Picking Up The Pizzas

Newcastle Herald

Saturday June 7, 2008

JENNY TARRAN

Sometimes you just have those weeks when everything seems to be muddled up.

Ours included sick kids, work deadlines and real estate nightmares and neither Fabio nor I were happy about finishing off the working week by heading into the kitchen to cook.

Thank goodness there is plenty of takeaway to be had in Newcastle and we were both keen to find out how APK on Beaumont Street, Hamilton, had changed.

APK was renowned for its pizzas but the past few years have been relatively quiet. Late last year the restaurant was bought by David Gregor, the owner and chef from Impact Espresso across the road, who went into partnership with several partners.

Since taking over the corner site, Gregor has been working with the staff, overhauling the menu, and taking APK back to what it originally was. A great place for casual food and coffee and gourmet pizzas.

Once again you can get a Kilpatrick pizza $16.50 small and $24.95 large with fresh Pacific oysters, double smoked honey bacon, house semi-dried tomato and bocconcini.

While we wanted the oysters, the kids usually turn their nose up at seeing the shell on the food, so for them we grabbed a Spanish paella pizza with spicy chorizo sausage, chicken breast, prawns, garlic and roasted tomato, $22.50, and a Greek lamb, $22.50, with marinated lamb fillets, capsicum, garlic, fetta and oregano.

While we wanted the Kilpatrick we knew that the seafood marinara, $23.50, was also good so we splashed out and grabbed a pizza topped with prawns, barramundi, squid, scallops, pesto and tomato, finished with fresh parmesan.

Yes there is a definite seafood bent in our house, but APK has more than just delights of the sea.

There are tandoori chicken pizzas, meat lovers, mediterranean, vegetarian, Italian meatball, chicken Caesar, margherita and tex mex to choose from. They available in small and large sizes.

The end result was happy kids in the lounge room, lying on the floor and groaning about being so full as we sat on the lounge sipped a glass and savoured the seafood.

Jenny was a guest of the restaurant.

QUICK BITE

What: APK, Australian Pizza Kitchen, 86 Beaumont Street, Hamilton.

Prices: From $10 to $24.50.

Chef: David Gregor.

Wines: BYO.

Food and wine match: We grabbed a bottle of Matua Valley Hawkes Bay Sav Blanc for the marinara.

Coffee: Peaberrys.

Functions: Large groups catered for.

Open: Breakfast, lunch and dinner, seven days.

Bookings: 4969 8334.

VERDICT

If you want a great pizza without the oil running down your hands and arms, then APK is a great destination. While there are plenty of other meals on the menu you can't go past the wood-fired pizzas. You can dine in or, as we did, take away.

© 2008 Newcastle Herald

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