D.O.C. - Denominazione d'Origine Controliata

After a long week of studying with a few more weeks of study, essays and exams ahead of me, I've taken to getting up early in the mornings to get to the library first thing in the morning so I can work all day and afford to take nights off. So when B asked earlier today if I was free on Sunday morning for brunch, I asked whether he was free tonight for dinner instead. Fine by me, he said. After a failed attempt at convincing a few more friends to join us, I met him at 6.30 and headed down Lygon Street in search of a good feed.

We had planned on the un-original yet reliable Tiamo 2, but seeing the masses of people milling around the entrance on this comfortably cool spring night, we decided to search elsewhere. Stopping at the corner of Faraday Street, I suddenly recalled the new restaurant that Cindy and Michael, as well as Claire, had recently reviewed. Intruiged by the sound of a pizza and mozarella bar, I slyly suggested we try it out (as B, like most, don't know that my ulterior motives for trying out new restaurants is so I can come home and blog about them!).

D.O.C was still only half-full when we got there, so getting a table was the easy part. Perusing the menu, we were informed by the menu that D.O.C was named after the phrase used by various agricultural government bodies that set and oversaw the standards of some Italian foods, such as cheese and wine. The menu plugged "simple Italian food", and that was exactly what we got. B and I decided to go all out, and ordered something from the Mozarella Bar, which we thought was an entree, but turned out to be a main instead. B ordered an Assagio Di Salumi, an assortment of cured meats, and I went with the Bresaola, air cured beef. Both were accompanied by a ball of Australian Fior Di Latte mozzarella cheese and salted biscuits. B later mused that the mozzarella personally wasn't all that spectacular for him. I grudgingly agreed; though I was very enamoured by the idea of a Mozzarella bar, I had to admit perhaps my tastebuds weren't quite up to speed as to be able to appreciate the mozzarella for what it really was. Nonetheless, the cured meats were truly mouthwatering and eating a mouthful of mozzarella with melt-in-your-mouth meat on top of a chunk of the savoury biscuit was really an experience.

The pizzas, however, were on a whole new playing field themselves. B ordered the Pizza ai Porcini with wild mushrooms, truffle oil & mozzarella in bianco, whilst I went for the Pizza Soppressa with tomato, mozzarella, salame, provoloine, pesto di casa & olive. The toppings themselves were good, but the pizza dough and crust really stole the night. Though just a tad salty, they were crispy on the crust whilst satisfyingly chewy on the base. The greatest thing about them is how thin they are. Though B and I could only finish about half our pizzas after having eaten our mozzarella and meats, we ruefully looked back at the table when we were leaving to look at our half-eaten pizzas, a bit reluctant to leave them, but really just unable to ingest any more.

My only complaint about D.O.C was that service seemed a bit haphazard. For some reason, my pizza came out at the same time as the mozzarella "starters", which meant that by the time we got to it, the pizza had gotten cold. What showed how truly impressive the crust was, however, was that the coldness didn't detract from how good it was one bit. It was a bit hard to attract attention after our food had arrived. I couldn't figure out whether it was because we were seated in a nice cornered nook. Plus the price was a bit steep - the bill came to $40 each for two people. That being said, I would recommend it for the experience. And as B wisely said, you can judge how good it is by the number of Italians there were, and there were a lot of Italians. Not sure if I would go again in the near future - mostly due to the indentation it makes on my wallet - but worth another shot definitely.

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D.O.C
295 Drummond Street, Carlton
93472998
No Bookings
Open 7 nights and Sunday lunch

The Element - The Great Muesli Hunt I

This morning, I woke up with an intense craving. As I was heading to the library which opened at 11 anyway, I decided to find a way to satisfy this craving for a big bowl of homemade toasted muesli, preferably liberally doused in milk. MMmmm. It didn't help that I kept getting flashbacks to a particularly wonderful version I'd had several week's ago at Degraves Espresso Bar, which was absolutely divine. I had a mind to head into the city purely to satisfy this urge, but decided it would be too much out of my way, especially since I actually had work to do.

I headed for Big Harvest on Elgin Street, vetoing all the lovely cafes on Rathdowne Street which were inevitably packed with families, only to find that it was actually closed. Bugger. I called in at Thresherman's Bakehouse, but they only had natural muesli. I then wandered down Lygon Street and Grattan Street, all the way heading towards Melbourne Uni, getting increasingly desperate about my chances of finding the elusive muesli.

With no luck anywhere else, my last resort was The Element, conveniently located a few blocks parallel to my destination. The big plus was that it was empty and quiet, allowing me to read my paper and eat my breakfast in peace. After sitting down, however, I asked about the muesli on the menu ("Is it toasted or natural?") to which the waitress then replied "... what do you mean toasted or natural?". Now, this is not a hard question. I was especially irked purely because I had spent so long looking for this muesli and my patience was running thin. But after several minutes consultation with someone unseen in the kitchen, the answer came back that it was, in fact, natural muesli. The world is clearly against me this morning.

I did end up ordering a toasted basil pesto pide bread with olive oil, which came served on a wooden block (very impressive looking - simple, yet elegant) and was still hot from just coming out of the oven. It wasn't exactly what I wanted, but it was still okay. Not fantastic, but okay. My 'Extreme C' juice, comprised of guava, apple and some sort of berry juice, was also tasty and was enough to keep me occupied until my pide bread came. At $7.40, it was okay. It seems highly unlikely, though, that I'll be back in the near future. Not until they figure out the difference between toasted and natural muesli.

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The Element Bar Bistro
604 Swanston Street
Carlton
www.theelement.com.au