Wednesday Nights at 400 Gradi

400 Gradi is famous on the mouths of Melbournians.

Standing as the flagship restaurant of the group, Johnny Di Francesco consistently showcases the cuisine of Naples, where seafood and especially wood-fired pizza eternally shine. The original megastar – the margherita pizza – originates from Naples and Di Francesco’s cleverly crafted version has championed as one of the best in the world. Having taken out the 2014 Italian Pizza World Championship crown, 400 Gradi know what they’re doing, and their confidence in their offering is only the beginning of what lies behind the revered doors on the top end of Lygon Street.

Aperitivo Night is their latest offering to pull in the crowds, held every Wednesday from 6.00 to 9.00pm and for $30 you will have full access to the aperitivo buffet and a complimentary drink of absolutely anything from cocktails to wine. After your first drink is down, all spritz are $12 a pop, which is a bonus considering aperitivo means an alcoholic beverage consumed prior to a meal to stimulate appetite and then a drink per plate according to the Italian tradition.

The buffet is set up by the bar, behind the main restaurant floor. We’re seated at a high bar table and the food is situated immediately to our right – almost within reaching distance. Our delightful, loving waiters attend to us hand and food and we could not feel more spoilt until the food starts to arrive.

I have two pieces of advice for those venturing to this banquet:

1. Do not eat any carbs during the day. You will well and truly get your fill from this meal.
2. Vegetarians beware – this is a meat fest.

There could not be any more kinds of pizza if they tried. To start, we had diamond-shaped calzones –coloured a delightful golden brown and filled with a mouth-watering roast chicken, spinach and feta mix – and a perfect sourdough, sliced generously and crowned with shaved meat. A fresh pasta salad with liberal lashings of basil, bocconcini and roasted tomatoes were a treat. Sitting in the crown position of centre stage is the most enormous dish of marinated olives, in all shapes and sizes, clearly designed for mass consumption and a small nibble to breakup all the chowing down on bread.

We couldn’t go past requesting a pizza as part of our nosh, even if it meant paying extra. Glowing acknowledgement has to go to this award-winning margherita pizza, which arrives wafting of cheese, basil and tomato and steam curling artistically into the air. It’s designed to be eaten quickly, to take advantage of the ingredients pooling warmly together over your tongue and biting into the sweet, soft dough is a song for the mouth. A caserta pizza is also placed on the bar for sampling, consisting of prosciutto, rocket, tomato and mozzarella but absolutely nothing can go past the simple excellence of that margherita.

400 Gradi is one of those places that will continue to speak for itself for many years to come. One visit is nowhere near enough; take a leaf out of my book and give the Aperitivo a shot, but go back just for a pizza of your own. And some antipasti. And then some dessert.

You won’t regret a thing.

400 Gradi
99 Lygon St Brunswick East
Monday to Thursday, 6pm–11pm, Friday to Sunday, 12pm–11pm.
400gradi.com.au