March 22, 2008: Giant steps/Innocent Bystander II

After our late lunch at Tom Phat, Mike, Jo, Cindy and I made use of a borrowed car to head out for some sort of road trip. By the time we got our acts together and picked up Tracy it was already getting on for four in the afternoon, meaning that our initial plans of driving to the Dandenongs and going on a 7km lyre bird walk were looking a tad optimistic. Instead, we decided to head towards Healesville and go for a quick stroll around one of the nearby nature reserves before finding something delicious for dinner.

Our previous trip to Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander had been fairly successful, so we decided on a follow-up visit. Both Cindy and I ordered pizzas this time around - pumpkin, marinated goat feta, pomegranate and roasted garlic for me ($22) and green zucchini, capers, fennel & lemon for Cindy ($17). These were some fine pizzas - perfectly cooked thin bases, thoughtful combinations of toppings and an appropriate level of cheesiness. Mine (see the picture above) was a fairly straightforward pumpkin pizza, with the addition of a sprinkling of pomegranate seeds, which added a nice variation in texture and little bursts of tart sweetness.

Cindy's was all about the tang - the capers, fennel and lemon juice completely dominated the flavour - you really couldn't taste the zucchini at all. Still, that wasn't a problem at all - the pizza was a flavour sensation, with the fennel really stealing the show.

Across our two visits, the food here was deeply impressive. This doesn't come cheap, but I think it's a justifiable expense when everything is so good.

(You can read about our previous visit to Giant Steps/Innocent Bystander here.)