Pizza is like air. You can’t live without it. There’s a popular meme that’s doing the rounds that very amusingly says, ‘I can’t satisfy all of you, I’m not pizza!’ and that feeling rings true for most of us. This popular snack/meal (or whatever else you’d like to call it) has been invented and reinvented multiple times over the last few years with chefs experimenting with everything from cauliflower and millets to teff and soya as the base. We all might have our favourites; however, we must agree that it is the toppings that maketh a pizza! On that solemn note, we decided to pay the latest pizza festival in the city a visit and much to our surprise; we were greeted with pies that were all set to wow!
La Dolce Vita, the pizza festival celebrating hand-crafted thin-crust pizzas at The Westminster and Cappuccino at Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park, is the brainchild of in-house food maestro, chef Gobu. Putting together a small but diverse menu of curated artisanal pizzas that travel from Italy to Korea and The Crescent to Cyprus — we, of course, couldn’t try the whole menu and just chose a few to taste and review.
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We were absolutely mesmerised by the Slice of Heaven — an Indian sorrel base lamb chukka pizza; while our vegetarian favourite was Beet the Heat — a ragi flour base topped with shallots and paneer. We were also mighty impressed by the Korean Gochujang Pizza with red cabbage, spicy kimchi and Korean chilli that was spicy and how! The pizzas are exactly as they’re described and the flavours are defined by the toppings that stand out amid the usually overpowering, but now, subtle sauces and cheese. Most of them won’t have you reaching out for the pizza seasonings either — they’re that well-rounded, in terms of flavour.
For the curious, there’s also the Sun Shine Florentine Parcel — sun-dried tomato, spring chicken, and baby spinach (which we also tried and liked); Hit the High — wasabi and basil chicken krapow; and Pizza Cyprus — sumac base with halloumi cheese, finished with a fattoush salad (also, very delicious). The crowning glory, however, is the aptly titled Crowne Curated Pizza with notes of arugula pesto, grilled artichoke, garlic confit and blossom tomato! We washed our pies down with delicious cups of hot coffee and fresh fruit juices, but you can pair these delicious pizzas with a glass of beer, the wide variety of mocktails available or ask the chef for his recommendation of the day. Just remember, the pizza is the hero, everything else is a mere cameo: just like it should be.
Grab a slice before the festival is over and you’d better hurry as it ends today!
INR 745 onwards. Lunch and dinner. At Westminster and Cappuccino, Crowne Plaza Chennai Adyar Park.
romal@newindianexpress.com
@elromal