Terrazza and Ben & Jerry's, Chatswood

Where once a brown rundown local town hall stood attached to council offices and a library, now stands a shiny revamped council complex housing a concert theatre, library and new dining precinct. Amongst the various eateries to recently open up shop is Terrazza, an Italian joint offering woodfired pizza. The owner has trialled offering breakfast, lunch and dinner, 7 days a week, during their opening period but will soon be revising this down to lunch and dinner only on weekdays, with breakfast as well as lunch and dinner being served on weekends. It appears us Sydney folk do take the time to enjoy breakfast out when we have the time, but are otherwise too rushed on workdays.


A balmy Tuesday evening under balmy summer skies and long shadows sees Terrazza full of mostly family groups, with children running around in the adjacent grassy area. The 'Pizza Bruschetta' (above left) is my choice, described on the menu as "Pizza crust topped with Roma tomato, onion & basil drizzled with extra virgin olive oil". It arrives looking like your usual bruschetta, served on toasted bread, with a sweet tomato and onion topping but with the surprise addition of mozzarella. The flavours are lovely, but the serving size and presentation feel out of proportion with the $12.90 price tag.

*EDIT*: Thank you to Anonymous for the comment below, for alerting me to the fact that the menu offers both traditional bruschetta (as presented above) as well as a pizza crust variety. Obviously a mix-up by either waitstaff or the kitchen, but worth trying either way as the flavours are great!

Monsieur Poisson has a craving for pizza so the 'Diavola' topped with salami, roasted capsicum, chilli and mozzarella is ordered. The pizza arrives quickly with a golden cheese top and thin, crisp base. One half of the base is crisper than the other, which we attribute to differing temperature pockets in the oven. The chilli definitely ups the flavour index and we're impressed with the lack of sogginess about the base. We look forward to returning and sampling more of the menu.

Desserts were not tried at Terrazza, with us instead opting to swing around to Ben & Jerry's new Chatswood store to sample their new flavour, 'Clusterfluff'. We first tried this on our recent trip to Hong Kong, with the flavour described as "Peanut butter ice cream with caramel cluster pieces, peanut butter and marshmallow swirls". It has a deliciously balanced salty-sweet flavour but, even having had it twice now, I still fail to notice the marshmallow swirls.


You can try 'Clusterfluff' and other flavours for yourself at the Ben & Jerry's store in Chatswood which, despite having been open for around 3 weeks, is holding its official grand opening today (19 January) with free ice-cream from 12-8pm! Get in quick to beat the late night shopping crowds.
Shop 3, The Concourse, 405-419 Victoria Ave (corner Anderson St), Chatswood NSW
Tel: (02) 9419 5304

Opening Hours:  7 days  11am-10:30pm

Terrazza on Urbanspoon

Ben & Jerry's Chatswood
Shop 9, The Concourse, 405-419 Victoria Ave (corner Anderson St), Chatswood NSW
Tel: (02) 8014 8561

Opening Hours:  7 days

happy eating!

18 comments:

  1. lol at the pizza bruschetta - especially as it ended up being served on toast anyway!

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  2. I must have Clusterfluff. Now!

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  3. Clusterfluff sounds lovely and I love my peanut butter!

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  4. I always make time for breakfast! Weekdays and weekends :)

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  5. the new chatswood library area is gorgeous. i always walk past terrazza on my way to the library but haven't tried it yet - the pizza looks good though! =) and nooo didn't know that there was free icecream today =(

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  6. Excuse me but did you say peanut butter ice cream? Yup I'm sure you did....never having tried Ben & Jerry's I've never heard of a better reason that this to check it out.

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  7. What odd bruschetta. Hm. The ice cream would be lovely though, I love me some peanut butter!

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  8. Ohhh that's ice-cream looks so delicious!!! I've gotta go get some soon ~ and that pizza yummy :)

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  9. I know this area of Chatswood quite well and it's so good that such an old part of the area has now been renovated. That restaurant looks like it serves great food - yummy looking pizzas.

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  10. clusterstuff sounds pretty awesome. I think I would have been a little disappointed with the bruschetta. Pizza looks good :)

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  11. Hey Helen, and I chose it over the garlic pizza crust too!

    Hey MissPiggy, it seriously is so good!

    Hey joey, I actually first tried it just because of the whimsical name =p

    Hey Cass, I try to, but I love the relaxed feeling of going out for weekend brunch.

    Hey excusemewaiter, plenty of new food options there, but shame you missed out on the free ice-cream =(

    Hey Mary, not available in tubs yet either =D

    Hey Anna, one of my other favourites is Phish Food!

    Hey JasmyneTea, I guess it was standard bruschetta but just not what I was expecting due to the menu description.

    Hey Daisy, I can't recommend the ice-cream to people enough!

    Hey Hotly Spiced, that old town hall was seriously an eyesore! And I am ever-grateful that there's some Italian woodfired pizza now too.

    Hey Sara, the flavours of the bruschetta were great - just not how I expected it to look!

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  12. I felt the same way about the clusterfluff too. Did not pick up on the marshmallow at all. Thoughts the other flavours were ok though.

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  13. Hey Simon, I love the flavour and all the "bits" but feel blind that I can't find the marshmallow =p

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  14. Diavolo sounds pretty delicious though it's a shame about the soggy base :(
    I find that the B&J scoops are kind of small for the cone

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  15. Hey Vivian, I find there's enough ice-cream in one B&J's scoop - perhaps they make their cones just a tiny bit too large? =p

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  16. Just lettin you know there is both Pizza Bruschetta and normal Bruschetta. That's definately a normal Bruschetta. I reckon it came out wrong and should have questioned the waitstaff instead of posting it as a disappointment. I have been there and looked at the menu, they have both in there and could be sometimes confusing.

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  17. Hi Anonymous, thanks for letting me know this, as I didn't spot the standard bruschetta on the menu but only the pizza crust one. But it was by no means a disappointment, just not what I had ordered. Will add a note in the post to clarify.

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