Ladro

Ph: 9415 7575; 224 Gertrude St, FITZROY 3065

Italian, $$ -, ** for Food & Ambience
Open Tue-Sun 6-11pm; Licensed; MC V
Chef Michael Patrick (5-12-08) Owner Ingrid Langtry & Sean Kierce (5-12-08)

Mietta's Review
Rita Macali and her partners have by luck and good management hit the spot. Dead Centre. Their little pizza place in Fitzroy has become the place to be in the middle years of the first decade of the 21st Century. The food, thin crust designer pizzas (up to $20) a roast of the day ($25) and a few pastas, is very good but nothing compared to the buzz which is amazing. In its first year of opening this was truly a phenomenom.

Other published opinions

Age Good Food Guide 2009 Score: 15/20 "Hoarse, happy and wandering Gertrude Street? You've probably been shouting your face off at Ladro, contributing to a buzz that's never dipped since this smart, sexy pizza parlour-cumnewwave-tratt opened in 2003"

Sydney Morning Herald Good Food Guide 2009 "Always a contender for Melbourne's best pizza joint, Ladro's pared-back, communal space also attracts a crowd more interested in excellent pasta, heavenly roasts from the wood-fired oven and an ever-changing, Italian-leaning wine list"

Gourmet Traveller 2009 Australian Restaurant Guide "Pizza fads come, pizza fads go. Yet there's nothing ephemeral about this original exponent of the pizza renaissance that gripped Melbourne several years ago. It's difficult to pinpoint a singular attraction: are the crowds here for the hip decor? Or is it for what are arguably the best pizze in town: thin, misshapen, woodfired discs with artisan toppings such as flor di latte, field mushrooms, porcini and thyme, or green olive paste, mozzarella, capers and rocket"

Herald Sun Simon Plant, 13-09-08 "Sicilian sea salt and pepper grinder? Yep. Looks as if it's business as usual at Ladro ... which is heartening because change has been whirling around this firm Fitzroy favourite. ... Quietly, Ladro has also restructured. Co-founders Sean Kierce and Ingrid Langtry run the show now - after original chef Rita Macau left the business earlier this year - and far from making changes, they are consolidating the very things that put this defiantly cool trattoria on the map: wood-fired pizzas, smart service, and affordable prices."

The Age Cheap Eats 2008 "Every inch of this buzzing trattoria signals casual class, from the beautiful people at the marble-topped tables to the cute T-shirt-clad waiters toting Rita Macau's minimalist creations"

The Age Nicole Bittar, 10-9-2007 "After three years at the top, Ladro still knows how to pull a crowd"

Age Good Food Guide 2008 Score: 15/20, One Hat "Melbourne's pizza renaissance may be in its sunset but light continues shining on Ladro, still boasting a waiting list on busy nights. The marble-topped tables, sparse interior and designer dough tends to divide and conquer the demographics of the once working-class neighbourhood, so expect to share your communal table with the beautiful and wellheeled rather than the rockers, pensioners and hippies who still stalk the nearby streets"

Gourmet Traveller 2008 Australian Restaurant Guide "Fitzroy's professionals and post-grads continue to pack into this youthful take on the trattoria, rendered coolly in cement and marble"

The Age Cheap Eats 2007 "Don't come to Melbourne's slickest pizzeria to whisper endearments the concrete and tile fitout amps up the volume to 11. But you can wow your date, or mate, with a savvy tour of the cheaper end of Rita Macali's delicious, minimalist menu."

The Age Cheap Eats 2006 this pizzeria is more a hangout for sophisticated riffraff. With its minimalist interior and long communal tables, Ladro is pulling in Gertrude Street's ever-growing arty crowd.

The Age Good Food Guide 2006 score 15/20, 1 Hat "They were the heady days of August 2004: Athens glittered with gold, Howard was on the hustings, and pizza was the new black, confirmed when Ladro took the Guide's Best New Restaurant award. A booking frenzy ensued and a thousand elbows battled for space at the marble-topped tables. But Rita Macall's redshirted army handled the increased demand in smiley style, couriering out the coveted pizza discs"

Gourmet Traveller 2006 Australian Restaurant Guide * "Now that Ladro-mania has settled, and jamming into the 45-seater space is not the problem it used to be, we can see this little trattoria for what it truly is. Which is what it always was before hype got in the way: a youthful and hospitable inner-city eatery, where the principles of fine food are applied to seemingly uncomplicated, peasant-like cookery."

theage (melbournemagazine) Hot John Lethlean Sept 05 "One reason the street is on the foodie radar at all is the cute little Gertrude Street Enoteca, a fancy name for a wine bar. This is as good a place for a chat and a glass of Italian wine as you're likely to find. The other is, of course, Ladro - across the road - which erupted like Mount Etna itself some 18 months ago, spewing forth a clever style, wonderful product and charming personality that everybody wanted a slice of. Pizza was the new foodie currency at the time, and here was a proper chef with an Italian name and a wood oven in a cool little Fitzroy space producing the most sublime examples."

The Age Good Food Guide 2005 score 15/20 One Hat Best New Restaurant"Show up at 6pm and you'll find people queuing for a spot at the marble-topped tables. Why all the fuss about a simple pizza and roast joint? It helps that it's in an up-and-coming locale, that the lighting is flattering and that the room is crammed with beautiful people."

Gourmet Traveller 2005 Restaurant Guide * "Rarely has simplicity been so joyously expressed as with this little Fitzroy phenomenon. The spare interiors, the unadorned furnishings, the T-shirted staffand the pure, straight-from-the-heart food of Rita Macali have all made this a most difficult-to-get-into restaurant."

The Age Cheap Eats 2005 "The sell-out season continues at this celebrated pizzeria, where a team of Bright Young Things show in-the-know diners to marble-top tables. With an Italian wine in hand, you're ready for chef Rita Macali's thin-base designer doughs."

The Age Cheap Eats 2004 "LADRO is Italian for thief, and the food here is good enough to steal you away from your usual haunts. The kitchen cooks up celebratedly creative wood-fired pizzas"

Herald Sun CityStyle Best of Melbourne 04 Best roast "Yes, yes, the pizza here is the best in Melbourne, but that doesn't mean you should ignore Rita Macali's exquisite daily roasts."

Age A2 Jane Faulkner 9/10/04 "its opening a year ago, and its recent award of consequence, The Age Good Food Guide for Best New Restaurant. It's a small, elongated space for 45 diners, with marble table tops communal or well-sized tables for two-and dark bistro chairs offsetting the white walls."

The Age Take 5 John Lethlean 22/8/04 "It's outrageously good. The pizza, the pasta, the heavenly roasts straight from the wood oven; all good. The vibrant communal atmosphere, the beer, the vini rosso; all good."

The Age,A2,12/6/04,Matt Preston,'A couple of braises on this short menu,also from the wood-fired oven,are impeccable.A wonderful abbachio lamb with artichokes and a tender,rich and perfect goat.Impressive-but it's when he sees the burns on the wrists of chef Rita Macali that I think he falls in love.'

The Age Cheap Eats 2004,'Pizza of the Year,'Paper-thin eggplant slices,intense salt-cured black olives,peppery olive oil and a charry free-form base give this pizza a certain star quality.'

Herald Sun, citystyle, 6/4/04,Stephen Downes,Score 16/20,'Just about everything was right except the way Ladro handled our booking.Bread was not served automatically in this heavily pizzarised place,but we were asked if we wanted it and fine chunky slices arrived.Many vegetarian choices are available.The wines available are sensibly priced.'

The Age Agenda, 21/3/04, John Lethlean,'Talent, confidence and years of learning Melbourne's eating preferences from behind the pass of some of the city's most happening kitchen's-this is what makes Rita Macali's pizza so unforgettable.'

Herald Sun, Weekend, 31/1/04, Bob Hart,'Melbourne's Greatest Dishes','She flavours it exquistely, cooks it ingeniously, and serves it simply...Life quite simply, doesn't get to taste better than this.'

The Age, 28/12/03, John Lethlean

Herald Sun, Weekend, 13/12/03, Donna Coutts,'Best Cafes'

Herald Sun, citystyle, 16/12/03, Donna Coutts, score 17/20

The Age, Epicure, 25/11/03, Matt Preston

The Age, Epicure, 11/11/03, John Lethlean, score:17/20

Herald Sun, Weekend, 11/10/03, Bob Hart