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

The Italian Job

Review: Di Napoli

Just when you wonder, ‘what more can be done to a pizza that the Gujjus Madwadis of the country have not done already?’ Prepare to be surprised!

 The newest Italian eatery in town, Di Napoli boasts of a tagline that says "handmade pizzas". Frankly speaking, I didn’t have a lot of expectations from this, I mean Pizza doesn't top my list of cravings ever and I hate the pizza chains in our country!  So when they invited me for a bloggers meet the above lines kept echoing in my mind. But I did take a chance. Good decision? Well let’s find out.

 With hues of scarlet, white & black as decor, Di Napoli reminds you of the typical Pizza joints in the US and even the earlier Pizzeria at Marine Drive (now Pizza by the bay. Tacky I know!). Think that comes from the owner Jay Thakur, US returned, banker by profession, who decided to call it quits one day so he could learn the art of pizza making. The place also exhibits a wood fired brick oven imported all the way from Italy.

A look at the menu and you would see the limited options available amongst the soups, salads, pastas and deserts categories. All pizza’s have minimum of one and maximum 3 toppings and are available in 12” only.

We begin with the humble Original Margherita – thin base, mind you not the 'papad' like crispy but gooey, with tomato sauce topped with mozzarella, olive oil and basil leaves – a beautiful melancholy of flavours plays in your mouth unlike the boring margheritas you are used to. The simplicity of the pie just makes you crave for more. Post that I try the Greca – this pizza is thinner and crispy with no tomato sauce, but some sprinkled cucumber, tomatoes and feta, a take on the salad – quite a refreshing combination although I thought the crust was a bit charred.

Original Margherita

After this chef Giulio Adriani, a master pizza maker, who was here to help Mr. Thakur set up his kitchen demonstrated the making of original Neapolitan pizza. My first question to him was how many kinds of pizza are there besides the Neapolitan. With a wrinkle on this nose he replies back Pizza is only a Neapolitan phenomena, the others are just copies. Wow I thought, quite an epiphany, for all these years of my life I have been eating the crappy fakes!!  He also added that pizzas must have only 2-3 toppings in order to be able to savour all the flavours – that of the base, cheese, tomato sauce and the topping. Another epiphany! His anger on the Domino’s offering an extravaganza of toppings seemed valid to me. Just like we wouldn’t like Italians and French to mess with something like a vada pav or dal chawal, they do not like people messing with their pizza. Christian Grey style- Fair point, Well taken, Mr Adriani. With fluid dexterity Adriani, who has been making pizzas since the the age of 13, shows how the handmade pizza is made - He spread the dough with his hands, adds a dollop of marinara sauce, then the cheese, basil, olive oil and then places the oven. The pizza takes just within 1 minute to roast and what you see is the beautiful simple pie, fluffed at the ends - a mouthwatering sight

Chef Adriani

Back at our tables, we order the Tomato Soup – thick tangy broth served in a coffee – very ok, nothing extraordinary. The Funghi Pizza – was delectable with subtle flavours of mushroom added to the already flavoured margherita. The Margherita Prosciutto – margherita with slivers of Parma was yum too, although I felt the ham was a bit chewy!

Tomato Soup

Funghi Pizza

In drinks, I have the Lemongrass Cooler – a zesty drink with quite a refreshing flavour

Then we order for the Penne Pomodori Pesto- penne tossed in sundried tomato – I found the pasta a little uncooked for my palate, although people may argue its al dente. The sauce was too dry and too oily. The Fusilli Basil Pesto -  in green pesto sauce bought the same emotions.The Angel Hair Pasta - white sauce pasta was too thick and lacked any flavour. While the pastas were not a disaster they were certainly many notches below the pizzas in taste and flavour.

Fusilli Basil Pesto

Penne Pomodori Pesto

A meal for 2 would cost between Rs.1000 -1500/-. Alcohol isn’t available yet.

Verdict:

Food: Good

Ambience: Pizzeria like

Service: Good

Quick Tip: Come here for the immaculate & unadulterated Pizza experience!

The Co-ordinates:

Di Napoli

Where: Dalamal Towers, Free Press Journal Marg,  Nariman Point , Mumbai

Tring Tring: 43473200

Timings: 11:00 AM to 11:00 PM

Food Type: Italian

Payment Methods: Credit cards accepted

Foodies Haven? Or Just the Lookalike....

Review: Villa 39

SoBo’s newest chic ristorante, Villa 39, is the closest you can get to depicting heaven in India or on our planet for that matter. If you’ve already been there, then you know what I am saying if you’ve’ not am about to make myself clear. WHITE –  is the colour of the flooring, the sofas & other seating, the curtains, windows, walls and even the cutlery. Everything at this place is ivory, milky, pearly white. Located at Amarchand Mansion Villa’s precedents have been the famous Golden Gate & Flags. Brainchild of first time entrepreneur Kaajal Fabiani, a lot of detail seems to have gone into designing this place.

Pristine

Fluid

Minimalistic

These are the first things that came to my mind when I set foot here. It was a Monday afternoon an unlikely day & time to lunch out I know, but August 23^rd  is special day and this elegant eatery was a natural choice. Immediately after we were seated on the 1^st floor in a pearly divano (sofa), I couldn’t help but notice this wall of wine right across me. Exhibiting wine as object d’art, the wall has different types of wine well spaced and stacked. Quite different from the usual miniature wine cellars that one sees at today’s fine dining places. This was something you could go to with the maitre d’, look through, get some details and choose your poison.

Getting down to the food, we started with soup. Wait! before we move on to that let’s just rewind a bit, starting with the seating – pearly white as I mentioned earlier, the table is well laid out with ivory colored plates & sparkling silverware. Lots of sparking silverware I would say. Yes if you have been to a finishing school and learnt how to eat with those different types of spoon, knives & forks and you would like to practice your skill this is the place. For me I hardly know how to operate these things, but one tip I learnt is moving from inwards that is your first course cutlery will be always kept the outermost on both sides from your plate.

Anyhow let’s get down to business, we order for the food.  In the meantime they get us a bread basket with assorted breads. So we chomp on some bread dipped in the heavenly mixture of Olive Oil and Vinegar. If you’re wondering about this odd combination try it the next you go to an Italian restaurant - Make a puddle of olive oil in your plate the size of a golf ball and add about 2 or 3 small drops of vinegar one it. Dip your bread in the mixture and eat. It’s a great combination. The caustic taste of vinegar merges with woody flavor of the olive oil to give you a balsamic combination.

Our soups arrive, the first one - Mushroom Cappuccino, a frothy broth of mushrooms which is quite a delight. Served with a lavache on the side, it is a little bland but you will be offered some ground pepper to add some pizzazz to it. The Minestrone, a tomato based creamy soup is too thick and filling. The other one the  Asparagus Soup, served with small bread doled with some cream cheese and an asparagus stem, is also nice, a bit bland again but then again you know what you need.

We order for a portion of Bruchettas , fresh tomato finely diced tomatoes, pepper and cilantro make a beautiful combination. What I like is that it is not gooey that kind it gets otherwise. We move on to the Pizza. We order for a half and half combination (thank god for that option) of Margherita and Chicken Ham. They both are pretty bland. The Chicken Ham specially doesn’t impress us.

Then our Pasta arrives. A little dope I learnt about Italian food - incase of the main course, your plate should be piping hot so that the cheese of Italian cuisine (most of Italian cuisine has loads of it ) remains molten and does not solidify and become difficult to eat and swallow due to its heaviness. Villa 39 disappointed us in this case. Our plates were not hot or even lukewarm. However, the first one Penne Mamarosa a pink sause (combination of red and white) is ambrosial. Not too tomato or too creamy, a perfect combination of both and a little sweet. The Pesto Pasta one is a bit disappointing, quite tasteless if I may say and lacks the nutty flavor that pesto should have. The Spinach & Cottage cheese cannelloni also was quite unsavory, with hardly any flavor.

All an all, a pretty average place with not so average price. The per head cost would come upto minimum 800/- and with alchohol minium of Rs. 1000/-  plus taxes. Villa also offers a Sunday Brunch 11:30 - 4:00 it costs Rs 2,200 plus taxes

Verdict

Food: Average

Ambience: Excellent

Service: Slow

Quicktip: Drop in only if you would like to enjoy the ambience and probably experiment with a little Italian food, don’t expect to be totally satisfied after the meal and do it obviously only if you have some extra dosh in that pocket of yours

The Co-ordinates

·        Villa 39, Amarchand Mansion, 60 Madam Cama Road, Colaba, Mumbai

·         Phone: 66573939

Let There be Light...

Rays Café & Pizzeria

Nestled in one corner of Hill Road Bandra, Rays Café may just go unnoticed while you’re driving through Mumbai’s hip suburb and even hipper Hill Road. But don’t make that mistake because this namesake of New Yorks famous chain of pizzerias (Rays Original), is really worth it for those looking for a nice Italian supper.

Once you enter through the wooden gate and the façade you feel as if your transported to Italy more precisely Tuscany (not that I have been there in person, Discovery TLC  zindabad). The flooring is made of natural stones, the one’s you find in cathedrals, with wooden tables and chairs under the shade of huge umbrellas. There is also an air-conditioned section again characterized by white walls and wooden seating. Gives you the feel of those road side café’s in Italy (again TLC and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam)

Enough about the ambiance and the interiors will get right down to the main purpose of my visit – FOOD. Rays offers an amazing variety of pizzas in 9, 12 and 16 inches. And the best part about this place is that a limited selection of pizzas is also offered in Single Slices! Yes you heard me right for those of us who like eating a little bit of everything than just 4 pieces of the same pizza, this is the place. So I tried the Margherita which was excellent, just the perfect amount of the homemade of tomato sauce, cheese and sprinkled herbs on a thin base. My next was Barbeque Chicken, in Shania Twain’s words “that don’t impress me much”. I thought it was a bit sweet for barbeque. I also tried the the Rays Special, a pepperoni pizza, which was muchos  delicias! After slurping on it (yeah am quite a slop) I kissed my fingers. I wanted to kiss those of the chef as well. But my friends just rolled their eyes and asked me to behave!

Now am about to tell you what you must order if you are non-vegetarian –Weisswurst Sausages. German smoked pork sausages that are out of this world. Am not much of a fan of pork and hence I called for the Chicken Sausages but when my friends called the pork one’s and I tried  that, the chicken was damp squib. These pork sausages are mouthwatering and delicious and a must have at Rays.

Moving on to the pastas, the Linguni with Asparagus and cream is a delight for those who prefer white sauce pasta’s. You may want to add a little salt to it but otherwise its delicately flavoured with asparagus and cream, the right ‘kiss the chefs fingers’ blend. However the Chicken in Tomato Cream Penne  a bit drab. For the red pasts fans the Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato and Herbs is fiery with the generous amount of  chilly flakes and cooked in that right kind of home made arabiatta sauce.

There are a variety of salads to choose from including the Classic Ceasars and also the very Italian.  Insalate Capreseis a simple salad from the Italian region of Capri, made of sliced fresh buffalo mozzarella, tomatoes and basil, seasoned with salt, pepper, and olive oil. But I am not a very Salad person so I did’nt try. Salads,I feel, are food for ruminating animals and not for humans who have better options like the ones I described the one above.

There is also sandwiches, burgers & hotdogs but by now me & accomplices were ready to hit the bed so none for us. They serve wine over the weekend – Fridays, Saturdays & Sundays.

Verdict: Good Food, Good Ambience, Service is a bit confused maybe because they have hired new staff.  The Damages: Rs. 500-600 per head(if you’re a moderate eater). Yes it’s a bit stiff on the pocket because of the 10% service charge. So don’t tip

Quick Tip: If you’re a guy, blindfold your girl/wife take her to Rays in the evening and get a table in the patio area (non air-conditioned), now would be the perfect weather for it. The moonlight, the breeze and Italian food would make for a perfect romantic date (yes I am a total sucker for Mills & Boons). If you’re a girl, ditch your guy and just take your best girl buddy (one who you would have married if she was a guy) and forget the diet for that day.

The Co-ordinates –

Rays Café & Pizzeria, 133 Hill Road, Gazebo House (Behind Godrej Nature's Basket), Bandra (W)
Mumbai, Maharashtra 400050
022 26451414

Timings: 12:00 PM to 11:00 PM