Must-try dish: A drying rack. Wait! What?

Is that the full name?
Nope, no one would call a dish “drying rack” but translate to Italian and it’s a much more appealing proposition: It’s “Lo stendino +39” on the menu.

Where do you get it?
+39 Pizzeria, 362 Little Bourke St, Melbourne VIC 3000 

Why is it a winner?

If the good life to you is prosciutto, salami and mortadella, aged cheeses and pickled vegetables, you absolutely cannot go wrong with this dish. It’s a mini clothes line artfully draped with super thin slices of cured Italian meats. At its base you will find marinated artichokes, perhaps some olives, pickled vegetables, cubes of various Italian cheeses and truffle honey. It’s a cute reference to how Italians traditionally cure their meats – by hanging them out to age and develop those deep and delicious flavours. It also reminds us of a trip to Naples – the birthplace of pizza –  where you will see all manner of clothes strung up between what seems like ancient palazzi, fluttering in the wind. So if you want to get that Neapolitan feeling, you could spend all that money and go to Italy OR just head on down to +39 and order the drying rack!

Anything else to know?

+39 is a reference to Italy’s international dialling code. In the days before WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger, Italian migrants here in Australia would’ve treasured making those expensive but very necessary calls back to their homeland, especially, according to the boys behind this pizzeria, to collect and write down traditional recipes. And they did a great job too – the pizza here is as you’d find it in Naples and well worth seeking out.

Want more Must-try dishes? Check out a quintessential Melbourne pancake or bergamot flavoured madeleines.