General News
15 June, 2025
Talented work snares award
WITH a delicious recipe mixing traditional Italian ingredients with an Aussie twist, Cairns chef Nicola Pellegrino from Ollie’s Italian has won the best creative pizza at the Australia’s best pizza inaugural awards.
Cairns is now etched in national gastronomic history after Mr Pellegrino took home the title with his Rustica pizza from the Ollie’s Italian menu.
Mr Pellegrino had to pass a preliminary round before going to Melbourne during Food and Hospitality Week from May 18-20 where he battled dozens of pizza chefs to take the title of best creative pizza.
He was the only FNQ winner in all categories.
“I’ve been living in Cairns for two years and working with Ollie’s Italian for those two years. I started off as a second pizza chef and for the last year I’ve been the head pizza chef,” Mr Pellegrino said.
“I’m originally Italian but I started as a pizza maker in Malta. I’ve been travelling for the last seven years and working around the world. At the beginning I was a Roman-style pizza chef and since I got to Australia I started working with Napolitan-style dough.
“What I enjoy the most about working at Ollie’s is that they let me experiment a lot with ingredients, with the dough, so I can be creative through my pizza.”
Mr Pellegrino said it was a very exciting experience to be a part of the inaugural Australia’s Best Pizza Awards.
“The competition was in Melbourne – sponsored by the Food and Hospitality Week – and there were three categories: best pizza chef in Australia, best classic pizza and best creative pizza,” he said.
“I won best creative pizza with a pizza from our menu called Rustica. It’s a pizza that joins a bit of Italian culture with Australian ingredients.
“The pizza has a base of mozzarella fior di latte, caramelised onion with brown sugar, Modena balsamic vinegar, fresh goat cheese cream and kangaroo pancetta aromatised with myrtle and thyme and basil.
“I brought my own dough, prepared it and presented it to the judge and I received the highest score.
“I’m really happy because after a year of hard work it is great to have that recognition and this has also pushed me to do better and improve to maybe win best pizza shop in Australia next year.
“I’ve also been experimenting with gourmet-style pizza, making fresh ingredients even better using different techniques and making the dough in a different style.
“I’d like to invite everyone to come to Ollie’s and try the winner of the best creative pizza in Australia.”
