Lucky Coq, Windsor – seriously cheap and delicious pizzas

I’ve been finding myself at the busy Chapel St junction a lot recently. With David’s just off Chapel and Borsch Vodka & Tears around the corner, our next dining spot was at Lucky Coq which is right on the corner of the intersection for some seriously cheap pizzas and beers.

Those of you who read my blog post about the exciting news of getting published in Melon Magazine every fortnight, well I went out and got 3 copies for myself and my parents to keep the day after I wrote about it.

As we were flipping through the magazine over lunch, we saw an article in it about hotdog restaurants across Melbourne. The photos had Yuye craving for hotdogs and so we decided to visit the Prahran joint called Massive Wieners for dinner that night. Doesn’t the name entice you?

According to Urbanspoon it’s meant to be open for dinner on Tuesdays but we got an unexpected ‘closed’ sign when we got there at 7:30pm. As it turned out, Massive Wieners close at 7pm! Surely that’s not considered open for dinner? Dismayed that we had to travel over 20 minutes to get here, we thought we might as well eat somewhere nearby anyway and so I found myself yet again, at the corner of Chapel St and High St.

Lucky Coq is a bar and pizza joint that serves unbelievably cheap and tasty pizzas. No wonder they were full to the brim with patrons even on a Tuesday night. After having our IDs checked at the door, we wandered inside to find….no seats anywhere. We made our order and paid at the bar and proceeded upstairs to find no better luck. The only spaces left were against the wall in the balcony upstairs.

It wasn’t the happiest spot I must say as it was out in the open (with the light drizzle above out heads) and sitting in complete darkness. The bench was covered in green astroturf and obviously doesn’t get cleaned much as my elbows would occasionally brush against some sort of meat or bread left over from the previous patrons (who obviously couldn’t see where they were dropping food). Nevertheless, it was where we’d be eating our food. This location would be good for a Sunday afternoon on a clear hot Summer day though.

We ordered a beer and a cider between us as they were obvious choices at a place like this. I had the cider which was an Old Mout Cider with pear. It was quite sweet but refreshing which I liked. I think Yuye thought it was a bit too sweet. He ordered the Blond Coq which is Lucky Coq’s own branded beer made in WA. It was a lightish beer that was easy to drink.

I was afraid that the pizzas wouldn’t find their way to where we were sitting as it was seriously so dark, but after some time, they finally made it. What greeted us was a beautiful fresh pizza smell and the lovely toppings had me salivating. This is where my trusted iPhone came in handy.

We had ordered 3 small pizzas between us. The first pizza (which was probably our favourite) was the Pollo e Penoli – avocado, chicken, pine nuts, baby spinach, sun-dried tomato and camembert for $5. Yes, this pizza only cost $5! That’s cheaper than even take away pizza places but yet it was made with fresh, gourmet ingredients and tasted fantastic.

It obviously wasn’t the biggest pizza ever, but with prices this good, even having 2 pizzas for yourself would only cost $10.

We ordered another pizza from the $5 menu and it was the Fig Me Pumpkin with napoli sauce, rocket, pumpkin, goats cheese, figs and pistachio. It was a pizza full of flavour, although it was a tad on the sweet side for me. It turned out that the figs were not fresh figs which was a shame but of course it’s not figs season. I would imagine that if you ordered this pizza in summer, it would be topped with fresh figs which would taste even better. I loved the occasional big chunk of sweet and soft pumpkin and the crunch of flavourful pistachios on this pizza.

Our lucky last pizza for the night was the Patate Bianche – potato, cooked prosciutto, caramelised onion, bocconcini and parmesan for $6.50. Even at this price, it was very good value. I love potato topped pizzas and how can you go wrong with those ingredients? Without doubt we both enjoyed this pizza immensely and would order it again if we revisited Lucky Coq.

I did read on other blogposts that there was $4 pizzas which I didn’t see on my visit. Perhaps their prices had increased ever so slightly, but it’s not a big enough increase for it to be noticeable.

All up our whole meal, including beers, only cost us $28.50. That’s prices rivalling those of cheap Chinese takeaways. For a great night out with music, fantastic atmosphere and tasty cheap food, head to Lucky Coq, you won’t be disappointed. The only issue is finding that table, especially if you have a few friends with you.

Question time: What’s your favourite cheap food?

Lucky Coq
Phone: (03) 9525 1288
179 Chapel St, Windsor VIC 3181 (Corner Chapel St & High St)
http://www.luckycoq.com.au/