The Moor's Head

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I'M A sucker for radish. Maybe because, despite having studied horticulture, it's one of the few things I can grow. At Moor's Head - Rumi's younger, more fun brother - they cut their radishes in half, sprinkle them with salt and nigella seeds and swizzle them with olive oil. Such a pleasurably simple crunch.

But Moor's Head is more than just radish. Joseph Abboud and John Farha's seven-week-old venture is all about ''inauthentic pizza'', a re-invented hybrid that combines their love of Italian pizza with their Lebanese heritage.

It's a clever concept that sprang from the original Rumi, even then billed as the ''Lebanese Ladro''. Abboud used to deliver pizzas over the fence to next-door bar the Alderman and they had a massive following.

Here, the Italian-style dough is classically thin and crisp, but the boat-shaped bases and toppings (bastourma, labna, zaatar, spicy ma'anek sausage) hail from the Middle East.

On offer are about a dozen bumper-sized manoushe (the classic Lebanese street snack) and pides, served whole on pizza pans or wooden boards. Each table is given a pizza wheel and the ''cut your own'' idea adds an unfussy touch. It matches the rambunctious, tavern-style vibe of the converted warehouse where you can share some local or Lebanese wine and beer. (Those 200ml serves of Thornbury brew 3 Ravens Golden Ale go down alarmingly well.)

From the pides, the Omar Sharif is a three-cheese feast - salty feta, haloumi-style akkawi and ashawan, a semi-hard sheep's milk cheese - with whole leaves of fresh mint, nigella seeds and ''soused onions'' (onion soaked in salt and red-wine vinegar to bring out the sweetness). Good? I reckon!

The Golden Terrace pays tribute to the lahme bajin, the chewy oval-shaped base blanketed with minced beef (spiced with nutmeg, cinnamon and allspice) and topped with fresh tomato, a bit of chilli, toasted almonds and lemon. Then there's the Beiruti, a take on Lebanon's classic zaatar pizza. Here, the thyme-covered base is topped with rocket, tomato, black olives and creamy blobs of soft labna that balance the zaatar's zing.

Salads are equally good, such as the mint-laced Lebanese-style slaw with caraway and that soused onion.

I've had one report of a diner receiving a pizza ''so burnt it shouldn't have come out'' but nothing like that happened on my visit.

Desserts honour Abboud and Farha's dads. The ya'oub, a sensational folded triangle of banana and soft, nutty halva is for Abboud's dad who'd crush those ingredients in flatbread, and the ricotta and honey jamil references Farha's dad.

It's great to see Abboud still in top form and to see Farha, who runs a tight front-of-house, so successful in his first venture.

Where Rear, 774 High Street, Thornbury, 9484 0173

Prices Starters, $4.50-$12; manoushes, $16.50-$19; pides, $17-$19; salads, $8-$8.50; desserts, $5-$9

Cards MC V Eftpos

Licensed

Open Wed-Sun, 5.30pm-10pm

Website themoorshead.com

Cuisine Lebanese/Turkish/Italian

 

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 nrousseau@theage.com.au