Masterchef Series 2 comes to town

Despite its reputation as the heart of Sydney’s Italian community, Leichhardt is sadly lacking in decent Italian restaurants. In the last year or so I’ve tried quite a few of the Norton St offerings and a few on Marion St and for the most part they range from disappointing to downright terrible. One of the few exceptions is Caffe Moretti, which does fabulous, authentic pizzas (this is not the place to come if you want a pizza supreme or, heaven forbid, Tandoori chicken) and great pasta, seafood and meat dishes for those who can resist the siren call of the thin 'n' crispy bases. 

It was to Moretti that my friend Alex and I headed last night after catching a movie. Clutching a bottle of red we arrived to discover the usually moderately lit restaurant blazing with lights and a film crew shooting footage of the restaurant’s diners and staff. Not particularly interested in cashing in our 15 minutes of fame just yet, Alex and I decided to take a punt on the next pizzeria along. Wandering a little further up the road to Carpaccio we were met with the sight of another film crew, trailing cables between the tables and capturing all the action of the floorstaff racing around.

"What's going on?", we asked. "And why does that guy in the jacket look so familiar? Doesn’t that other one look a bit like George Colombaris from...?"

Ohhhh, Ok...

Yep, we’d stumbled across the cast and crew of the second series of Masterchef filming an episode for the upcoming new series. Settling into a table at yet another pizzeria with a front row view of all the action, Alex and I watched as contestants in blue aprons with the Masterchef logo on them (the red team was back at Caffe Moretti) served up meals at a trot to the packed tables and George, Gary and Matt posed for photos with simpering female admirers (one blonde lassy in a microscopic orange frock was particularly persistant).

As entertainment goes it was better than the movie we’d just sat through but I have to say not quite good enough to make up for the absolutely dreadful pizza and laughably bad service we ended up enduring. Oh well, can’t have everything...