Young Alfred, Ground floor, Customs House, 31 Alfred St, Circular Quay

Young Alfred, Ground floor, Customs House, 31 Alfred St, Circular Quay
Friday 3 February, 2006

I had walked past this place yesterday on my way into Customs House. It spills outside onto the verandah and then down onto the sidewalk with a small separate section. I had been keen to try the pizzas at Young Alfred and was particularly interested in the dramas that had unfolded over their previous venture, Arthur's Pizza.

Young Alfred's owner/ Manager, Bosko Vujovic, is the former owner of Arthur's Pizza in Paddington. Arthur's Pizza still exists along Oxford St, but loyal followers will inform you that the new owners know nothing about pizza. There were lots of reports about Vujovic trying to retain the name Arthur's Pizza for his new venture, however it was not to be. Hence, Young Alfred was born.

The service is very average - it's largely travellers, so things can take a while. Menus and drinks took sometime to arrive and then we had to attract their attention to place our order. There were six pizzas on the menu, with one curiously titled 'Surprise'. The staff will not ruin the surprise, so order at your own risk.

The pizzas are definitely the draw card. We asked how large they were & whether people order a pizza for themselves or to share. Our waitress answered with a vague response that didn't address our question. So, we decided to share a pizza and salad. For the pizza we chose Ping Pong - vongole, bacon, chilli and salsa verde ($18)and for the salad - Rocket & parmesan ($8.50).

The salad arrived almost immediately with two side plates. It was a large plate of green leaves and had about three pieces of shaved parmesan on top. Without asking our waitress cracked pepper all over it. This certainly wasn't my idea of a rocket & parmesan salad.

We had almost polished off the salad by the time the pizza made it the table. It was medium sized and cut into four pieces. I'm sure most people could eat one pizza themselves. Our pizza was nice but there was definitely no chilli in it. One vongole hadn't opened so we discarded it. Surely, the kitchen would have noticed this before sending it out.

Whilst I wasn't overly impressed I am returning next week with another group to give it another chance.

Young Alfred - Ground floor, Customs House, 31 Alfred St, Circular Quay - (02) 92515192

http://www.youngalfred.com.au/