Draw up a list of all your favourite comfort foods. If you happen to belong to the under-40 generation, it is more than likely that pizzas will crop up pretty high on that list. Like in America, the pizza today is the quintessential college and social snack in Indian metros, too. And it is more: It is a favourite for office celebrations, for TV meals with beer during a cricket match or when Novak Djokovic is beating Rafael Nadal in an incredible final at Wimbeldon, and, of course, it can give you a carb high when you are really down in the dumps. But despite its popularity (and the fact that even chaat shops these days have it on their menu), we in India don?t really have enough choices when it comes to ordering something as simple as a pizza. It is something that perplexes me.
The largest slice of the pizza market is, of course, shared by the two biggies, Domino?s and Pizza Hut, which first introduced American-style cheesy delights to the masses in India. I have great memories of Nirula?s cheese pizza as a child in Delhi, and Mumbai no doubt had an equivalent in the 1980s-90s. But it was the entry of MNCs in this space that was a gamechanger. Though Pizza Hut, of late, has been carefully trying hard to transform itself in the mind of its customers into an upmarket casual-dining restaurant serving ?Italian food?, it is really the convenient takeaway pizza, emulated by its rival and sundry other local companies, that seems to hold sway on popular tastes and imaginations.
Takeaway pizza, as we know it, is really American-style pizza. It bears little resemblance to the more sophisticated Italian-style offerings, with thinner bases, substantially fewer lashings of mozzarella, and a dash of extra virgin olive oil that elevates the whole experience from the ordinary to the memorable. Italian and ?Med? restaurants sprouting so freely in metros now routinely dish out these pizzas, some of which are, in fact, far superior to what you would find even in an average street caf? in Italy.
But while we debate as to whether the best thin-crust pizza is available at Olive, Diva or Italia, or indeed at Cibo, what we are essentially talking about are gourmet pizzas indulged in by a very small section of the eating-out public. In contrast, you only have to look at the plethora of pizzerias in the dining capitals of the world; the campus hangouts in the US, Singapore or Australia, the neighbourhood stores, convenient takeaways next to offices?and you realise how little choice we really have.
The other truth about pizzas in India is the sad predictability of the toppings. While food snobs engage in crusty upmanship, publicity-hungry five-star restaurants concoct absurd R10,000-plus pizzas bunging in all known luxury ingredients, and chain restaurants at the other end of the spectrum hope that someone will buy and like their annoying chicken tikka or worse, makhni flavours, what we really lack is the inventiveness associated with pizzas the world over. And this despite the fact that for the average consumer, it is the toppings that are decisive while ordering in this category.
Pizza is one of the most inventive dishes possible. The scope for improvising on its toppings is almost endless. You can have crazy offerings putting blue cheese and foie gras on it or you can have any combinations of fruits and meats and cheese, even pasta and chocolate and sauces inspired by flavours from Thailand, Mexico, Spain, you name it?.In the Indian metros, it is these kinds of inventive pizzas that are conspicuous by their absence. You can have the same, boring takeaway or you can have an expensive sit-down pizza meal with wine. But really, where is the fun?
This week, however, I managed to spot two examples of pizza creativity finally. Hell?s Pizza, a chain from New Zealand, has just made its India debut with a ?pizza pub? in the Capital. While in New Zealand, this is a takeaway, in Delhi, the format has been changed by the franchisees to include both takeaway and a pubby-style sit-down meal. The restaurant is interesting in the scope of choices that it offers in the mid-priced segment. The variety is almost endless. I counted almost 30 different pizzas on offer on a lengthy menu, under names such as Gluttony (but obviously), Greed, Wrath, Mordor (a lone tribute to The Lord of The Rings here!), and even Serpent, Underworld (a seafood pizza this), Temptress and so on. This, after all, is supposed to be hell.
The toppings include different combinations of fruits (including cranberry and apricot sauces), vegetables (fresh spinach, eggplant, avocado and caramalised onions apart from regular stuff) and meats (seafood, Cajun-bacon, satay-style chicken?) in refreshing combinations. And though the final preparations are a bit too cheesy (apparently a survey done in the its neighborhood market led the owners to increase the cheese quotient) to let too many of these flavours truly stand out, it is an interesting idea nevertheless.
Blanco, another popular restaurant in the capital, has also been running a pretty inventive pizza festival. The unique thing about this one is that all the fun toppings have been dreamt up by a young entrepreneur Anant Rishi, who studied in Chicago, and obviously brought back his love for campus pizzas.
Not a professional chef, 26-year-old Anant has contributed six pizza concoctions to a menu that goes under his name. The flavours are superb, each one is unique and distinct, and include amongst others pizza with pasta topping, a Bangkok Toss, with chicken in Thai green curry paste, a pizza with a layer of finely-sliced and grilled potatoes and finally what is the best of the lot: Anant?s Nutty Pizza. This is a dessert pizza with chocolate, cheese and a brownie crumbled on top! I can think of nothing better than to indulge in one on a rain-soaked weekend.
The writer is a food critic