When you want budget pizza, you don't ever think Tuscana. That's a fact. But that hasn't stopped Vipin Sachdev and his band of merry pizzaiolos from making the prices ever-so-slightly leaner, as part of their latest menu makeover. Truth be told, when a restaurant has been successfully running for as long as they have, a new menu often means the polar opposite — a bumping up of prices. So it was infinitely pleasant to open a menu full of familiar names to notice prices that seemed just as familiar, when we landed up at their flagship Wallace Garden pizzeria.
We love the math
Straight up, what I loved about the menu was an explainer up top that explained why buying a 9 inch pizza instead of a 12 inch one was a criminal waste of your newly minted two thousand rupee notes. If you're a fan of math, then you'll love the clever geometry play they're used to explain how you get 76% more pizza by paying just 10% more. They've also narrowed that price gap so that you don't feel too guilty about those extra inches. Also, some people are going to crib about it, but I personally like the fact that they've done away with the hardbound, la-de-da menu format, opting for a simpler four-page folio. More point and eat, for sure. 'We've dropped all the stuff that never moved much all these years," explains Vipin Sachdev, who founded the restaurant chain.
Eggs to order
Opting out of sampling anything that wasn't a new addition, we were piqued by the fact that the menu now had a selection of omelettes on it. "We kept getting people asking for omelettes and eggs done a certain way and we were obliging them off the book. So we finally decided to officially add it to the menu now," he adds. Priced at between Rs 100-145 (with everything from bacon to mushrooms), the egg section is possibly the most budget thing Tuscana has served barring bottled water.
Bacon and pear
Just as the Chicken Strips (Rs 245) slide down smoothly, the all-new Caramellizzato Con Pancetta arrives out of the pizza oven. Loaded with bacon bits, little slivers of brie, a deliciously poached pear and a drizzle of honey, it's a pizza that's way off the conventional taste spectrum. "My daughter used to order this pizza when I visited her at Les Roches in Switzerland. I knew I had to replicate that someday and we've done it now," adds Sachdev with pride. Luckily, our penchant for sweet stuff on a pizza was alive and kicking, so no complaints there.
The Chicken and Eggplant variants of the Classic Parmigiana (Rs 675) are simple, extremely spaghetti-y and make for a fun meal if you're looking for a cheese burst without too much drama. Full marks for the perfect bake on the eggplant and cheese, because it converted a firm non-believer in me. At this point, we're pretty stuffed, but dessert at Tuscana is synonymous with their Tiramisu. With extremely zen control, we take the proferred Lemon Cake and take a bite. Delightfully tart and sweet all at once, it renews hope in us there are new reasons to visit Tuscana just as much as there are old ones.