Nothing suss at this Bordello (Pizzeria, Blackburn)

Bordello Pizzeria
61-63 Railway Road
Blackburn
http://www.bordellopizzeria.com.au/ – not very informative as of yet… hence I’ve uploaded the menus during this post if you have a magnifying glass to read them.

There’s a famous site in Blackburn, just on the roundabout, on the ‘wrong side of the tracks’ – well, the northern side. It’s hosted bad businesses galore. The previous incarnation was a Mexican joint which had uniformly bad reviews and locals I know who’d tried it out ended up with food poisoning. Taco Bill opened up the road, and it’s sad to say this because I’m not a fan of Taco Bill’s, but at least it promptly put Pancho’s out of its misery.

Starters, antipasti and salads… I can read Italian!

Unlucky, Pancho’s.

Lucky for Blackburn locals at any rate, because a new joint has opened up in the exact same location – Bordello Pizzeria, promising authentic woodfired pizzas and a cool fit-out. Mum suggested we have my family birthday dinner there, and at first I was a little hesitant: would the Curse of Railway Road strike again? Would this place be shiiiiiiit? Reviews, such as they were available (we went six days after it opened!) were uniformly positive (all eight of them on Urbanspoon) so we took the chance and made a booking.

Main dishes if you don’t feel like pizza (pfft!)

Lucky we did, because the pent-up demand in Blackburn for a nice woodfired pizza must be outstanding. When we went in (a Thursday night) the place was packed! Word gets around quickly in these parts.

Pizza menu, Bordello (I’m missing the second page though!)

The menu offers other Italian dishes, entrees, pasta & risotto, but given the presence of a largish group and the giant woodfired oven in the restaurant, we were never going to order anything other than pizza. The photographic roll call is scattered throughout this post.

Fiuli pizza: tomato, fior di latte, San Daniele prosciutto, rocket, grana padano, fresh buffalo mozzarella

The pizzas are divided into first, second and third generation: first being DOP pizzas from Naples made using traditional methods and ingredients; the second generation are “inspired by regions of Italy” – some good gourmet ones in here – and the third generation are the combos that Bordello have made up – also great.

Gardegna?: Lamb, goats cheese, fresh tomatoes, olives, rapini  – sorry, I forgot to make a note of the menu for the name of this one! Delish though.

To a person, we really liked our pizzas. Thin, chewy, slightly charred but not too much, the woodfired bases were really really good. The variety of toppings means that there is a pizza to suit everyone here, even the Italy aficionados who only want to eat traditional toppings (I fall into the any-pizza-any-time camp!). The prices are fine for the gourmet woodfired market, with most around the $18 mark and some nudging $22 with premium ingredients.

Tomato, pork fennel sausage, roast red peppers, fresh chilli, grana padano, fior di latte. This one was hot!

Service-wise, the place is still finding its feet (wait staff not entirely confident with who ordered what and the names of the dishes, but, I must stress again we went six days after opening). Also, when it’s cold outside, try not to get seated near the door – the front, or the door that leads to the outside toilets! C-c-cold drafts ensue.

Spuntino? I think: a bianca pizza with spec, pork fennel sausage, fior di latte and garlic sauteed-rapini

We left feeling very happy with the hospitality though because they picked up on one of the pizzas not quite being up to scratch as they brought it to the table (it had a hole in the base in the centre, but we hadn’t noticed yet!) and gave us an entirely new pizza … as well as leaving the old one with us to eat! Mr B and I polished off that second pizza for dinner the next day since they let us take it home in a box, so this truly is a place that keeps on giving.

Another bianca pizza, with potato, fior di latte, gorgonzola, fresh rosemary and caramelised onion

I really enjoyed our meal! Blackburn has been hanging out for this kind of place, and i’m only annoyed that it’s going to be super popular and I’ll probably have to book if I want to go back.

…And I didn’t get to try the sweet pizzas, due to a birthday cake sitting at my parents house instead, so I’ll definitely be back.

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