Sit back, relax, enjoy the sunset with pizza
An award for innovation and a name change has a popular Taranaki beachfront restaurant prepped for the summer rush.
Oakura Beach’s Black Sand Pizzeria and Bistro launch a new menu on Saturday after rebranding from the former business name, Pekaren Oakura.
Black Sand owner Martin Barlok, and manager Hazel Mason, said the name change was deliberate after the Pekaren Bell Block business was recently sold to new owners.
Previously Barlok served only pizza but the name change to a bistro, and new chef, Boston-bred Peter Larrivee, had called for a new menu featuring more mains dishes, as well as healthy pizza.
Last month Black Sand won an innovation award from the New Zealand Surf Lifesaving Council for its partnership with the New Plymouth Old Boys’ Surf Lifesaving Club.
The club approached Barlok to open a pizzeria in the clubrooms after they were renovated in 2016.
‘‘People just enjoy being able to come down to a relaxed meal and a drink with views out to the surf and sit and watch the sun go down,’’ he said.
The cold fermentation process for making the pizza dough proved popular with diners, he said.
‘‘It’s the traditional Neapolitan pizza.’’
Barlok learnt the process as a child growing up in Slovakia.
It enabled the thin pizza bases, covered in a range of toppings, to be cooked at 400 - 450 degrees Celsius in the imported Italian wood fired oven in little over 90 seconds, he said.
‘‘I was shown the technique by an old woman who ran an alpine chalet and it started my passion for pizza,’’ he said.
‘‘There are only five ingredients you need to make a good pizza - salt, water, yeast, flour and love.’’
Last summer the pizzeria was fully booked for the three months it was open but this year its hours will be extended.