I found myself having an extra night in Wollongong, and was craving some pizza. Both unwilling and unable to go to Kneading Ruby, having exhausted their pretty delicious menu back in 2021, we decided on Lupa, well recommended on the internet, which had a couple of open tables for walk-ins on a Sunday night.

The first thing I noticed about Lupa was this cute logo of a wolf providing milk to piglets? wolflets? the founders of Rome? on their window. It was cute but weird, kind of chaotic and modern.

My partner decided on the pizza, which was the quattro stagioni ($24), with tomato sauce, fior di latte, ham, salami, mushrooms, a single artichoke, and olives. Being simple folk who don’t know much about pizza lore, we had expected all of these ingredients to come mixed on the pizza, however this is not how it was. This pizza came in discrete sections, with Wikipedia stating that each section represents one Italian season.

It was actually very good, with a nice thin crust but with strong, non-floppy structure. The salami was quite delicious, likely an artisan variety rather than something more pedestrian. The artichoke was tender, marinated in some kind of vinegary substance, and the mushroom and ham definitely not problematic either. This pizza was so good that even before our pasta came I was regretting not just getting two pizzas.

The orchiette with pork sausage and mushroom ($22) was the pasta special for the night. It was quite al dente (probably too much for me), and I must admit that I didn’t love it, though my partner enjoyed it, possibly even more than the pizza itself. There was no sauce, instead being more of an oil-based pasta with a hint of aniseed flavour amongst the mushroom and pork sausage. I do wish that we had just ordered two pizzas, but I’m glad that my partner go to enjoy this pasta, and I’m also glad that I wasn’t in a situation where a number of patrons on a different table each ate their own pasta and didn’t get to try anyone else’s food at at all.
As we were leaving, our waiter said our visit wouldn’t be our last. He’s probably right. Yum.
Lupa Pizzeria
98-100 Keira St, Wollongong NSW 2500