From a balcony oven in a lockdown apartment to a standalone room at The Campus Ampang, Pizza Duo’s second outpost is the natural next chapter in Mark and Aina’s Italian education, and everything their years of pilgrimage to Naples has been building towards.

There was a moment, about halfway through lunch at Pizza Duo‘s new flagship, when the truffle shaver came out. A Shroomami sits on the table, already blanketed with parmigiano fondue, truffle salsa, chicken sausage, fior di latte, and ricotta, when the fresh black truffle falls in generous curls. Around us, the party carried on. The two Stefano Ferrara ovens shined like disco balls at the centre of it. And somewhere in that moment it became clear that this is no longer the Pizza Duo I knew at Bamboo Hills. This is something more.

The Pizza Duo Story

Aina Ghani and Mark Lee are pizza geeks in the most literal sense. Long before Pizza Duo, Mark had once surprised Aina on a birthday with a pizza road trip through Piedmont, mapped around pizzerias rated 90 and above on the Gambero Rosso list, Italy’s equivalent of the Michelin Guide. They ate their way through many of these institutions.

When the world came to a crashing halt in 2020, their kitchen became a laboratory. A home oven on the balcony. Tasting sessions with friends, sometimes up to ten pizzas in a sitting. Over successive summers, they trained in Naples alongside Italian pizzaioli, learning the craft the old way: type 00 flour, natural yeast, dough stretched by hand, a wood-fired oven at over 400°C, a bake of 60 to 90 seconds. The rules of Neapolitan pizza are strict, protected by the Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana and recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. Mark and Aina took on this mission seriously. Everything they have built at Pizza Duo rests on that very foundation.

In 2023, they took over the pizza counter at Tap Room in Bamboo Hills, working out of a custom copper-clad Ferrara oven reputed to be Malaysia’s largest at the time. Word travelled fast. With imported flours, the double-fermented dough, the San Marzanos from Campania, the fior di latte from Naples, the quality was unmistakable and so what followed was just a matter of time.

A Place They Now Call Home

The Campus Ampang, the revitalised grounds of the former International School of Kuala Lumpur, is now a community hub of boutiques and restaurants. Pizza Duo sits at the very front: an outdoor lounge flanking a bar counter, an indoor dining room of light wood tables, counter seating with a front-row view of the pizza kitchen. The colour palette is warm and unafraid—terracotta and red against seafoam green tiles, evocative of the coastal city that inspired them so deeply.

At the centre of the room are the two Stefano Ferrara Forni ovens, handbuilt in Pozzuoli just outside Naples, making Pizza Duo The Campus the first pizzeria in Malaysia to feature a pair of them. Stefano is a third-generation craftsman whose family has been building these ovens by hand for some eighty years. Da Michele in Naples uses them. Franco Pepe uses them. Here, they anchor the open kitchen like twin disco balls, and every seat in the house has a sightline to them.

Introducing Tutto

The menu here is called Tutto—Italian for everything—and the name earns it. Ranging from starters and pastas, to grills, pizzas and dessert, all built on the same insistence on sourcing and technique that duo have always followed. Most dishes are available in single or family servings, an Italian approach to the table that reflects what this restaurant understands about dining: as place to share and extend.

Starters, Two Ways

Lunch at the media launch began with burrata, twice. The Burrata and Pear Salad started the table off with some greenery: a whole ball of burrata on arugula with thinly sliced pear, a drizzle of green oil, and a scatter of roasted hazelnuts. Refreshing and composed, the kind of opener that holds space for what follows.

The Spicy Eggplant Caponata with Burrata has considerably more to say. A refinement of the mala caponata Pizza Duo served during Chinese New Year last year, it has been tightened into something with a chili crisp edge. The caponata is cold and bouncy, its deep vermillion oil carrying real heat beneath a traditionally Sicilian base. Against the creamy sweetness of burrata, it is almost the antithesis of its refreshing pear sibling.

Italian Classics, Duo Style

The Crab Arrabbiata with Fettuccine meant for sharing arrives generously portioned, the crabmeat carefully picked and bracingly briny without tipping into fishiness. The heat of the arrabbiata finds its counterpart in the sweetness of the crab, all threaded through al dente fettuccine with just the right resistance.

Better still is the Spiced Duck Sausage Rosa with Rigatoni. Rich, savoury, and deeply cheesy, finished with a layer of stracciatella from Naples baked directly onto the top. Duck sausage appeared in cubes like bacon lardons, toothsome and tender at once. The sauce carries the simple confidence that comes from careful sourcing. Pizza Duo uses only high-quality tomatoes—the same San Marzanos that form the backbone of every pomodoro base—and the payoff extends everywhere the sauce goes. This is a dish I would order again without thinking about it.

Mains That Quiet the Room

The Smoked Chicken with Potato Purée is the dish that most surprised me. The chicken is beautifully executed, with clean, flavourful skin and meat that has no business being as moist as it is. A rigorous brine, one suspects. But the purée is the real triumph. Silky, impossibly smooth, the kind usually associated with a classically trained French kitchen. It stops the conversation.

The Wagyu Sirloin with Orzo was a special plating that afternoon, substituting wagyu for the menu’s regular black angus. A steak dish is largely a function of the meat itself, and the angus is perfectly good on its own terms. What carries this plate is the orzo—creamy, built on what tastes like an alfredo base cut with beef jus, finished with a herbaceous, slightly acidic gremolata that lifts the whole thing out of richness and into balance.

The Heart of the House

A pizza this establishment has been known for, the Shroomami is presented with the casual authority of a dish that has stood the test of time. Intensely aromatic, blanketed with parmigiano fondue and truffle salsa, fior di latte and ricotta, chicken sausage folded in, finished with truffle oil. And on this occasion, fresh black truffle layered on without restraint. This is the dish that built Pizza Duo’s reputation, and in the new room it still does the heaviest work, though the rigatoni and steak might just give it a run for its money. Everything else on the menu expands the story.

The pizzas are the clearest proof of what the Ferrara ovens deliver. The 90-second bake at blistering temperatures leaves the base tender and elastic, with the cornicione rising in the way only a properly hot dome can achieve. I have returned for their pizza more than once. I expect I will continue to.

Sweet Endings

Dessert is Aina’s domain, and it shows. Her carrot cake is moist and properly spiced, its unexpected softness coming from crushed pineapple worked through the batter. A rich mascarpone frosting finishes it, knowing its job is to complete the cake rather than overwhelm it. The panna cotta with berry compote is delicate and well-judged, and the tableside tiramisu rounds things out with quiet drama. A sweet course that is, in the best possible way, patient and bides its time.

Caffè Duo, After Hours

Step just outside the main dining room and you’ll find Caffè Duo, the flagship’s outdoor espresso bar. In Italy, barista quite literally means bartender, and Caffè Duo leans into that versatility. Classic espresso shares the menu with Soda Cremosas and Sips, the café’s signature non-alcoholic creations, designed to evoke the kind of easy afternoon spontaneity that makes Italian summers feel like their own season.

A Love Letter, Unfolded

I have had the pleasure in watching Pizza Duo earn its own room. What began as a balcony experiment, became a counter inside someone else’s venue, and has now stepped fully into a space that fits the scale of the ambition.

Pizza remains the beating heart of the restaurant, and the two Ferrara ovens at the centre of it all make that clear. But Mark and Aina’s love for Italian food was never only about pizza. It was always about what the table in Naples represents: slow meals, shared plates, ingredients respected in their simplicity. Tutto is that philosophy given its full expression.

The food is great. The room is great. And for a restaurant whose second act is called everything, the ambition is, as always, as large as it needs to be.

Pizza Duo at The Campus Ampang
Lot LG-03, The Campus Ampang,
Jalan Kolam Air Lama,
68000 Selangor (Maps)

Operation Hours:
Mon-Thu: 10.00AM–10.00PM
Fri & Sat: 9.00AM–11.00PM
Sun: 9.00AM–10.00PM

@wearepizzaduo | Reservations via WhatsApp

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