Bill & Ellie’s Pizza: The Twin-Run Woodfired Institution Lighting Up Malvern East

Just down the road from Chadstone Shopping Centre, at 85 Chadstone Road in Malvern East, a modest shopfront with an orange sign and two smiling faces painted on the logo has become one of Melbourne’s most talked-about pizza destinations. Bill & Ellie’s is not a polished chain or a flashy inner-city concept. It is a family-run woodfired pizzeria built by twins Bill and Ellie, together with their mum and dad, and it feels exactly like that: warm, slightly chaotic on busy nights, and completely committed to the pizza coming out of the oven.

The family arrived from Greece in 2017. Their father began catering with a mobile woodfired oven around 2019; the twins learned the craft while still at school, burning plenty of pizzas along the way and taking advice from Italian friends and Melbourne’s better pizza makers. They opened the shop in the early 2020s. The first year was tough enough that they nearly closed. They stayed open because locals kept coming back. Today they have hundreds of five-star Google reviews and a Good Food Friends ranking as Melbourne’s number-one pizza.

The heart of the operation is the dough. It is fermented slowly over several days (often around 72 hours) until it is light and airy yet still has proper chew and a blistered, slightly charred crust from the woodfired oven. They use good mozzarella that is not overly wet, San Marzano tomatoes where the recipe calls for them, and toppings that are generous without fighting each other. The result is pizza that reviewers repeatedly describe as “delicate”, “balanced” and “not like every other pizza shop”.

Standout pizzas include Maria’s Margherita (the test of any pizzeria), the house signature Bill & Ellie’s pizza (housemade truffle base, crispy pancetta, chicken, wood-roasted potatoes, white truffle oil and aged Parmigiano), the popular Sesame Sizzle (nduja, caramelised onion, piped ricotta, black sesame and hot honey), Terra Truffle, Yiayia’s Bolognese (a Greek-inspired beef base with feta and roasted potatoes), Prawnchetta, Quattro Formaggi and The Pep. There is a low-gluten base available, vegan cheese, and extras such as chilli oil or extra rocket. Desserts are made in-house: classic tiramisu, weekly-flavour profiteroles, and a Nutella calzone or small Nutella pizza that regularly sells out.

The room itself is compact. Indoor seating is limited, so many people eat at the outdoor tables under the sign. The woodfired oven is visible from the street and the smell hits you before you sit down. Service is family-style — mum often greets guests, the twins work the floor and the oven, and regulars are treated like they have dropped in at someone’s house. It is walk-in only. On Friday and Saturday nights, and most Sundays, there can be a wait. People keep coming anyway.

Beyond the shop they also do catering: custom menus, live pizza-making from their woodfired oven, and events from birthdays to weddings and corporate gatherings.

Bill & Ellie’s is the kind of neighbourhood business that still feels personal. Two young twins, their parents, a properly fermented dough, and a woodfired oven on Chadstone Road have turned a small Greek-Australian family story into one of the best pizza experiences in the south-east.

Bill & Ellie’s Pizza
85 Chadstone Road, Malvern East VIC 3145
Phone: (03) 9191 8204
Website: www.billandellies.com.au
Instagram: @billandellies
Email: billandellies@gmail.com

Trading hours
Wednesday–Thursday: 5.00pm–9.30pm
Friday–Saturday: 4.30pm–9.30pm
Sunday: 5.00pm–9.30pm
Closed Monday and Tuesday

Walk-ins only. Call during trading hours or message them on Instagram outside those times. Limited indoor seating; outdoor tables available. Low-gluten bases and dietary adjustments on request.

The twins themselves, Bill and Ellie, outside their Malvern East shop with the woodfired oven visible behind them.

 

The busy outdoor tables on Chadstone Road — the shop’s signature orange sign and the twins’ faces on the logo.

 

A woodfired pizza from Bill & Ellie’s — blistered crust, generous toppings, the kind of pie that has earned them hundreds of five-star reviews.

 

A typical takeaway order: a truffle-style pizza, a prawn pizza, and the popular Nutella dessert pizza.