D.O.C. Pizza & Mozzarella Bar

295 Drummond St
Carlton, VIC 3053
03 9347 2998
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D.O.C. (Denominazione di Origine Controllata) is a phrase used by various agricultural government bodies that set and oversee the standards of some Italian foods, especially cheese and wine.

This post has been a long time coming. The success behind DOC, and the reason why I keep coming back, is quite simple: good providore.

I mean… just source each ingredient well, and they pretty much speak for themselves!

Bresaola (air cured beef) /w Australian fior di latte mozzarella 16.9

Case in point, there’s mozzarellas and then there’s mozzarellas. Aaaah… you should’ve seen my wide-eyed look of astonishment when I had my first bite… *cue: fireworks*

And that ball of milky goodness wasn’t even from the pricier D.O.P.* Italian buffalo mozzarella. The cured beef wasn’t even necessary, all I wanted was mozzarella, and more mozzarella!

*D.O.P. translates into Denominazione di Origine Protetta “Protected Designation of Origin”.

This visit was a bit of a bloggers’ gathering (much to management’s horror), with Winston, Daisy, Leaf, Yasmeen and some of their partners.

It sort of fell together that D.O.C. had been on most of our wishlists for ages, so why not dine together there?

bolgheri rosso – sangiovese, podere grattamacco (toscana) 15

The restaurant is casual-stark, exuberant, a little bit gruff, noisy, forthright and so delightfully Italian.

Dare I say it even felt a little sexy at times?

Antipasto D.O.C. 24.9
daily assortment of selected antipasto ingredients

For instance, just take a look at this sexy platter of goodness… Yes please!

Because there was quite a big group of us, we split the table into smaller groups, who then shared a few pizzas amongst themselves. The next 5 pizzas were ordered by my tablemates, so I did not taste them, except for a slice of the marvellous San Daniele below:

Pizza San Daniele 22.9
w/ San Marzano tomato, D.O.P. buffalo mozzarella, D.O.P. San Daniele Prosciutto

I’ll so have to order this next time…!

Pizza Tiger Prawns 22.9
w/ tomato, mozzarella, endive, fresh chilli

Pizza ai Porcini 19.9
w/ wild mushrooms, truffle oil & mozzarella in bianco with grated D.O.P. pecorino

This one also sounds (and smelt) potentially magnificent!

Pizza Capricciosa Nuova 19.9
w/ tomato, mozzarella, leg ham, mushroom, artichoke & olive

Pizza Salsiccia 20.9
w/ Leo s sausage, crema di broccoli e mozzarella

Okay okay… so pizzas don’t look all that enticing on photographs. But general consensus from everyone was the pizzas are excellent, with an amazing crust and beautiful ingredients.

Pizza D.O.C. 20.9
w/ San Marzano tomato, fresh D.O.P. buffalo mozzarella & fresh basil

But this was what Fakegf and I got and shared. It’s the classic Pizza Margherita, but using Italian D.O.P. buffalo mozzarella.

This pizza follows the traditional topping rule of three ingredients only (sauce included): tomato, mozzarella, and basil.

It sounds so spartan, and some of you are probably asking ‘where’s the meat?’. But because each component ingredient were sourced well, this pizza tasted simple but incredible. The sparseness of toppings also meant that you could really taste the milky wonderfulness of the buffalo mozzarella.

Gorgeous meal with gorgeous company!

We next ordered the four desserts from the menu and shared it amongst everyone (we were too full to go individuals).

Coppa gelato – mixed gelati 9.9
Nutella calzoncino c/ vanilla bean ice cream 10.9

Sweet pizza w/ Belgian white chocolate & fresh strawberries & vanilla bean ice cream 11.9
Sweet goat s cheese, tiramisu w/ pavesini & montenegro 10.9

The mixed gelati was the most unexciting dessert in terms of flavour, I did not mind the nutella calzoncino, and the sweet pizza was just too sweet for me. However, the goat’s cheese tiramisu was very very good!

I used to not be a fan of pizzas because they generally are made so “Baroque” in style, with millions of toppings and too much of everything.

But eating at D.O.C. has turned the culinary tables around for me. I would eat these pizzas. And I think the actual anchor point for that restaurant is their mozzarellas… in their salads, antipasti, pizzas and cheese platters. Beautifully sourced, hand-torn, and served with Italian pride. Yes please!