Origano

Thin-crust and crispy wood-fired pizza made the traditional Italian way is the forte in the kitchen at Origano, a pizzeria down McEvoy Street in Alexandria. That said, Origano throws open its doors at 7am, seven days a week for those looking for a good European-style breakfast of pastries, croissants and top-notch coffee in this part of Sydney. But it’s the lunch and dinner hours that have guests crowding in for premium pizzas made with freshly prepared dough, judicious toppings, and baked in a carefully-controlled pizza oven. Origano also offers a number of authentic Italian pasta dishes and great meal deals for those on a budget.

Origano’s range of traditionally prepared Italian pizzas run the gamut from Neapolitan classics like the margherita and marinara to innovative toppings like marinated garlic prawns, crispy pancetta, mushrooms, coriander, chilli sauce and, yes, oregano for the Dynamite or marinated grilled chicken breast, mushroom, grilled capsicum and basil pesto on the Destroyer. Really unusual options like the Dyaush (otherwise known, curiously, as ‘the sky father’) combine grilled chicken with goats’ cheese, honey and pine nuts, while the similarly Vedic-sounding Durga (‘energy of mother’) is a vegetarian option consisting of pumpkin marinated in honey, tomatoes, bocconcini, garlic and fresh basil. It’s combos like this that have made this Alexandria pizzeria’s name among pizza buffs from across Sydney.

Meat lovers in Sydney and Alexandria are advised to head to Origano’s McEvoy Street headquarters to try their take on the carnivorous classic, named here the Soma and topped with smoked ham, pepperoni, chorizo, pancetta with a homemade chili sauce and, yes, oregano. This pizza is essentially an Italian charcuterie platter conveniently placed on a pizza base and fused together with molten cheese in the oven, which incidentally is allowed to heat up for hours before being used for optimal temperature control. Be sure to book some space at Origano if you’d like to get a table because it’s often hard to get a table here because it’s so popular.