We have been happily munching on inauthentic pizza at The Moor’s Head on the northside for a while now. Inauthentic you may ask? Yes, not the stuff you’ll find in Rome, or at many of Melbourne’s other pizzerias. Inauthentic means Lebanese, and either round or in pide form.
Now, The Moor’s Head has made the trek over the river and has opened its second restaurant in Elsternwick, letting the southsiders get a piece of the pide.
Joseph Aboudd (Rumi, and The Moor’s Head North) with partners John Fahra and David Figliomeni, and Chef Daniel Barrese (Firechief) are the men behind this new venture.
The menu will look the same. Starters see dip with house-baked breads, labne with extra virgin olive oil, and radishes with salt. Manoushe – the round pizzas come in flavours like Fairuz, a combination of tomato, haloumi, bastourma, and parsley, or Beiruti, a mix of Za’atar, fresh tomato, olives, soused onion, labne, roquette, and mint. Pides, the more oval folded style of inauthentic pizza see the likes of The Bosphourus – tomato, prawns, chilli, garlic, and coriander, or the Sultan Mehmet – tomato, lamb ma’anek, red pepper, feta, and black olives.
The drinks menu is kept short, just like the northside, but what will be available is Lebanon’s only craft beer 961. This brew began in 2006 in what was then the smallest brewery in the world. They remain the only microbrewery in the Middle East. Dedication to good beer never goes unnoticed by us. We feel like that is worth the trip alone.
Lunch diners and take away lovers will be catered for at The Moor’s Head south. There will also be a range of Middle Eastern supplies available for purchase including dips, olive oil and spices.
Goes to show, being inauthentic can be good.
The Moor’s Head
480a Glenhuntly Rd, Elsternwick 3185
03 9523 1198
