Luigi Esposito grew up in Naples and from a very early age, learned the art of Neapolitan pizza when he worked with his nonna selling pizza fritta to locals. He went on to work in pizzerias around Naples and then the world before deciding to come to Sydney. In the 11 years he has been here, he has opened four successful pizza restaurants, earned the title of best Neapolitan style pizza in Sydney and next Tuesday is excited to be opening The Amalfi Way on Woolloomooloo Wharf. The Amalfi Way is a celebration of the beautiful food and atmosphere he experienced on holidays with his family on the coast of Italy. We may not be able to visit Italy for real for some time, but Luigi's restaurant looks like an incredible alternative.
Hi Luigi.
Yes, bella.
How are you? Tell me whats happening in Sydney today, whats the weather like?
The weather is amazing. It's like summer and outside The Amalfi Way looks like you are really in Sorrento.
Perfect. How beautiful. I'm in Melbourne and its sunny, but not quite there. Were making an effort but were not quite there with anythingI've seen the photos of The Amalfi Way and it does look beautiful with beautiful views of the sea, which will be perfect for the people dining there. But can we just go back and learn a bit more about you, Luigi? Usually when I have conversations with chefs, I like to get a background as to how they got into cooking and I can see that you started a long time ago with your love affair with food.
That's right. I was 11 years old when I started cooking with my grandmother. Unfortunately not much school. But my family was very poor. My grandmother was living in the city of Naples and when I was the age of 11, it was a kind of choice for me to go and live with her and learn the hospitality industry. At that time, it was a bit different to today but that was my lifes starting point. My grandmother had a pizzeria in Naples and thats where I started my career until I was 15 or 16 years oldand I travelled a little bit in Italy to the Amalfi Coast and Capri and worked in a couple of restaurants when I was a young boy and then by the age of 19 I moved to Germany and then to Spain and Miami and all around the world, learning as much as I can about this industry. The hospitality industry is hard but the more you move around, the more you can learn, it never ends. You can always learn more about pizza or restaurants. To have a restaurant, its not just about being a chef or being a pizza chef, or being a waiter, you need to know about the logistics of the restaurant industry.
Absolutely. It must have been so different, especially going to somewhere like Germany after Naples, it would be a very different experience.
Exactly right. When you go over there, you learn more things; you work with chefs that work there and every time you change chefs and restaurants, there is always something that you learn and take with you try and include when you open your own. I came to Sydney 11 years ago and worked in a couple of good restaurants, then in 2011 I opened my first business which was Via Napoli Pizzeria.
Your pizzas have been described as the best Neapolitan style pizzas in Sydney so, that's amazing to come to a new country and Australia already has a lot of Italian people and Italian restaurants, so you really have to prove yourself to the Italians as well as everyone else, so tell me what makes the best Neapolitan style pizza.
I think it is very individual from a customer's point of view, but I brought to Sydney the tradition my grandmother taught me. There are a lot of different pizzas, but what I brought to Sydney was the tradition of the pizza napolitana. We use sour dough, and products that we import from Italy; buffalo mozzarella and San Marzano tomatoes. We were the first ones to bring the metre long pizza to Sydney a long time ago and also the difference was that we brought the traditional pizza; there was no change to the pizza that you have in Naples. There was no barbecue sauce, there was none of that; it was very traditional pizza margarita, the classic one. The dough was the point of difference, and the pizza was moist and juicy and full of flavour. We were the first ones to bring a real Neapolitan pizza oven to Sydney. After us, a lot of people bought the typical wood-fired oven. For my first baby, I did the real Neapolitan pizza; from the dough to the type of toppings we use plus the right oven and we brought to Sydney the Neapolitan atmosphere of Naples. One day when you come to Sydney, I hope you come to Sydney, I hope you will come and try it.
Thank you. I would love that. It sounds amazing. And then you opened other restaurants?
We opened three Via Napoli restaurants. The first was in Lane Cove, then after three years we opened in Hunters Hill and then we opened another in Surry Hills. They are all traditional. The I opened another one and if you look at the website you can see a photo of when I was 11 years old with my grandmother and we used to make a classic pizza fritta in the pizzeria. I wanted to give it a go here and say thank you to my family and to my grandmother and whatever they taught me, I wanted to put that on the table and take a risk and teach people what a Neapolitan wood-fired pizza should be and show the pizza fritta. In Naples the pizza fritta is very famous. It is flash fried pizza. For a lot of people, it was new in Sydney but it was something that In Naples you either had pizza margherita or it was pizza fritta on the streets of Naples and again, that was a success and we were very very busy and people loved it. They were asking what it was and how we did it and why it was so yummy in flavour. The people really appreciated the pizza fritta as well and it was another satisfaction for me, coming here ten years ago. We brought something new; everything from Naples I tried to bring to Sydney.
Beautiful. So once you have four venues and we will come to the fifth and new restaurant, having multiple restaurants, does that change the way you feel about being a chef? Are you still hands on and making food in the kitchen or do you have to take on a different kind of role?
To be honest with you, the role of restaurateur/entrepreneur grows, but I am hands on because this is a passion and I really love what I do and I can't do without it. So you can still see me around the restaurants, making pizza and serving the customers. That is a basic part of the hospitality industry; I'm not just opening a restaurant and pulling people inside. I like to be involved because I love what I do. It is my life.
I am hands on because this is a passion and I really love what I do and I can’t do without it. So you can still see me around the restaurants, making pizza and serving the customers. That is a basic part of the hospitality industry; I’m not just opening a restaurant and pulling people inside. I like to be involved because I love what I do. It is my life.
It's so great to hear that you are so involved and that you love it so much. I love speaking to chefs who still absolutely love it and don't want to be doing anything else. And now you are opening The Amalfi Way.
Yes, on the 27th, which is next Tuesday. It's a new venture and one of my biggest kind of dream as well because I was looking for many years in Sydney to open somewhere next to the water like the Amalfi,so it is a big change from Via Napoli and Pizza Fritta. Via Napoli and Pizza Fritta is much more about pizza with some entres and then The Amalfi way, we will still have pizza, because everyone loves pizza, but we wanted to do something a bit crazy with it by adding Beluga caviar on top of the pizza and stracciatella and already a lot of people love the concept. Then we also have the classic Margherita to keep the tradition. Its not fine dining because I think, from my experience, people want to feel comfortable and enjoy the food and the day and have an experience. So we are bringng traditional Amalfi and Naples food to the table with much more seafood. We have a tank with live lobster and we will concentrate on seafood dishes cooked in the traditional way from Amalfi, so simple flavours, like the Sciatelli all Amalfitana with scampi, vongole, calamari and prawns, which is a typical fresh pasta made with semolina and eggs.
It sounds delicious. I haven't been to the Amalfi Coast but I know that many people go there for amazing holidays so I guess thats what you are trying to capture in this restaurant.
What we are trying to capture is that we are really trying to bring to Sydney the Amalfi feel; the ambiance is wow and the food is unbelievable.
Beautiful. It sounds like something we all need to be doing more of these days; transporting ourselves while still staying in our cities. It sounds great for Sydney people and fingers crossed that people from other states will also be able to come and visit you very soon and try your food.
Fingers crossed that traveling will be open soon.
Thank you so much for your time. I loved hearing your story and your food sounds incredible. All the best for next week. It will be a big week so I hope it goes well.
Woolloomooloo Wharf, Sydney