The Moon Cafe

Trips to the moon are getting much more believable and achievable these days.
And its location on the streets of Northbridge makes daily visits to The Moon downright easy.
You don't need rocket science of any kind, just a car.

Just a bottle of Vodka thanks!

Gone are the days of sneaking clear alcoholic liquids into bottles disguised as water.
Now it's being served automatically at The Moon, as a big warm welcome to say, "Here you go, have a freaking good night ahead!"

The striking similarities between Vodka and water makes it the best idea ever to recycle all those Vodka bottles that The Moon seems to have emptied out.

My jaw dropped with downright horror when I looked at the bar staff casually poured himself, and consequently sculled down a glass full of liquid from this bottle that sat among all the other alcoholic drinks at the bar.
I've never seen someone quench their thirst with so much style before while they were working.

I was in awe, until I remembered it was water.

Chilli Prawn Spaghetti - $19.50

After reading others sing praises about this, the Chilli Prawn Spaghetti was on our order despite us not being particularly tolerant of chilli. In hindsight it was dumb, but dumb things are the best things sometimes :)

This is a generous plate of saucy spaghetti strands, drenched with chilli napoli sauce with quite a fiery kick if you're not particularly a chilli conqueror. Although non existent in the picture, a handful of plump prawns are meddled amongst the carbohydrate maze.

As your tongue gets progressively number to the chilli, the remaining pool of sauce feels so much hotter than before.

Vegetarian Pizza - $18

Pizzas without cheese aren't really pizzas, so pizzas to me aren't really pizzas anymore. They've lost that stringy, melty, unhealthy characteristic that makes them so beautiful. Not to mention visually less appealing too!

I was tearing myself up when ordering this without the cheese. And when it came out to our table with the no cheese part completely forgotten, I was reluctant to send it back. However, paying respects to my own body, I did. And this final one, looks just as magnificent!
Just imagine the amount of vegetables you would voluntarily eat...

I would never get sick of you, ever.

The Moon's pizza bases are crisp and light, and actually makes you feel no guilt at all eating a (whole) pizza. It's not at all doughy and the ingredients are liberally jam-packed on like sardines in a can (a good thing for once!).

When you see this, then compare it to the stingy, sparsely spread ingredients on other pizzas, you grin with glee. It's impossible to eat this without dropping ingredients everywhere! With the vast amounts of mushroom, kalamata olives, zucchini, roasted capsicum, pumpkin, eggplant and chunky amounts of herb pesto, you are literally eating a salad. The kind that's on a pizza.

Lemon Lime Bitters - $4

Before an epic meal, you need something refreshing to quench your thirst first!
And I've found my perfect answer :)

Arrabbiata Penne - $18.50

Thanks to the dim lit atmosphere of The Moon, you'll eat most of your dishes in the dark, particularly if you are seated at the bar seats. Each mouthful is half a surprise, especially when chilli is part of the dish. A definite need to keep reaching for a few big shots of "vodka" to down this!

This penne pasta dish includes peppery cacciatore sausage slices, mushrooms and olives cooked in a chilli napoli sauce. It's like I have a weird, unexplainable fetish for ordering chilli dishes that we can't exactly eat freely without gulping down water that is consequently sweated back out furiously.

Only personal gripe are the unpitted olives, for nearly taking away a bit of my tooth!

Chicken & Bacon - $19.50

Many of their pizza/pasta variants have ingredients that interchange between the two mediums. Personally I think the ingredients on this pizza would fare a lot better as its pasta counterpart. It all came together to be a bit tasteless and dry.

I would have preferred a base more napoli sauced up, and more juicier succulent chicken pieces. The free range chicken, bacon, Spanish onion, roasted capsicum and mushrooms with the on-the-dry-side base was not an easy breeze to finish, but it was good to see the generosity of ingredients still at play!

Dry, but definitely still not comparable to a certain pub's pizzas where I subconsciously used my uneaten pizza base to wipe oil off my hands. I'd liken that experience to eating pizza ingredients off a Sao cracker.
It takes dryness to a whole new level - pizza base dehydration.

...

If the hunger bug happens to strike at the most inconvenient times of night, a spontaneous journey to The Moon is a must. You'll find species there that are the most friendly humans you'll come across in a while, with most even more down-to-earth than the people of Earth itself. Although running their asses off trying to satisfy the neverending needs of all its customers, service is given with a smile and good levels of attentiveness despite the midnight rush hour!

The menu accommodates so many tastes, and the kitchen will accommodate dining needs with no fuss at all. In a full house restaurant with no spare tables, the food arrives fairly quickly with the kitchen busily pumping out the orders continuously. Their tasty fare is even tastier on their specials nights*, bringing you discounted pizzas and pastas. And peeps come from far and wide to get in on their famous Chocolate Pizza.
You can't get any more indulgent (and unhealthier) than that! Two negatives really do make a positive :)

I really have no problems with the staff, and in fact quite love the customer service attached to them. It can be a challenge to get some attention sometimes, as it was difficult to call for service despite sitting right at the bar in front of a very busy bartender! The more intimate dining booths are probably not an option unless you go on the waiting list for one, or arrive with epic timing. Though the old-school arcade game table out the front seems to always be available!

What I assume most people love is the whole chilled out atmosphere here. The dark, indie and relaxed vibe, mismatching and worn out furnitures, the lighting, the music, the people all contribute to this cosy destination to chillax. It's a place where you can chatter as loud or whisper as quiet as you please to your mates, or mumble incoherently to yourself as you wish.
I frequently self-mumble about their policy that requires you to leave them a form of your ID before placing an order.

And just like we did, I'd frequently drive to The Moon and back.
Because unlike the moon, The Moon has a gravitational force that keeps pulling you back for more.

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(08) 9328 7474
Mon - Tues: 6pm to 1am
Wed/Thurs/Sun: 11am to 1am
Fri - Sat: 11am to 3.30am
Closed public holidays

*Specials

Dinner Mon/Tues: $11.95 pizza or pasta
Lunch Wed - Fri: $11.95 pizza or pasta including a glass of wine/soft drink

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