There’s a lot to love about a cosy neighbourhood pizza and wine bar. Especially when said pizza involves 72-hour fermented dough, a wood-fired oven and plenty of attention to what goes on top.
OOH-FA opened in Mount Eden in August 2022, founded by Gemma Hareb, Jono Thevenard, Kazuya Suzuki and Fraser Childs. Warm and welcoming, the intimate pizza and wine bar takes a neo-Neapolitan, Italian-inspired approach, respecting traditional techniques without feeling too tied to the rules.
At the heart of it all is the dough. Fermented for 72 hours and left to proof, it then spends just a quick 60 seconds in the wood-fired oven before hitting your table. Fraser has been making pizza for 18 years, working alongside bakers who have helped shape his understanding of sourdough and natural fermentation.
It’s a process that combines tradition with experimentation, using wild yeast to leaven the dough before the simple, elemental final step of cooking it over wood fire.
That same care extends to what goes on the pizza and across the rest of the menu. Produce is sourced from around New Zealand wherever possible, from local butchers to truffles from Nelson and oysters from the Coromandel.
Italian cheeses are one of the exceptions, chosen for their character and tradition that can be difficult to replicate closer to home.
Alongside pizza, OOH-FA has recently introduced more snacky, aperitivo-style dishes, designed for sharing over a drink or ordering before the main event.
There’s a prawn cocktail with Marie Rose sauce and a slightly nostalgic 1960s cocktail-bar feel, plus beef short rib braised in the wood-fired oven, caramelised and served with horseradish cream, parsley and freshly pickled zucchini and shallot. As well as dishes like woodfired carrots with whipped ricotta and pistachios, and oysters… Hungry yet?
Pair it all with something from the rotating list of low-intervention wines and you’ve got a very good excuse for your next Mount Eden dinner.
Visit OOH-FA to book.
Imagery by Tim D and Jerome Warburton.