Mr Natural Gourmet Vegetarian Pizza – heaps of vegies

Every now and again I head over to Brunswick Street in Fitzroy and drive past Mr Natural’s pizza shop. It fills me with yearning for the days when we lived in Collingwood and were able to have their vegetable-packed pizzas delivered to our door. Many times I have wished to stop for a pizza but it is too awkward because we are headed for another destination or it is not dinnertime. So when the planets aligned this week, I made sure I didn’t miss my opportunity to have one of Mr Natural’s fine pizzas.

Sylvia and I headed there at 5pm, only to find that Mr Natural does not open till 5.30pm. A walk down Brunswick Street is no great hardship, even if it does mean crossing busy Alexandra Parade and being laid bare to the temptation of second hand bookshops. We were back when it opened and ordered a couple of small pizzas.

I am used to settling for whatever is the sole vegetarian option nestled among meaty pizzas and find myself spoiled for choice here. So many interesting pizzas! My favourites are the broccoli and the pumpkin. I chose the former partly out of sentimentality. It was here that I first discovered how good broccoli is on pizza. Especially with such an interesting combination of toppings: tomato, broccoli, mushrooms, olives, capsicums, feta, onions, cheese, parsley, sesame seeds and garlic.

Ordering for E is even harder. The menu has lots of bean sprouts, which I know he hates, so I don’t even consider the Razorback pizza because it includes tofu, bean sprouts and eggplant. The Bezalya pizza intrigues me with potato, olives feta, satay sauce and pumpkin among other toppings but it would be too much of a challenge for E. Even stranger is the oddly named Natural pizza with vindaloo curry sauce as well as vegetables, beans and cheese – does that sound natural to you?

Mr Natural caters for everyone. There is no standard vegetarian pizza of tomato, capsicum olives and cheese here. But you will find gluten free bases and vegan cheese. A ‘massive’ vegan pizza is available without any sort of cheese but all pizzas can be veganised or lactose free with the substitution of vegan cheese. We have an old menu that says they do yeast free but I can’t see any note of that in the more recent literature.

I decide upon the Chilli Beans pizza for E. It is piled with tomato sauce, borlotti beans, onions, capsicum, pineapple, cheese, garlic and chilli. This will illustrate just how unusual the pizzas are, when I tell you that this is one of the ‘classic pizzas’.

We don’t have to wait long but even so Sylvia has a little sleep. I wish I had taken my camera so I could show you the artwork on the wall which is pleasing to gaze at while I sit with a drowsy baby. It is a long drive home with the tempting smell of pizza wafting from the passenger seat. Dinner is very early for us. So early that we are able to eat together with Sylvia.

I love my pizza. They are better when piping hot from the delivery boy’s insulated case but they survive the peak hour traffic well. A little soggy under the weight of so much topping but the wholemeal base is still dense and nicely chewy. There are so many vegetables on top that I don’t feel the need for a side salad, although they are under a blanket of seedy cheese. Lotsa stinky garlic and intense feta make this pizza very tasty indeed. Since first tasting these pizzas I have found many good ones but I was so amazed when first encountering Mr Natural to find just how interesting pizza could be.

E on the other hand is all a bit Grim Eater over the pizza. He doesn’t like the beans or the pineapple and it doesn’t have enough chilli for him. (It did say on the menu that you could have it as hot as you liked but I forgot to ask and so did they.) He said he would have preferred the Margherita pizza. Actually, he decides he much prefers the Gringo and says that Mr Natural could learn a lot from Mr Mojo. I disagree.

I still think Mr Natural does some of the best vegetarian pizzas around. If only they could open a branch nearer us I would be a happy little vegemite. There is now a branch in St Kilda and a glossy menu has replaced the old red and white one we had on the fridge. So maybe there is some empire building that could come our way. If not, I will just have to be content with my infrequent pizza excursions to North Fitzroy for my favourite takeaway pizzas in Melbourne.

Mr Natural Gourmet Vegetarian Pizza
469 Brunswick Street. North Fitzroy
Phone: 03-9481-7775
Website: http://www.mr-natural-pizza.com/