The Day I Tossed Up Some Pizza....

Review: Pizza Express

Mumbai or should I say India is really getting up there on the Pizza map of the world (if there is any such thing as that) with the plethora of homegrown as well as international pizzerias opening up here. CM’s blogroll itself is full of pizza’s including this one!

But this time it was different, CM was invited for a Chef’s Table with Pizza Express Chef Johney Rai.  Chef Rai sports an impressive bios, a gym owner from Ludhiana who has worked at various positions in Pizza Express UK and is currently an ‘International Pizza Trainer’.

Chef Johney Rai making the signature Pizza Calabrese

So we started off by Chef Rai cooking up some signature Pizza dishes that we eventually got to taste.

Pizza Padana

The Pizza Padana, thin crusted pizza topped with 2 types of cheese goat’s & mozzarella, spinach, caramelized onions. Chef Rai finished it with a generous drizzle of garlic oil. Beautiful flavors of the cheese combined with the sweetness of caramelized onions made for a beautiful combination. Till this time I have never tasted a Pizza with Popeye’s fav snack but I strongly recommend giving this Pizza a try.

Calabrese

The next one was a signature Pizza Express dish The Calabrese -  The square shaped spicy Pizza  topped with pepperoni, Italian sausage put together with finely chopped red chillies, roquito peppers, red & yellow peppers and mozzarella. Finished with rocket leaves, this pizza was piquant and flavourful. Must try here

Pomodoro Pesto 

The Pomodoro Pesto - perfectly crusted thin pizza with Marinated cherry tomatoes, fresh basil, pesto, baby mozzarella, garlic oil was simple & with clean flavours.

 Melanzane Piccante

The Melanzane Piccante was an unusual combination of marinated spicy aubergines, mozzarella, jalapenos and rocket leaves.A sort ‘baigan ka bharta’ Pizza. Not very pleasing to my taste buds.

Next came the fun part - Pizza making! Chef Rai and his accomplices taught us the dirt – kneading the dough, rolling it into flat round pittah (umm mine literally looked like a map of India), tossing it in the air, dolling the marinara sauce and choosing toppings. I name mine ‘Red Riding Hood’ – I had

Baked Cheesecake

Next came the dessert time, the Chocolate Fudge Cake seem just out of the freezer, lacked the moisture. The Banoffee Pie was ok too. The New York Style Baked Cheese Cake was quite tasty but also quite heavy. The Chocolate Fudge Glory was the only desert that made it to CM’s must have list – a glass full of caramel, ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate sauce & brownie pieces; Simply Sinful I say!

The Chocolate Fudge Glory

Pizza Express is pretty steep; I am not sure how worth for the prize you pay. A meal for two would cost Rs 2500 without alcohol.

Verdict:

Food: Average

Ambience:  Good but can get noisy

Service: Helpful

Quick Tip: Go there for the Calabrese and the Padana, you won’t be sorry!

The Co-ordinates:

Pizza Express

Where: Dhanraj Mahal, Apollo Bunder, Colaba

Tring Tring: 022 66562633

Timings: 11:30 AM to 11 PM (Sun-Thur), 11:30 AM to 12 AM (Fri-Sat)

Food Type: Italian

Payment Methods: Visa, Amex, Master, Credit cards accepted