Wednesday 14 January 2009

Mojos Weird Pizza – for the adventurous!

We used to live close enough to Mojos Weird Pizza to dial out for pizza but now that we live further from the city, they don’t deliver to our neck of the woods. It is a rare treat to have their pizza these days. So when I was driving past last week close to dinner time, I stopped by to pick up a pizza.

Mojos is – as the name says – weird! If the name didn’t give a clue, then the chainmail headgear on the counter might! The weird part of the menu has many amusingly named pizzas – Hideous Kinky, Jamie Oliver, Groundhog, Go Bananas etc etc. Our favourite is The Gringo. We couldn’t resist it, for old times sake.

Imagine nachos on a pizza. The Gringo is layers of salsa, crushed corn chips and cheese, which are then scattered with jalapeno peppers and blobs of sour cream and guacamole. This is a feast of carbs and fat with a little spice thrown in. It reminds me of eating a deep fried mars bar where I had a bite and then had to have another to convince myself it really was that strange.

However, when I ordered, my eyes were bigger than my stomach. I not only ordered a medium Gringo but also a small dessert pizza by the name of Bumpy Lane. (Memo to self – next time a small Gringo will suffice!) The second night we had a piece each of the Gringo with some simple salad and we agreed that this was a far far better way to eat it because it is a rather heavy pizza.

After we shared most of the Gringo on the first night, it was an effort to even taste the Bumpy Lane which consisted of nutella, peanuts, choc chips, raspberry lollies, coconut and chocolate sauce. When I peeked at it in the car, the little marshmallows looks perky sitting atop the pizza but by the time we were ready to eat they had melted into gooey white pools. It was so rich and decadent that a small pizza lasted us 3 nights. E found it rather chewy. I loved the chocolatey intensity but found the whole peanuts a bit much and would have preferred them chopped smaller or left out altogether.

As an aside, the menu says that the Bumpy Lane is vegetarian but I did wonder if the marshmallows and raspberry lollies were indeed gelatine-free. Stricter (and more alert) vegetarians than me might have checked.

We ate outside because it was a balmy 29 C and quite pleasant in the backyard. This is a pizza to be served with serviettes and copious glasses of water. It was the Epiphany so we took down our Christmas decorations and then I was so full I had to lie on the couch while I watched Party Animals on the telly. This show is one of those gems of the non-ratings period (ie the time over summer when the television stations don’t bother with ratings or decent shows because they assume everyone is outside enjoying the sun) which stars the sweet and boyish Matt Smith who will be the new Doctor Who. I can’t wait (even though I will be sad to farewell David Tennant’s doctor).

It was fun to have a couple of Mojos Weird Pizzas but I can’t help but think it is probably just as well we are too far away to just pick up the phone any more. They do have a classic pizza menu and a light cheese option, if that is what you are after. Nevertheless, once in a while is quite enough for us.

Mojos Weird Pizza
384 Queen’s Parade
Clifton Hill
Tel 03 9489 6588
Web: http://mojosweirdpizza.com.au/

Open 7 days: Sun-Thurs 3-10pm, Fri-Sat 3-11pm
(See website for details on Port Melbourne store)

16 comments:

  1. I love that they are called Weird pizzas thats just great :)

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  2. Huh! I've never heard of Mojo's before, though Michael says he has walked past it. I love that they have a pizza named after Tex Perkins!

    BTW, I've rapidly become addicted to Party Animals. I was pretty sad to read that David Tennant was bowing out of Dr Who, but now that Matt Smith has been named as his successor things are looking up! (Fingers crossed the next companion is more Catherine Tate than Kylie Minogue.)

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  3. I love all sorts of bizarre pizza toppings so if I ever make it to your neck of the woods I'll be sure to check that one out :)

    And I have heard of veggie marshmallows, but I've never managed to find any - hence, as an almost-lifelong veggie, I have never eaten a marshmallow so I'm deeply curious about them!

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  4. That sounds like a fabulous place! I love the weirdness of the guac-topped pizza. What are some of the other weird combos? And the dessert does, indeed, sound very rich and decadent. Finally--a dessert that's new to me. ;)

    Love the first photo with Zinc in the background!

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  5. i always got the gringo as my hangover meal when i lived in richmond, sometimes i used to curse that they werent open earlier than midday!

    tjhey got rid of my other fave pizza which had carmelsied onion and 4 types of cheese on it. yummm

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  6. Haha, wow! The mere idea of those pizza's has me intrigued!

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  7. Oh wow, those pizzas are something else! I think I may have got carried away if I had visited that pizza parlour :) What a great idea though. I would like to be lazing about your garden, eating pizza with you :)

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  8. Thanks Flower - it is a catchy name!

    Thanks Cindy - the Tex Perkins pizza amused us too! I think we discovered Mojos because we lived in Collingwood! Glad to hear you are also enjoying party animals - will be interesting to see the companion chosen for Matt Smith as the Doctor (I was quite fond of Rose)!

    Thanks Rachel - you could always try doing a version of this on your own pizza if you are feeling up to the challenge - as for marshmallows - I grew up with them and just occasionally really fancy eating them!

    thanks Ricki - chocolate pizzas are a recent (and infrequent) indulgence of mine! And Zinc just loves our company in the backyard on a summer evening!

    thanks Ran - I can imagine the gringo would do good things for hangovers (unless like me you can't eat at all which is why I don't get hungover any more!)

    thanks Vegetation - they are lots of fun!

    Thanks Holler - would love to share some pizza (and sunshine) with you - we would have welcomed help with getting through these ones because they were so rich!

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  9. OMG I am gobsmacked so much topping oozing everywhere. Probably best you don't live near there anymore. Probably best that I too don't live anywhere near there too. :)

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  10. Wow, look at that topping! I don't think I've ever seen a pizza with that much topping aside from a Chicago pizza. I wish there was one near me so I could try a truly "weird pizza"!

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  11. Thanks Catherine - you are right about not wanting to live too close to such temptation!

    Thanks Lorraine - it is quite a hefty amount of topping - fun for a change! That's funny that it reminds you of a chicago pizza - at least melbourne is closer for you :-)

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  12. Wow what unusal and fun sounding pizzas. Would love to try some - they sound perfect when when you're fed up with normal pizza :)

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  13. Weird sounds about right! I once made a dessert pizza for a joke when I worked in a pizza restaurant but it wasn't as decadent as yours. I'm really quite intrigued to revisit the idea now.

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  14. Thanks Katie - I like Mojos because so often there is only one choice of veg pizza and it is always the same

    Thanks Lysy - I don't think dessert pizza needs to be so decadent but I do like the idea - hope to try one at home some day

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  15. OMG, that dessert pizza sounds... strangely alluring!! I love unusual pizza toppings but as you say, probably better not to live to conveniently close by... :)

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  16. Oh, balm. Those pizzas sound intense but kind of good. and oh, 29 degrees! summer! holidays!

    I LOVED Party Animals. And Matt Smith, sigh!!

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