Zak’s Pizza and Grill in Happy Valley has taken takeaway to the next level.

Offering almost everything from pizzas and burgers, all through to locally made cheesecakes, Zak’s has a focus on fresh, locally sourced ingredients where everything is processed in-house.

Husband and wife duo, Zak and Hannah Kartabani, have always had a passion for great tasting and satisfying meals, with the hopes of delivering customers the best quality food in town.

“We source everything locally,” says owner Zak.

“Our produce is grown locally, our meat sourced from local suppliers; and we try and give the customers the best possible produce, all while supporting the local community.”

Zak started in the food and hospitality industry at the age of 11 in his Dad’s deli, and his passion has only grown from then.

“I just want to feed people,” says Zak.

“We concentrate on feeding families […] we offer a modern takeaway service with the restaurant quality but without the price tag.”

Zak is also very big on building relationships the old fashioned way, face-to-face and personal, making sure to greet every customer that walked through the door with a big smile. His reputation for quality is continuing to grow and the food definitely lived up to that.

The Works Pizza was made with onion, Virginian ham, mushrooms, capsicum, salami, bacon, pineapple and olives; and we also opted to add anchovies. Yum! This meaty pizza is definitely one for the meat lovers out there. The rich meat paired well with the earthy mushrooms and the salty tang from the olives and added anchovies. The sweet pineapple and capsicum helped to balance out the prominent salt flavours and also helped to cool the warm tones coming from the salami.

The Tandoori Chicken Pizza was made with onion, capsicum, tandoori chicken, mint sauce and coriander. The lovely light and fragrant toppings were a delight. Usually pizzas can be quite greasy and meat dominant, however the tandoori chicken pizza was light and fresh. The mint sauce gave a refreshing tang that helped to balance the slight spice coating the tender chicken, while the capsicum give lovely earthy tang balance the fragrant favours. Overall a very light and delicious balance of strong and light flavours.

The Big Zak Pizza was made with onion, bacon, beef with mayonnaise and BBQ sauce. It’s fresh and thin base had a lovely crunch on the crust’s edge and held lovely juicy meat. The BBQ sauce held a lovely rich sweetness only complimented by the creamy mayonnaise combo. The sauces helped to lift the deeper, smokier flavours of the bacon, onion and beef. A lovely combination of rich flavours that definitely deserved to be named after the shop.

The Big Zak Burger was also worthy of its name. Made with two layers of beef, lettuce, mayo, BBQ sauce, American cheese, onion and bacon, on a house-made sourdough roll. The beef patties were perfectly cooked. The tender and juicy meat complimented by a lovely smoky flavour in the BBQ sauce. Its richer tones paired with the bacon, which was lifted by the melted cheese. The richer components were freshened with the crisp lettuce and the added mayonnaise dressing. Yum! All ingredients were wonderfully fresh and from this, you can tell the quality of ingredients that go into all of Zak’s dishes.

The Crispy Chicken Burger was made with a double layer of the house-made crispy chicken, lettuce, mayonnaise, tomato, BBQ sauce, tasty cheese and bacon on a house-made sourdough roll. The chicken was perfectly cooked and had a lovely fragrant fried coating that was perfectly thin and didn’t overpower the chicken or become too greasy. The fresh lettuce and tomato helped to balance the richer flavours and the slight smokiness from the bacon and balanced perfectly, all combined together in the soft sourdough roll.

The Chino Dog was a cheese kransky paired with cooked onion, tasty cheese, tomato sauce and mustard in a brioche long roll. This roll was made exclusively for Zak’s using all vegan ingredients. Yum! The lovely juicy and fatty kranksy was packed full of flavour, and paired perfectly with the light, almost semi-sweet bun. The bun and the kransky helped to balance the tang of the mustard and onion, which tied the dish together to create a lovely hearty meal.

And of course we had to try the AB. We opted for the chicken and lamb combo with mayonnaise, tomato sauce and spicy sriracha. Full of flavour that chicken and lamb was perfectly cooked, lovely tender and juicy pairing with the soft potato inside the crisps. Lovely heat from sauce but not too overpowering, just enough to give a tang to lift the richer flavours. Heat balanced with mayonnaise and tomato sauce. Can also have this dish with a variety of different sauces like BBQ and sweet chilli.

For sides we tried the Onion Rings. They are a favourite of ours at Adelaide Food Central so we were sure to tuck into these bad boys straight away. The batter was lovely crisp and thin, not too overpowering which let the onion shine through. We just love that strong onion flavour paired perfectly with the savoury batter. Yum!

We also had the Buffalo Wings. The wings were extra saucy, holding a lovely heat of spice that held in the mouth, but not too overpowering and moreish. The fresh chicken was nice and tender, and helped to compliment and cool the spicy coating. Of course they made a mess, but that’s all part of the process right? We wouldn’t have it any other way. But if spice isn’t your thing, Zak’s also offer a smoky BBQ option, which sounds just as delicious.

Everything is fresh, perfectly prepared and packed full of flavour. It is clear from the food he produces in store that Zak’s passion is to give customers high quality produce without the high price tag.

So if you aren’t in the mood for cooking, let Zak and his team handle dinner for you. I’m sure you won’t be disappointed.

You can order Zak’s food on UberEats, Menulog but they also have their own app, available for free on the Apple App store or on Google Play.

If you’ve got a big event coming up too, keep on the lookout for Zak’s on Wheels; their new food truck offers catering services for any even such as birthdays and even weddings.

Whether you wish to dine-in or takeaway, Zak’s has your dinner covered.

Zak’s Pizza and Grill is open from 4-9pm Tues to Sunday.

Words by Cyndal King

WHERE: 6/50 Kenihans Rd, Happy Valley