Stumpy’s

Ehhhh… I’ve gotta say, as a (now) Dante’s devotee, this just wasn’t up to scratch. Takeaway only (again) and I didn’t even go to collect it, so I’m going solely on food here.
Pizza was not that large, but at $ 18 (or not even) a pop, that’s okay.
The dough is a little bland, and the sauce… Where is the flavour! Dante’s pizza sauce is so rich, so full of tomato and garlic and everything I love, this just went nowhere near that. The cheese was mozarella, but not the beautiful fresh buffalo mozarella I’ve now come to expect from my Margherita.
It’s great for a local, and it was ready within 10 minutes. After a couple of wines, it’s nice not to have to drive, but… If I hadn’t had those two wines, I would be spending my money at Dante’s.
There’s nothing particularly wrong with it, but if you love food with a flavour that packs a punch, I would head elsewhere.

I have a disproportionate level of excitement when an authentic new pizza place opens; I always want to do a little cheerleading dance for anyone prepared to go up against the big players.
Stumpy’s was I think a florist (?) and is next to Big Beat Café and just down from Braziers. Its got its branding sorted in a suburb where such things are rare and the place looks mainly spiffy, just a few holes in the floor to fix but I’m sure that’s imminent.
There’s a cool story to match and I won’t spoil it for you here but go visit because any takeaway place that can provide a bit of personal urban folklore with your pizza has got to be good. See it IS all about different, big homogenised corporate pizza peeps.
We ordered the Fun Guy (yeeeaahhh — NAME!) from the Original Range and the Tom & Cherry from the Buffalo Range (with the fresh stuff, yum). The Fun Guy was fabulous and the Tom & Cherry just needs a little refinement; the cherry tomatoes are too wet which made the pizza soggy and a bit more basil or even pesto would do the trick. But I’m just being picky because Stumpy’s is awesome and as a part time vegetarian, I’m hard to please.
Gourmet pizzas can be a bit hit and miss but I think overall the epicurian ingredients used at Stumpy’s are all good; capers, anchovies, smoked salmon, prosciutto. Not sure about the artichoke hearts; they seem to be the go-​to replacement vegetarian ingredient but really the pickled ones are just not that great. And I’ll be very happy when sun-​dried tomatoes come back in fashion because they’re soooo good on pizza.
Anyway, prices are super reasonable, Balmoral has a new local character and last but not least — the dough is freakin perfect. Go, try, now!