Giant Steps / Innocent Bystander

Giant Steps / Innocent Bystander

336 Maroondah Highway, Healesville

(Ph) 5962 6111

Day trip to Yarra Valley! Our friend told us about Giant Steps / Innocent Bystander and how they do quite a good lunch here =) I got very confused why it's called both Giant Steps and Innocent Bystander - I still don't understand it but I think they're 2 separate wineries' wines sold at this one place. So we got here and I started walking up the stairs but then realise the restaurant is actually on ground level and you don't need to go up the stairs... why call it Giant Steps when you don't have to go up the steps?! But then I find out "Giant Steps" is named after John Coltrane's jazz album hmm lol.

The decor is very unique, an open warehouse with lots of interesting decorations. Very warm atmosphere with the sun shining in =)

Decorations include this stand of shoe moulds with plants growing out of them =P

The kitchen is an open kitchen with a wood fire oven and there is a bakery on site as well - breads smelt delicious =)

There were 5 of us, we decided to share a few pizzas since we know they're good and 'cause they'll be easier to share. This is what it says on the menu regarding the pizzas - we make authentic artisan, wood fired oven pizza, and that means it is all about the base. the toppings are simplebut effective, showing off the very best produce that we can source - items such as san marzano tomatoes and italianbuffalo mozzarella - always using the freshest ingredients including local garlic, seasonal vegetables and herbs grownin wine barrels in our herb garden behind the winery. How gourmet sounding =P

I wanted the roast mushroom, asiago, black truffle oil, garlic and parsley $23

The crusts are puffy yet crispy - delicious! <3 mushrooms =) really couldn't taste the truffle... I don't know what the big dealio with it is even after Vue de Monde lol. If only they were a bit more generous with the cheese...

spicy pork sausage, buffalo mozzarella, san marzano tomato & chilli $22

This one is not as aesthetically appealing, was quite good but a bit too chilli for my liking.

prosciutto, san marzano tomato, cravero parmesan and parsley $24

This one definitely doesn't look great =/ why not spread the proscuitto pieces around instead of having it poke off the pizza? Didn't have as much taste except the saltiness of the proscuitto. Crust was better on this one bit more toasty =)

Last was the pumpkin, spinach, roast garlic, feta & pine nuts $22

This was surprisingly tasty, P who normally doesn't like pumpkin enjoyed this very much. The pumpkin was roasted well, still soft inside and the pine nuts were toasty as well. The only downside was that the toppings were quite loose, especially the spinach and the feta so quite hard to hold and eat. If only they had some mozzarella or something to stick it all together =P

As we left we saw this sign hanging off the ceiling - haha! What a threat =P

Food~
5/10 - food was so so, quite expensive for what you get. and we got a bit sick of pizza after a while, should have tried some of their other menu items

Atmosphere~
4/5 - come here for the atmosphere for sure! we sat at this massive booth, it was so long could have easily sat 5 people on each side =P you can also sit on the couches if you want to come here for a snack =)

Service~
3/5 - quite lacking in staff so took a while taking our orders and for the food to come out =(

Come try here if you haven't been before! Quite unique =)

C.
xo