Pirate pizza

I had driven past Il Pirata Caffe a few times before I finally had occasion to visit and, right down to the website without contact details and the feisty Italian owner-operator, it didn’t disappoint.

It’s a curious place, laden with pirate paraphernalia of all descriptions, from a variety of cultures. One of the most outstanding features for me was the bamboo servery. In fact, bamboo featured more prominently than most other mediums throughout the restaurant. I kept looking over my shoulder for Gilligan but he never arrived. I didn’t really understand the picture of the-man-in-Speedos-and-not-much-else hanging on the wall. Maybe that question will be answered at my next visit.

All quirks aside, Il Pirata makes an awesome pizza.

My dining partner ordered the Dei Pirati, a spicy and incredibly moreish combination of salami, black olives, chilli and mozzarella on a tomato base.

I asked our host to recommend a pizza for me and he pointed out the Tayla pizza, a recent menu addition with four different cheeses (mozzarella, bocconcini, ricotta, parmesan), cherry tomatoes and basil.

We chose different drinks; while my dining partner selected safety in a birra Italiana (Castello), I decided to brave the nondescript “house red.” As the cork was rather loose in the bottle, I strongly suspect that the house red was not the Chianti it claimed to be, however it was eminently drinkable — and perfect with the pizza.

At $53, our needs to dine out and eat pizza were both sated. The pizza bases were thin and expansive, the toppings fresh and plentiful. There were even sufficient leftovers for lunch the next day. I declared the foodly adventure an unequivocal success.

If you are ever pizza-hungry while near Sackville Terrace in Doubleview, call into Il Pirata. Who knows, if you happen to be there on a cold Tuesday night, you may find you have an entire restaurant to yourselves.

H 🙂