Mozza Pizzeria | SA Weekend review

Why eat frisbee-shaped pizza when you can eat huge rectangular blocks? This inner-west spot is reinventing an Italian staple – but the chef behind it isn’t cutting corners!

A delicious spread at Mozza Pizzeria.

This is a love story, of sorts, and like many love stories it involves unlikely protagonists, a few broken rules and choices that, from the outside at least, might seem foolhardy.

In this case, the infatuation is with red sauce, cheese and a truckload of comforting carbs – enough carbs, in fact, to make up for at least five fashionable paleo/keto/acai bowl places.

At the centre of it is a style of pizza that is a world away from the thin-crusted, parsimonious tradition of those made in Naples and adopted in many other places. These ones aren’t even the right shape. Mamma mia.

Mozza Pizzeria – an Adelaide love story involving unlikely protagonists, a few broken rules and choices that, from the outside at least, might seem foolhardy.

No, Mozza in Thebarton is no conventional pizzeria, nor does it conform to any other familiar restaurant model. The first surprise comes in its location, part of the 130-year-old Southwark Hotel, a pub which has never been in danger of having “gastro” used as a prefix.

You will see it as you head out of town on Port Rd, before hitting what was the brewery. Mozza is attached to one side, taking over an old function and storage room that has now been painted in the brightest possible shade of red.

We’ll just leave this here … Picture: Instagram / @mozza_thebarton

The interior is much easier on the eye, with simple, bistro-style bentwood chairs, bare bulbs hanging from looped cables and walls adorned with bunches of garlic and dried chilli.

A second function/spill-over space is more formal, finished in deep blue and a display of watercolour landscapes, while another small nook at the front features a magnificent, restored terrazzo bar and historic paraphernalia.

The next surprise is Mozza’s team of owners, especially chef Adam Liston who has made his name in recent times at restaurants such as CBD hotspot Shobosho, where the cooking is inspired by his frequent visits to Japan.

But it was during trips to the US Liston fell for the bravado of New York’s Italian/American diners and the pizzas to be found there.

Now that’s a chicken parmigiana. Mozza Pizzeria, Thebarton.

Get a pizza Mozza Pizzeria’s pizza!

When approached by the Southwark owners to activate an unutilised space, this very different dining experience came to mind as something that might appeal to both pub-goers and families in the community. The Mozza pizza, though, might not be what they are expecting. For a start, it is neither round nor flat. The base is a brick-shaped slab of focaccia that has both a puffy, fluffy crumb and bottom and sides that have a baked to a crisp, golden shell.

While this could be considered light as far as breads go, add a topping such as the Americano, a Philly-CheeseSteak-cross-meat-lover combination of caramelised onion, bacon jam, cheese sauce and slices of smoked brisket, and even the smaller sized six-incher is a piece of work. And at a more-than-reasonable $17, it’s hard to see how they hope to make money.

Mozza Pizzeria’s “snacks” include lasagne spring rolls, carbonara arancini and fritto misto.

Even a more restrained offering crowned with slices of potato, fresh herbs and cream boiled to the point where it begins to burn and split is beyond filling. With all those carbs in the undercarriage, I reckon the punchier versions such as “Spicy” or “Pepperoni” would do better.

Having said that, we have already fallen into the trap of overindulging in those items listed as snacks, believing they would be sized accordingly. The fritto misto, for instance, is not the delicate arrangement of fried morsels beloved in Italy but crumbed portions of squid, prawns and sand whiting that the pub could proudly list as a seafood basket.

Lasagne spring rolls offend my food snob sensibilities but are infuriatingly, can’t-stop-eating-them delicious. Head chef Phil Carey bakes a proper lasagne to pulverise for the filling.

Inside Mozza Pizzeria.

The tiramisu ice-cream sandwich for dessert is another cultural mash-up that could have gone awry but plenty of booze and a super-smooth gelato jammed between two biscuit fingers is a messy triumph.

Mozza, then, doesn’t take itself too seriously. It turns out food designed for comfort, not contemplation. The key will be customers accepting pizzas coming from a different angle.

For more reviews visit delicious.com.au/eatout.