For a lazy weekend Pizza and wine treat, head to Pizza Express in Vasant Kunj. The tastefully decorated restaurant and friendly staff set the tone from the beginning. Although, everything on the menu looks yum, do try the Calabrese pizza out here, says Deebashree Mohanty
The moment you walk into Pizza Express in Ambience Mall, Vasant Kunj, the aroma of freshly baked bread greets you. The friendly staff and an eager manager escort you to a table right next to the Pizza Express symbolic plates on the wall design. “This is our prime seating area, under the unique plate designs. This has been the USP of the restaurant and all the chains have this on their wall,” the manager says, while taking you around the spacious resto-cafe in the third floor of this busy mall. If you happen to go there on a breezy day, opt for the terrace seating which is expansive and totally worth it.
There are pizzas and then there are pizzas but the ones in Pizza Express are a class apart. They are baked right infront of you and atleast four people supervise that single dish! “There are various people looking after various things. That way quality is always checked before it reaches the table,” the smiling manager explains. He tells you that the food and presentation is always top-class because the team goes through a stringent training programme in Mumbai. “We are setting up another outlet in Gurgaon and some of our trained staff from here have been employed at this new outlet,” he says.
Coming back to the food and drinks; everything is fresh. The dough balls with three in-house dips is a good way to start the proceedings. The best part about this soft-bread appetizer is that it goes with both cocktails and soups. The red wine is smooth and doesn’t leave an aftertaste in the mouth. Other starters such as the prawn skewers are a welcome change because of their spice. “Our dishes are made keeping the Indian palette in mind. So, you will find spicy chicken, cottage cheese and prawn starters, just the way we like it,” he says. There are plenty of options for vegetarians too. But don’t freak out on the entres because the pizzas are waiting to be had.
Start with the square-shaped Calabrese pizza made up of all the excotica in the market, this pizza is worth Rs2000 but it is worth every penny. Opt for a half-and-half pizza to sample the best of both worlds. The other main dishes such as the fish fillet and roasted lamb are best sellers too. If you have a sweet-tooth, sample the cheesecake which is ideally soft and is not extra sweet. There are some options in the chocolate flavour too which one could opt for.
All-in-all, a must visit.