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“Sex is like pizza: even when it’s bad, it’s still pretty good.”
A quote by one of the three wise men, we presume, considering the biblical effect a good slice of pizza has on us. It is, after all, the only food item that’s earned experience-wise categorization. There’s the post-coital pizza, the one that tastes best when it’s greasy, messy, awful and hot. Or the hangover pizza, best served cold, deep dish and stuffed whole into your mouth. Or the dinner-date pizza—gourmet, delicate with perfectly thought out topping combinations you can’t correctly pronounce, all embedded in a gooey bed of imported scamorza, gouda, goat’s cheese, you get the drift. Our point is, there’s always a reason to eat a pizza and it doesn’t matter if it isn’t a good one because you’re going to eat it anyway.
So we did what we do best. Namely, pester swarms of our favourite foodies via their Facebook inboxes and badgered them till they came to some sort of consensus on our home city’s best pies. Turns out we’ve come a long way from crust-sauce-cheese marriage’s Italian origins but only in the best way possible. Come sink your (virtual) teeth in as we take you on a quality pizza tour of Bombay, starting from friendlier budget options to outright gastronomical indulgences.
I. The Peri Peri Pizza @ Francesco’s Pizza
You know the times are good when your food’s as good looking as it tastes, and Francesco’s is a place that knows the value of packaging. Elegant and wildly aromatic, the pizzas are delivered to your table almost like a present; fresh, piping hot and wholesome. The Peri Peri pizza here is a must-try, with large peri peri chicken morsels, green onion and mozzarella drizzles with coriander and lime mayonnaise for added flavour leaving you feeling pretty damn good.
Other Options We Love: The Margherita Pizza is a staple order here, a ton of cheese served on a thin-crust, which usually keeps the vegetarians happy as the hippos they’re sure to be soon.
II. The Meat Ultimo @ Joey’s Pizza
Quality meets pocket-friendly prices at this Andheri outlet, with a diverse variety to choose from to boot. The popular chain keeps its eyes on the prize - the food takes first priority, and some of its classic Italian offerings are delivered with uncanny Indian twists. With minimal decor, Joey’s Pizza caters to a range of palates, and its menu classifies pizzas according to how stuffed with toppings the pizzas are served, which makes our job much easier. The Meat Ultimo is a no-brainer with sausage, roast chicken, bacon and tons of cheese.
Other Options We Love: The Meat Feast is another options that’ll have meat-craving patrons in raptures with its offerings of sausage, salami and ham which you get. For vegetarians, the Mushroom delight (at the same reasonably rate) beckons with toppings of barbecued mushroom, capsicum, jalapenos, black olives and corn (and yes, you should definitely order extra cheese too).
III. Cheese, Garlic & Capsicum Pizza @ Junos Pizza
Junos Pizza comes with a serving of history, being the first pizza delivery place in India, started in 1974 the current owner’s grandmother. A homemade, distinctly Indian pizza that was completely vegetarian was her speciality, a legacy that the family has preserved by continuing to use this original recipe. Junos makes you understand why a warm, home-cooked meal can make all the difference, in a world full of fast food and instant gratification. Delivering across South Mumbai, Junos makes fresh pizza sauce every day and the ingredients used are all natural with no colour, additives or chemicals. The house special pizza, a simple affair with crunchy capsicum, garlic and oodles of cheese, will leave you wondering what’s hit you once you’re done polishing off the flavourful, sumptuous feast.
IV. Spicy House Special @ 212 All Day Cafe & Bar
With a contemporary decor, a simple menu and an al-fresco area, 212 All Day Cafe & Bar lets you focus on what really matters: what’s on your plate. And if it’s the Spicy House Special that we suggest that you’re going in for, the stone-hearth thin-crust flatbread pizza comes with onion, capsicum, mushroom, American corn, jalapenos and chilli and is sure to have you tearing up with spices and joy alike.
Other Options We Love: The Pizza Bolognaise Flatbread Pizza is another no-brainer, with toppings including spiced minced lamb and assorted peppers.
V. The Pizza Terttulia Ahh @ Terttulia
Nestled in Shivaji Park, a seemingly unlikely place for a restaurant and bar, Terttulia has actually hit upon a gold mine offering to patrons a sweet casual dining option when you don’t want to go all the way to town or the suburbs. While the bar’s facade is on the edgy side with exposed brick walls and naked light bulbs on the chandeliers, settees and vintage lanterns adorn the classier dining room. The Pizza Terttulia ahh comes with creamy spinach, tossed rucola, scarmozan parmigiano drizzled with olive oil, all served up on the most irresistible, thin crust.
VI. Sausage and Shrooms @ JamJar Diner
A venture of Bandra restobar Bonobo, Jam Jar Diner is open all day and has really earned its street cred in terms of breakfasts and pizzas. One of the best executed restobars conceptually, the brothers Basrai have succeeded in turning the Versova cottage into a cosy space with a quaint charm, replete with stained glass lamps, patterned tile-covered booths, and a working jukebox to enchant customers. The chicken sausage, mushrooms and peppers pizza is the regulars’ staple, a choice you should make without any second thoughts at all.
Other Options We Love: The Goat Cheese, Balsamic Arugula and Caramelised Onions Pizza is a great vegetarian option while the Meat Overload Pizza is the perfect choice if you want to go straight in for the kill (and we suggest you do).
VII. Prosciutto Mirtilli Rosi e Caprino @ Ray’s Cafe and Pizzeria
So as much as we try to avoid biases, it must be known that this particular pizza joint has long since earned a ‘Homegrown Favourite’ status. A tiny casual dining place emanating old-world charm beckons from a remodelled 127-year-old cottage whose architecture reflects the Portugese influence seen often around Bandra. Hemant Mehta, a computer systems engineer from University of Massachusetts and his wife, Rashmi, a fashion designer, raised shutters on the eatery in 2010 and there has been no looking back since. Medium-crust stone-oven pizzas made with the freshest ingredients is what makes this place special, with their crusty dough and tomato sauce made in-house on a daily basis. The Prosciutto Mirtilli Rosi e Caprino is something you should bear in mind as you peruse the menu, with toppings including imported prosciutto ham, cranberries and white goat cheese served on a sinfully thin crust. Yep, we’re calling in an order as we type.
VIII. The Goan Pork Chorizo @ Woodside Inn
The wood-panelled decor and polished floors lend a touch of old-world charm to a classy dining environment at this restaurant and bar that is as popular for its warm ambience as it is for its incredible collections of liquor and delicious Italian cuisine. The Goan Pork Chorizo with peppered onions is hands-down the highest selling pizza at Woodside, and with good reason too as the hearty pungent flavours are something every one deserves to indulge in at least once.
IX.Chicken Tikka Pizza @ Pizza By The Bay
Regulars have been frequenting this haunt from since back when it was Not Just Jazz By The Bay, and while the reputation of their gourmet pizzas has always preceded them, the popularity of these only seems to grow with each subsequent year. Settle into that white wrought iron chair in the elegant interiors with a view of the Arabian sea knowing that you’re going to burn a hole in your pocket, all in the cause of the greater good: quality pizza. Sizeable chunks of tender chicken tikka, crunchy capsicum and onion come together in the celebration that Chicken Tikka Pizza here, a perennial favourite that’ll have you back for more soon enough. The interiors of the restaurant need a special mention, Done up in white with wrong iron chairs in a few sections of the restaurant, the decor looks very elegant.
Other Options We Love: The Bombay Masala focuses on flavours to blend a medley of Indian spices with a deep pan pizza crust in a culinary feat. It’s also the most crave-worthy pizza ever.
X. Chicken Fajita Pizza @ California Pizza Kitchen
The Chicken Fajita Pizza is the one you should be making beeline for at this restaurant. The cilantro pesto is spread on a wafer thin, crispy crust topped with soy lime marinated onions, peppers and shredded chicken with mozzarella and cheddar cheese for the oomph. Served with guacamole, sour cream and lime wedges, this is exactly the kind of weekend indulgence we are staunch supporters of.
Other Options We Love: The Albuquerque Pizza is a fiery options for vegetarians who can handle their spice. Thin crust pizzas are slathered with a home-made Albuquerque sauce, topped with cheddar and fontina cheese, hot peppers and olives. And finally garnished with scallions and lime cream sauce. Yeah, we can never choose either.
XI. Deli Carbonara with crispy sage and parmesan @ Indigo Deli
Indigo Deli has carved its place into our food pieces like a smooth operator; with classy interiors and charming wooden panelling not to mention top-notch quality food, this is hardly a surprise. Yet another case in point, when it comes to pizzas, is the Deli Carbonara with crispy sage and parmesan, an irresistible option that juggles texture and taste with panache. Think the beauty of a bacon-and-eggy creamy carbonara sauce, spreading its delight across a thin crust beauty of a pizza with crispy sage on top of it? This is the kind of food that needs to be illegal.
Other Options We Love: The Deli Chorizo and Scamorza pizza is well-worth burning the hole in your pocket, as well as the pesto and sundried tomatoes option for vegetarians.
XI. Calabrese Pizza @ Pizza Express
With locally sourced wheat that’s a guarded secret and Dan Marzano tomatoes with a single basil leaf to use as tomato sauce that they import from Italy, this UK-based chain definitely takes their pizzas seriously, to the extent that the pizzaiolos - the source of said pizzas - only earn the pizzeria’s trademark black and white striped shirts after a 12-week intensive training program in London to make sure to keep you coming back for more with their freshly made pizzas that never waver in quality. The Calabrese pizza here will make you salivate from the get-go, inspired from the Calabria region of Italy. The hottest pizza at this pizzeria, it comes with toppings of spicy sausage, red peppers, yellow peppers, finely chopped red chillies, jalapenos, baby mozzarella, rocket pesto, emilgrana and is seasoned with oregano. How can you possibly say no to that?
Other Options We Love: Another great option to sink your teeth into is the Pomodoro Pesto, which comes with marinated cherry tomatoes, basil, baby mozzarella and garlic oil, while the Padana comes loaded with Goat’s cheese, mozzarella, spinach, red and caramelized onions and garlic oil.
XII. Napoli @ Gustoso
Pizza Metro Pizza keeps its menu simple with appetisers, pastas, pizzas and main course options, and welcomes you with a pink Vespa at the door so you don’t nurture any suspicions of the authenticity its ‘Italianness’. First opened in London in 1993, new owners took the reigns which eventually steered the pizzeria this side of the world, to Bombay. The open kitchen with the majestic oven takes centre-stage in this setup, which was the first pizzeria to combine four pizzas to make a kingly metre-long one, that can be shared between up to five people.
Choices are hard to make when faced with a menu like this, so let’s just narrow down a couple of pizzas you won’t be regretting ordering for - the Napoli’s a great option if you’re not looking for something ridiculously heavy, with toppings including mozzarella, anchovies, capers, basil and oregano.
Other Options We Love: The Portobello is an absolute delight to sink your teeth into with mixed mushrooms, truffle oil, leafy wild rocket and the enticing Italian cheese Grana Padano. With the Rucola e Parm you’re in for cherry tomatoes, mozzarella, parma ham, rocket and basil while the Capricciosa comes with mozzarella, tomato, ham, salami, black olives and mushrooms. We know we should stop but just one last one before we peace out on this top-notch pizza party - the Diego, whose offerings include mozzarella (it’s funny how we can never get tired of this magical ingredient), fresh tomato, salami, buffalo ricotta, rocket and basil. The rest is up to you, dear readers.
[Yeah yeah, we know. Who died and made us Pizza gods? If you want to be part of this pie-party then you’d better give up your favourites in the comments section below. Assuming they didn’t make our list, obviously.]
Special Thanks To: Our Food-Loving Community. You know who you are but for a change, we decided to call you out on it anyway. Here’s to going up a few waist-sizes together Raffael Kably, Angelica Pereira, Anil Kably, Paloma Monnappa, Apoorva Singh, Insiya Lacewalla, Pankil Shah, Aneesh Bhasin, Shweta Kaushik, Prathamesh Mickey Shenoy, Paloma Monappa, Akshay Gopinath, Ryan Sadri, Apoorva Singh, Uma Nair, Shreeda Patel and Uttara Mendonsa.
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