Lievita By Day
Pizzeria by night, bakery by day, Lievità, Pizza al Taglio sports Rome’s most famous street food. Recently Lievità began opening in the morning as Northcote’s favourite Italian bakery. This Pizza Italia dish is the perfect way to showcase the kind of food they have to offer. Zucchini, potato and rosemary, and pita rossa make up a great cultural dish to munch on if you’re feeling like pizza before dinner time.
Lievità has a lovely hole-in-the-wall feeling, like you’re the first person to discover it. The white subway tiles (with the menu written on them) and plaster cornices along the top of one wall gives you a feeling of heritage while the exposed steel beam and brick add modern industrial style, reflecting how relevant Lievità is.
Pizza al Taglio literally translates to ‘pizza by the cut’ and is sold by weight. Apart from its rectangular shape, what makes the pizza at this bakery unique is the 72 hour rising time of the dough, meaning that the Lievità pizza al taglio is lighter, healthier and very digestible. This delicious prosciutto margherita, like the rest of the food at Lievità, instead of leaving you feeling heavy, makes you feel as though you could eat it all day.
A boutique range of Italian soft drinks are available to wash down all that pizza.
Lievità only uses San Marzano tomatoes in their food, bringing out amazing flavour that you just can’t get from a tomato at the supermarket. These Italian tomatoes were first grown in volcanic soil at the foot of Mount Vesuvius and the incredible flavour has been passed down, unadulterated, to the tomatoes that land on your plate at Lievità. The tomato flavour is so important to Italian cuisine, so it’s a relief this bakery nailed it.
The bakery menu changes day to day—sometimes several times within a day depending on what they sell out of—although the favourites are always returning.
The Lievità lasagne is unlike anything I’ve tasted. Like all the bread, this old favourite is so light and tasty. The modest ratio of meat and cheese to tomato and pasta makes you realise that unless you’re lucky enough to have an Italian mum or grandma, you haven’t been eating real Italian lasagne your whole life. My eyes have been opened.
Isabella’s Kitchen has recently been launched at Lievità with local businesses taking an avid interest in it. Isabella, as well as her preserves and jams, has her capable hands full cooking all the food for the bakery, adding her authentic Italian touch.
Whether to finish a meal, a snack with your morning coffee or an afternoon tea on the run the Krapfen buns are a sweet delight, with several flavours available.
If you want to scoff lots of gorgeous authentic Italian food (who doesn’t?) and still walk away feeling neither bloated or guilty, Lievità is the place to go. With their new trading hours, they are now open longer than ever so there’s no reason not to satisfy those bakery cravings.
298 High Street, Northcote
www.lievita.com.au