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Thursday 20 September 2012

d.o.c. pizza and mozzarella bar, carlton

A few weeks ago Simon and I went out for dinner at D.O.C Pizza and Mozzarella Bar (295 Drummond St, Carlton) with fellow blogger friends Bryan (+ Fakegf), Winston, Daisy (+ Mr. Bao), and Yasmeen. It was great fun. We chatted, we ate, we ate, we ate, we chatted, we ate some more... and finally left with very, very full bellies.

Now as a disclaimer, I tend to struggle a little as a food blogger when I have to keep track of and pay attention to more than a few dishes in one sitting, and have even given up on processing such posts in the past, so bear with me if this one is not quite up to scratch!

Let's start with an easy one - drinks. The Baladin range of soft drinks on the menu caught our eyes. I got the Spuma and Simon had the Ginger. On paper, both sounded similar, stating ingredients such as orange peel, vanilla and spices. Upon drinking both, we discovered the differences. Spuma had a more bittersweet herbal quality to it, probably due to the use of Chinese rhubarb, while Ginger had sweetly seductive honeyed notes that melted upon the tongue.

Soft drinks from Italian brewery Le Baladin. Here, the Spuma Nera.

We had a long rectangular table, so for the main savoury meals, we divided into two parts of four - thus, Winston, Yasmeen, Simon and I shared a few pizzas amongst ourselves, while Bryan, Fakegf, Daisy and Mr. Bao in turn had their own selections.

Winston had been to D.O.C. before and he suggested we get the antipasto platter - a daily assortment of selected ingredients. I'm not sure if I can identify everything properly, but my favourites here would be the bresaola (air cured beef) and smoked Scamorza (a smoky mozzarella in the fior di latte style). There was also a very strong, crumbly cheese which was too pungent for a few of us to handle, and even those who liked it could only have a little bit at a time. Made for good fun passing it around and checking out everyone's expressions as they tasted it for the first time!

antipasto platter.

For pizzas, we had:

Pizza Tiger Prawns with tomato, mozzarella, endive, fresh chilli. It's a nice, fresh combination of flavours. I would've liked there to be more than one prawn on each slice, though... am I greedy?

tiger prawn pizza.

Pizza San Daniele with San Marzano tomato, fresh DOP buffalo mozzarella, DOP San Daniele Prosciutto. I've actually never been too keen on prosciutto as it's generally a bit too funky for me, but the prosciutto in this pizza is quite subtle and delicate.

San Daniele prosciutto pizza.

Pizza ai Porcini with wild mushrooms, truffle oil in bianco with grated DOP pecorino. Mushroomy, earthy, and creamy, this is my favourite out of the three.

wild mushroom pizza.

While the pizzas were enjoyable, and they are what D.O.C. is famous for, I also really liked their desserts. Here's what we had:

Sweet goats cheese, tiramisu with pavesini and montenegro. I'm not big on tiramisu desserts and wouldn't have gotten this if I was by myself, but I was surprised by how much I adored this one. It's light, it's sophisticated, it had me going back for more.

tiramisu dessert.

Coppa gelato - a delectable cup of mixed gelati. The chocolate one was easy to identify; the pinkish one was suggested by the others to be strawberry, though for some reason it tasted more like blood orange to me; and then there was one that was reminiscent of eggnog, which in retrospect was probably zabaglione.

mixed gelati dessert.

Nutella calzoncino with vanilla bean ice cream. With that classic chocolate hazelnut filling, the little calzone, along with the ice cream, made for sticky, sinful comfort food.

nutella dessert.

Sweet pizza with Belgian white chocolate, fresh strawberries, vanilla bean ice cream. Even though I don't usually go for white chocolate, I really looked forward to this one, because it sounded absolutely lush, and it did not disappoint. So satisfying!

sweet pizza dessert.

All in all, I had a very positive first impression of D.O.C, and I would return again as I am quite interested in trying some of the other pizzas. Simon did feel that it was a bit pricey, however, with each pizza clinking in at around the 20-dollar mark, so we'll have to see how we go!

D.O.C. Pizza and Mozzarella Bar on Urbanspoon

33 comments:

  1. Awww... Great post, Leaf! Very fun read and I share the same sentiments with you about the intense cheese we had in our antipasto platter. I think they switch it up each time because I've never had one that strong! But like you said, fun to pass around and see how ppl react (funnily) to eat LOL. Anyway, I also agree with Simon on the price. Pricey pizzas! But quality. That's why I still come back once in a while (around once a year? lol). T'was fun night had a great time with you guys as always. Looking forward to our next catchup meal together! Always fun trying new places with you folks =)

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    1. That was some crazy intense cheese wasn't it - I loved Bryan's reaction the most, haha! I look forward to catching up with you all again next, as well! :D

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    2. Ahahaha you guys still remembered my reaction to that cheese, it was very odd indeed! But hey Leaf, no need for memory disclaimer, you described the food in more detail than my own post, haha!

      But I had no idea $20++ is expensive for a pizza, used to paying that price, lol! I think it's partly because some of the pizzas uses the imported mozzarellas.

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    3. I'm with Bryan - I think for the quality of the ingredients, the prices are reasonable.

      Great post and photos, Leaf. It was such a lovely night, being with all of you! That takeaway pizza I bought for hubby was enough to convince him that we need to go there for dinner tonight :)

      On that note... do they do reservations for small parties, anyone know?

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    4. Yeah, I think around $20 is standard for a good quality pizza these days. Just that Simon is more of a cheap eats guy so our cafe/restaurant expenditure usually comes under that. :)

      Not sure about party reservations, I suppose it can't hurt to call them and ask! Seems like the upstairs area might suit for something like that?

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  2. I am a pizza fiend, and I have to say that crust looks perfect, just the way I love it. Drat, now I want pizza.

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  3. Wow! That's a lot of food! This makes me miss pizza a lot. When I lived in NYC, I ate great NY pizza all the time. Now that I live in Texas, good pizza is hard to find. The desserts look great too. Makes me full just looking at your photos.

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    1. I guess that's preferable to making you feel hungry. Feeling full is more pleasurable. ;)

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  4. Mmmm, it's definitely time to go hunt down a good Italian pizza ... those crusts look divine!! Oh, and looking at the colour of that gelati my guess would be that it's blood orange too :)

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    1. Yes, those were some good crusts! I wonder how these pizzas would compare to the ones in Italy. :)

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  5. Oh my goodness this meal looks so tempting and delicious! And so fun to get together with other bloggers to enjoy a meal.

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  6. The mushroom one for me, please! I think I had enough sweet things today to last until... tomorrow, at least :P

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  7. Oh wow, this all looks absolutely incredible. Pizza is one of my favourite foods in the world :-)

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  8. Been meaning to go here for yonks!! Must get down there :)

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  9. Great post Leaf :) Definitely a great night! Loved seeing you guys ~ so much fun hehe :) Don't apologise about having a bad memory! I've been avoiding this post because there' simply too many things and too much food we ordered hehe :D But i will do it soon ~

    I love love love the pizza there are OMG the CHEESE the boccocini and the mozzerella I can't wait to go back and eat more :D

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    Replies
    1. Haha I see I'm not the only one who feels overwhelmed when it comes to crafting blog posts on the more substantial/epic visits! I'd be up for going back too - I remember having some pizza envy looking at the one you got!

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  10. DOC rocks. Definitely the best pizza in that area! So simple and not overly filling. Love the desserts too

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  11. Dear leaf,

    I don't think you are greedy as I think there should be at least 2 prawns on each slice. $20 is a bit pricey even by Sydney standards as pizza joints are so competitive here, you only need to find your favourite and just go back again and again. From reading Winston's blog, I can see he's pretty cluey on where to find good food in Melbourne.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, two prawns would be more satisfying, for sure! :D
      There are cheaper pizzas around, but the more gourmet places in Melbourne do tend to price them around the $20 mark...

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  12. I am such a sucker for a good plate of olives. I am going to Melbourne next month. Taking this info with me!

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    1. I have to confess I'm fairly neutral about olives, but if you love them, then the platter should suit you! :)

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  13. Ooof $20 pizzas. I would much rather just have a giant bowl of those mushrooms, $20 worth. Pile 'em high!

    Those soft drinks sound intense and fantastic!

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    Replies
    1. The mushroom pizza was great though. And I liked the soft drinks, they were pretty interesting, and tasty, too. :)

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