Aug 03, 2003 08:03 PM
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(Updated Aug 03, 2003 08:03 PM)
Well that’s how my south Indian friend reacted when I asked him about ..going over to a pizza joint. Pizzas have been there for quite some time in India but have become popular in the last decade. The earlier pizzas were that tomato laden Pizza base grilled till the underside was almost black ,if not brown. These are still available in Udipi hotels and mind you … there are some people who still swear by this.
Pizza – The history
I have a bad habit , asking why and how for everything. I have seen so many people writing about Pizzas but hey … how did they originate. Well the Internet provided me some answers and I will share the same with you fellas. In Greece they used to bake Flat breads and eat it fresh and plain or with some onions and tomatoes with olive oil on top. This was then carried over to Italy , where this bread became famous in Naples. Queen Margarita in one of her visits had this bread with the peasants and it raised quite a few eyebrows. Off she called her chef and told him to make something with this Pizza (that’s what the bread was called ). Well he added some tomato sauce , mozzarella cheese and Basil in an effort to resemble the Italian flag (Red, white and Green) , the rest is history. We still eat Margaritas.
Pizza Scene in India
The Pizza scene in India consists of the Udupi pizzas , the Ready to make pizzas eg. Pillsbury and the Pizza Parlors. Among the pizza parlors the most famous ones are Dominoes Pizza, Mama Mia , Smokin Joes and Pizza Hut. I am restricting this to Mumbai , dunno about the other cities.
Dominoes is all bread, less cheese and bland as water. Pizza hut is quite good, thick bread, decently spicy fillings , Mama mia is good but doesn’t cover all areas . So we are left with Smokin Joes… well read ahead.
Smokin Joes
I have been to the Colaba Branch ( the one I am reviewing ), the Andheri and the Chembur Branches. They have the Franchisee type of outlets but the taste of the pizza is same everywhere.
Try the Garlic Breads with Cheese , tomatoes et al , its awesome . That’s about all for the starters. Its Pizzas all the way then. The Pizzas come in Crispy thin , the normal base and the Deep dish (only for 10 inchers ). They have a collection of standard pizzas with pre designed toppings or the ones you can make by adding the toppings yourself. Here in Smoking joes it pays to have the pre designed Toppings. They have recently commenced the Stuffed Crust for the 10 inches , this one is good too.
Coming to the actual pizzas, the ones I like are … Tandoori Paneer , Succulent pieces of marinated paneer floating in a spicy tomato based sauce with a generous help of green chillies thrown in for good measure. One bit and you go oooh ..aaaaah …wow. The Paneer chilly is good too … but the next in my wish list is Barbecued Mushrooms … the mushrooms are so tasty and you gulp this pizza in an instant. The Magic Masala pizza is also good , Indian style pizza with Jalapeño peppers. The Schezwan Pizza veg is also awesome. This and the Tandoori paneer taste best in Stuffed crust , it’s the indianness that takes you into liking this pizza.
Coming to the Non Vegetarians , I have heard that the Chicken Barbecue, Chicken Tandoori , Tuna based and Pepperoni pizzas are very well made here.
The Verdict
Well Smoking Joes is the best, its more of a delivery joint as there is not much sitting place in the restaurants. But the stars go for adaptation to the Indian taste. They know how to catch hold of an Indian’s taste buds. Go ahead and try this, you wont regret especially if you are a Dominoes hater.
