Venue: Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj
Date: 11 April 2016
A small Facebook contest by Food Talk India won us a dinner at Pizza Express in Vasant Kunj. We love trying all sorts of pizzas be it from popular pizza outlets or the experimental pizzas at Crusty’s or InstaPizza. Pizza Express has launched a special summer menu and the event was a Hawaiian party. True to the theme they had pineapples, coconuts and multicolour garlands to up the mood. We liked their wall decor with plates that were a combination of traditional Jaipur blue pottery with some overlapping contemporary print.
From their summer special menu we ordered a Guava Merry and Hawaiian Tikki and these were served with their signature starter – breads with pesto and butter. Cocktails were a bit too sweet for us. Pan Di Zenzero which was whiskey based cocktail with spicy aroma of ginger and cinnamon was way better and got a big thumbs up from our taste buds. While we were sipping our cocktail we were served Lamb Polpette in red sauce as the starter. The meatballs were loaded with Indian spices and the whole thing had Garam Masala that overpowered all other flavors. This was also served with their signature breads.
For pizzas they did not save the best for last. The first pizza we had was the Hawaiian Pizza and we totally dig this one. We are always big on sweet and salt combinations and this pizza with pineapple toppings actually stole the show. They used some pineapple jelly instead of real pineapple and it worked. And we also liked the fact that this pizza had no desi twist and tasted just how we envisage a Hawaiian Pizza. This was followed by Gambero – Pizza with prawn toppings. This also tasted of Indian spices but was delicious and prawns were yum. All of their pizzas had very thin crusts and one doesn’t get that Dominos/Pizza Hut feeling by having these slices.
The Lamb Polpette Pizza was the pizza version of the starter we mentioned above. The Indian spicy meatballs that tasted like lamb kebabs just didn’t work on top of a pizza. In fact their Pollo Cajun Pizza was much better. This was a square pizza with chicken in Cajun sauce, onions and peppers. Piping hot and crunchy, this was a delight. Although we love Italian Fine Dining as well as big time pizza buffs, this is where we said – enough pizza for a day. We even skipped desserts and left it for our next visit.
Some of the things may not have worked for us because of their desi twist but overall as a party this was a great event and we had awesome Hawaiian Pizza with some refreshing cocktails and that made up for almost everything.
The restaurant is located on third floor of Ambience Mall and is reasonably spaced for a fine dine pizza place. We recommend the Hawaiian Summer menu at Pizza Express for folks who would like to try some summer specials and don’t mind their pizzas with some desi twist.
1 Comment