Pizza Bros in a hugely popular pizza restaurant located on the rooftop level of the Imperial Hotel in Erskineville. The two brothers Joey and Marty stretch and turn out pizzas known for their incredible crust and creative toppings. And dogs are invited too so we bring along the world's no1 canine pizza fans Teddy & Milo Elliott to visit Pizza Bros!
"I'm sorry what?" I say to Joey, over the noise of the busy rooftop bar at The Imperial Hotel. "Your actual name is Joey Pepperoni?". "Yes I legally changed my name to Joey Pepperoni," and pointing to his brother says, "And he changed his to Marty McFly." The two brothers behind Pizza Bros let that sink in for a moment before telling me their mother wasn't too happy about it at the beginning but she has since changed her mind.
The story behind Pizza Bros is full of ups and downs amidst the backdrop of COVID for the last few years. The two brothers grew up in Newtown where Joey was kicked out of school at 16 - he started working full time with a Calabrese master pizzaiolo on Norton St in Leichhardt where he honed his craft for almost 10 years. However Joey realised that he needed his brother Marty to be part of the experience. At the time Marty was working in the fitness industry but eventually became convinced of the idea and went through a vigorous military-style pizza training to get him up to speed in a short time; after 12 months he was in charge of a 300 seat pizzeria.
Pizza Bros started in 2019 out of a mobile pizza truck in SE Queensland attending music festivals and events between Noosa & Gold Coast and lasted 12 months before the pandemic hit. The duo declared bankruptcy and came back to Sydney working as pizzaioli at Gigi’s, Lucio's, Westwood, Bella Brutta, Dimitris and the Dolphin Hotel. In 2023 Pizza Bros had a pop up at the Grifter Brewing Co. before moving to a permanent location at The Imperial Hotel in Erksineville.
Mr NQN, Teddy, Milo and I make our way up to the rooftop area of The Imperial. It is hot and steamy up here with overhead cables misting water over patrons like it is Big Day Out. In one corner are the duo in front of their enormous gold tiled pizza oven - this is a cheeky tribute to Kylie Minogue's gold hot pants.
Normally anything with Bros in the title might suggest machismo but the two are friendly and sweet. I mean you can't name yourself after a Back to the Future character and not have fun. It's always Joey on stretching and topping the pizzas while Marty works the paddles and cooks the pizzas. They can make anywhere between 100-350 pizzas a night and despite the grueling work and hot conditions the two say that they never fight. The menus are on the table and consist of 8 pizzas. The menu has classic pies like pepperoni (named Joey Pepperoni of course) but also creative ones like a Thai inspired pizza to the most popular pizza, the Cacio e Pepe.
This is the first pizza to come out and it's a beauty. I also recommend ordering the burrata to sit on top of it to make it a 4 cheese pizza. The Cacio e Pepe is topped with fior di latte cheese, double cream, black truffle, pecorino and parmesan. This is creamy and rich with the strong taste of black truffle and a generous shaving of parmesan after it comes out of the oven. When you split open the burrata it's makes it richer and creamier still. It's incredibly luscious but I'd recommend sharing this pizza because of the richness.
The Sassy Sausage is topped with fior di latte, pomodoro sugo, Wholebeast butchery salsicce and ricotta. It's hard to choose a favourite pizza but for Mr NQN it's this one with the balance of flavours. We both love Italian sausage and soft, creamy ricotta. And honestly nothing can do wrong with a base like theirs. For their bases they use a blend of Australian milled flours and imported Italian ‘00’. The dough is pre-fermented using a poolish or biga method and then bulk fermented and then cooked at 72 hours.
The Waterworld pizza is the one inspired by the brother's time living in Thailand. "We've never lived anywhere else or had other cultures influence us other than Thailand. All our friends are predominantly Thai and we speak Thai almost fluently," they say. This pizza is made with fior di latte, fermented chilli sauce, prawns and pancetta and it actually doesn't taste Thai, it's just a really tasty combo of flavours and that amazing crust. Mr NQN never eats his crusts but he happily eats every crumb of the pizzas as the crust edges are soft and puffy.
You just have to order the pizza named after one of the owners and also it's a classic. The pepperoni has fior di latte, pomodoro sugo, pepperoni and oregano. It's an absolutely delicious version bumped up from other pepperoni pizzas because of that crust. During the meal we'd be debating on which pizza we liked the best and while we loved them all the pepperoni has been the most eaten out of all of them.
And at the end Teddy and Milo Elliott got some soft pizza crusts. A victory for the world no 1 pizza fans and the tiniest Pizza Bros.
So tell me Dear Reader, do you think you could work with your sibling? Do you eat the pizza crusts?
Pizza Bros
35 Erskineville Rd, Erskineville NSW 2043
Wednesday to Friday 4–10 pm
Saturday & Sunday 12–10 pm
Monday and Tuesday closed
https://www.instagram.com/pizzabrosau/
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