New York proclaiming that the pizzas won BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD in various categories. You heard me right, this little cafe has beaten the pizza chefs of Italy. ALL of them.
Bruce and I shared two pizzas - a large savoury and a small dessert pizza. He chose the Smashing Pumpkin and I (naturally) chose the Mud Honey Pizza before we settled into the couched area at the corner.
The cafe has the feel of the 50s diner without the cliched retro trimmings. Perhaps the warm and friendly staff had a role to play in creating such an inviting atmosphere. The chef is also unlike the "too busy to socialise" chefs you get in most restaurants and greets patrons with humility - I didn't even realise he was the pizza maestro until I googled Little Caesars.
The first pizza arrived, perched on a raised, silver serving platter. I had never eaten a non tomato-based pizza before, so I was quite eager to sink my teeth into a piping hot slice of the Smashin Pumpkin - garlic cream sauce, mozzarella cheese, roasted cashews, butternut pumpkin in pesto, parmesan cheese and parsley.
Who knew nuts would go so well with pizza? The pumpkin was beautifully flavoured, although we reckoned that the sauce could have used a more liberal lashing of herbs. However, perhaps we were just a little thrown off by our first experience of a cream style pizza base. Overall, the pizza toppings were generous and well distributed.
The staff at Little Caesars must have perfected the art of precise timing. Five minutes after our serving platter was cleared of the Smashing Pumpkin pizza, came the award winning Mud Honey Pizza - chocolate mudcake on a pizza base with honey icing sugar, chocolate buttons and chocolate sauce. My mouth was watering... and I was still finishing off my last slice of Smashing Pumpkin! The sight of the chocolate sauce oozing out of the icing sugar covered mudcake, peppered with chocolate buttons was too much to bear.
I didn't expect the mudcake to actually be BAKED on top of the pizza crust! Biting into the pizza, you are convinced of it's award-worthiness; the only way you could make that pizza any richer was to use Lindt 70 or 85 percent cocoa chocolate bars. We could only manage 3 slices between us, and we took the resst home.
My only gripe about Little Caesars - it's too small!! Well, and the fact that it's all the way in Mundaring, which is about 30-40 minutes away from Perth. The chef refuses to open another outlet in Northbridge or the city - saying that he doesn't want competition from other chefs to hamper his creative ability and commitment to creating superb pizzas. And you just HAVE to respect his prioritising quality over profit.
So I guess we'll just have set forth to Mundaring to pay tribute to this pizza artist - not that I'm complaining of course.
Rating:
4 and a half out of 5
Items we wanted to try:
Red Chicken Curry Pizza - Mozarella Cheese, sweet potato, chicken, red curry sauce, coconut cream, onion and parsley.
The Don - Pizza sauce, Fremantle Sardines in Lemon, Myrtle, Mozzarella cheese, fresh tomato, fresh chives.
New York Pecan Pie - Butterscotch pudding mix, pecans, icing sugar, golden syrup, caramel sauce, pecan toffee.
Updates:
None yet.
Pop on over to:
Little Caesars
Shop 7, 7125 Great Eastern Highway
Mundaring
Phone: 92956611
posted by Nadie at 1:36:00 AM
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