Thin Slizzy

The music at Collingwood pizzeria and bar Thin Slizzy is the kind your parents might not like. Chances are you’ll walk in to find owner (and muso) Scott Penberthy cranking a Spotify playlist titled “Chooglin’ Nugs From the Golden Ages of Hard Rock” while hand-stretching thin, Neapolitan-style pizza bases.

Penberthy’s pizza career started in his hometown of Auckland in 2008. But after touring Australia with his old band he settled in Melbourne, spending the four years making pies at Rita’s in Abbotsford. You might have also caught his band, Holy Serpent, at a nearby north-side venue.

Thin Slizzy was previously Angelo’s Pizza e Cucina, where Penberthy and his mates would order greasy, late-night food from the bain-marie after gigs. But the previous owner shut up shop in 2020, leaving the furniture, fridges and pizza oven behind. With help from his mates Penberthy took it over, building a dark-timber bar and retrofitting the chairs and tables. Plus, he got some decoration donations: photographic prints, an antique organ and a tombstone from a movie set.

Expect a menu loaded with rock’n’roll puns. The red-sauce Meatallica comes with hot salami, pancetta and ham, and vego options include the Smashing Pumpkin (with pumpkin puree, feta, mozzarella, pine nuts, rocket and a balsamic glaze) and Brockin’ in the Free World (with broccoli puree, blue cheese, mozzarella, walnuts and rocket).

To drink: tinnies of Kaiju Krush tropical ale, Rover ale and Balter XPA; a handful of easy-drinking reds and whites; and a roster of classic cocktails, such as Negronis, Whisky Sours and Margaritas, with rotating specials.