170 Grammi — Opening Story, Media Recognition & Awards

170 Grammi Pizzeria opened on Crown Street, Surry Hills with one clear intention: to give Sydney a proper Roman pizza — thin, crisp, built on technique, and faithful to the style as Rome actually makes it. Not a Neapolitan variation with a Roman name. The distinct tradition of La Tonda Romana: high-hydration dough, long fermentation, a base that holds its shape from first slice to last and stays light enough to order three.

Since opening, 170 Grammi Pizzeria at 428 Crown Street, Surry Hills NSW 2010 has been covered by Sydney food media, awarded by the local community, and visited regularly by Italian expats who say it’s the closest thing to Rome they’ve found in this city. This is that story.

The Roman Pizza Tradition 170 Grammi Was Built to Serve

Roman pizza is a distinct culinary tradition — not a variation of Neapolitan pizza, and not simply “Italian pizza” in a different shape. La Tonda Romana is defined by its dough: high in hydration, long in fermentation, hand-stretched thin, and baked to a clean, structured crunch that stays consistent from first bite to last.

That texture is the point. Where Neapolitan pizza is soft and yielding at the centre, Roman pizza is crisp through to the base. Toppings stay defined rather than collapsing into the dough. The base holds its shape whether you’re eating solo or sharing three different pizzas across the table — which is exactly the format Roman pizza was built for.

Sydney had Neapolitan. It didn’t have this. 170 Grammi was opened to change that.

What “170 Grammi” Means

170 Grammi refers to the precise weight of dough used for every pizza base — exactly 170 grams. That number is the technical foundation of the style: enough dough to produce a structured, crisp base with genuine flavour, not so much that the result becomes thick or heavy.

The name is the technique. It communicates, in a single number, the kind of precision that Roman pizza demands — and the kind that defines every pizza that leaves the kitchen here. Most restaurants name themselves after a feeling or a place. 170 Grammi named itself after a measurement. That’s the difference.

The Founder: Luigi Esposito

170 Grammi is the work of Luigi Esposito, a pizzaiolo with more than 35 years of experience in Italian pizza tradition. Naples-born and trained, Luigi spent years helping Sydney develop a genuine appreciation for Italian regional pizza — including his time at Via Napoli, one of the city’s most respected Italian restaurants. The move toward Roman pizza wasn’t about chasing a trend. It was a deliberate step to give a distinct style its own dedicated home.

The inspiration is partly personal. Luigi’s wife’s Roman heritage gave La Tonda Romana weight beyond the culinary: a style tied to a place, to a way of eating, and to a family connection that made the decision to bring it to Sydney something more than a business calculation.

To do it properly, Luigi imported a 1.9-tonne pizza oven, handmade in Italy. Not because a local alternative couldn’t bake pizza — because the right oven is part of the technique, and the technique isn’t optional. That commitment is visible in the result.

The Technique: What Produces the Roman Crunch

Roman pizza gets its characteristic texture from three compounding factors. Each matters individually. Together, they separate a genuinely crisp Roman base from everything else calling itself thin-crust.

High-Hydration Dough

High hydration — more water relative to flour than most pizza doughs — creates an open internal structure that allows the base to stay light while the exterior crisps cleanly. It’s technically demanding: the dough is slack, requires careful handling at every stage, and behaves nothing like standard pizza dough under stretch. The result is a base that crisps without drying out, and feels lighter than its flavour suggests. How high-hydration dough shapes the Roman base covers the detail.

Long Fermentation

Time develops flavour and structure in ways that no additive or shortcut replicates. The dough at 170 Grammi ferments long enough to arrive at the oven already doing most of the work — which is why the baked base has a flavour that tastes considered rather than neutral. Long fermentation is not a preference. It’s what the style requires.

Controlled Baking

Roman crispness comes from precision, not intensity. Oven temperature, bake time, and a clear read on what “done” actually looks like — a clean snap, a structured slice, toppings that stay defined — are the targets. They’re hit consistently because they’re understood exactly, not approximated.

Media Recognition: Sydney Food Press Takes Note

170 Grammi attracted Sydney food media attention early — recognised not as a novelty addition to the city’s pizza scene but as a genuine arrival: a Roman-style restaurant built by someone with the background and the equipment to do it properly.

Coverage identified what made the restaurant distinct: the Via Napoli lineage, the deliberate shift from Neapolitan to Roman, and a menu built on classic Roman combinations executed on a proper La Tonda Romana base. Writers understood the distinction and wrote about it as exactly that — a culinary distinction with real meaning, not just a different name for familiar pizza.

The restaurant’s 4.5-star rating across 400+ Google reviews carries a different kind of signal. Recurring feedback from Italian expats and Roman pizza purists — that it captures the experience of eating pizza in Rome — is the kind of endorsement no press feature can manufacture. It’s either accurate or it isn’t. The consistency of that response across hundreds of independent reviews is what makes 170 Grammi a genuine reference point in Sydney’s pizza conversation, and part of why it’s discussed alongside the city’s best pizza.

Community Recognition: Two Awards, One Restaurant

170 Grammi was awarded Best New Business in the City Suburbs Local Business Awards — recognition built directly on community visits, real customer meals, and the word-of-mouth that forms only when a restaurant consistently delivers. Not a judged competition based on submissions. A community award, built from the ground up by the people who ate here.

170 Grammi is also a finalist in the Australian Small Business Champion Awards — Casual Dining category: a national recognition of the business behind the pizza, across a field of hospitality operators from around Australia. Two different forms of recognition, pointing to the same conclusion: a restaurant that has earned its position in a short time by doing the work properly.

Dining at 170 Grammi — 428 Crown Street

170 Grammi is a fully licensed, 60-seat venue on Crown Street, Surry Hills — no BYO. Indoor and outdoor seating suits both quiet midweek evenings and longer weekend tables. The format of Roman pizza works particularly well for groups: multiple pizzas, shared across the table, ordered with variety. A table ordering three or four different pizzas and comparing across the meal is closer to how Roman pizza is supposed to be eaten than one pizza per person.

For larger groups, a set menu is available on request. For those who prefer Roman pizza at home, online ordering for pickup or delivery is available directly through the website — and the crisp Roman base holds its texture better than most pizza styles in transit.

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