It's high class all the way at this multi-award winning establishment, from the pizzas and the cocktails to the beautiful clientele.
"Do you mean a margarita cocktail or a margherita pizza?" asks the hot barman earnestly, angling a sideways glance at me as he gets ready to swing into action. It's a good question - I think I'd really better have both; after all, it wouldn't be right to come to Hugos Bar Pizza and only try the drinks or just the doughy stuff, especially since the management here still like to tout their 2005 award titles ('World's Best Pizza' at the New York Pizza Challenge and 'Australia's Best Bar' at the Annual Bar Awards).
The sunken bar feels uber-cushy. Shadows and low-burning candles soften up the luxe room. The onyx service bar is backlit, shiny and almost as good looking as its patrons (and that lovely bartender).
My liquid margie arrives and is guided between my fingertips. It's chilled, shaken up, tangy and punchy. The pizza turns up, all steamy, showy and super-thin (just like the designer-clad girlies that frequent this joint). This place is doing well: all seats are packed, there's a waiting list and sure, there's a strong 'poseur' element at work, just like there is upstairs at its sister venue, Hugo's Lounge, but so what? It can be alluring, as long as you know that's the way it is.
This place is one for scene lovers: explore the cocktail list, then nibble on some pizza topped with salmon, caviar and marscapone, or Italian meatballs and basil. Give your credit card a workout, and enjoy the (free) eye candy as well as they swan in, blow air kisses in various directions, search for a reflective surface to look into, give the bartender a little wave, then sit their gorgeous bottoms down.
Andrea Tomaz
