Herald rating: * * * *
Address: 316 Main Rd, Huapai
Phone: 09 412 8644
Open: Wed-Sun, 3pm-8pm
Anyone who has been to Italy will have their own story of encountering a real Italian pizza for the first time and realising that, in New Zealand, we've been sold phonies for years with all that cheese, tomato puree and sometimes even pineapple. In Italy the focus for pizza is on great dough for the base, topped minimally with a few fresh ingredients - crushed tomatoes, maybe some torn basil and buffalo mozzarella - drizzled with olive oil and cooked at extremely high temperatures in a wood-fired oven.
Dante's Real Woodfired Pizza in Huapai understands this approach. Four years ago owners Kevin and Tanya Morris took up the challenge to offer authentic Naples-style pizza in Auckland. They set up shop in Huapai and then went about the gruelling process of gaining membership into the prestigious culinary institute known as Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (VPN). It took more than a year and Kevin made several trips to Italy to prove his worth and expertise. Tasting their pizza, you have to say, it was worth the effort.
Their menu offers three pizzas that have been certified and given D.O.C. (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) status and these sit proudly at the top of the menu.
We were two very hungry mountain bikers returning from a late afternoon ride so ordered one each - the DOC-certified Queen Margherita with its topping of crushed tomatoes, fresh mozzarella di bufala, fresh basil and olive oil and the Isle of Capri with a topping of crushed tomatoes, mozzarella, salami, black olives, capers and salted anchovy fillets. We then got nervous that our hunger was too huge for only two pizzas so added the Quattro Stagione, which had tomatoes, mozzarella, cured ham, artichokes, black olives and fresh mushrooms. We watched, salivating, as each pizza was hand-crafted before being slid into the wood-fired oven to cook.
The pizza boxes that these beauties are served in are emblazoned with 800 degrees/90 seconds referring to the temperature that the oven reaches and the unbelievably short time they take to cook them fully. This is fast food at its best.
Our pizzas emerged with the trademark charred bits where the wood firing had blistered the dough, and the toppings bubbling. The first bites had us groaning in pleasure at the burst of flavour from the olive oil, the basil and the dough with just the right amount of crisp versus chewy texture.
My favourite was the Queen Margherita for its intense simplicity and the reminder of the best we'd had in Naples. The biking pal preferred the Isle of Capri with its capers and salty anchovies. The Quattro Stagione deviated a bit too far from the Italian staple for our tastes - too many toppings - and I could have sworn the mushrooms were canned.
To accompany our pizza feast we enjoyed citrus sodas in those cute little glass bottles and a tub of latte machiato gelato, which disappeared at an alarming rate.
Dante's is small and geared up for the takeaway trade but we were made to feel more than welcome as we perched by the high table and dined in.
We were smittened and I doubt it'll be a week before we're out there again, under the guise of "going mountain biking".
Cuisine: Genuine woodfired pizza
Drinks: Selection of cute Italian fizzies
From the menu: Queen Margherita $19, Isle of Capri $19, Quattro Stagione $20, drinks $3.50 each, large tub of latte macchiato gelato $14.
