11 April,2011 08:32 AM IST | | Aviva Dharmaraj
This is for anyone who has ever had to patiently spell out the name of their building ('N' for Nagpur, 'B' for Bombay), provide more than one landmark for where they live, and then guide a harrowed delivery person to their destination, only to have lukewarm pizza with a third of the cheese lying congealed to one side of the cardboard box.
The Veggie Supreme Pizza
Not to mention having their order delivered in more than "30 minutes" because they "live outside the delivery area". Thanks for the information. Now, if only we could eat it, instead of the pizza.
By the way, if you've slammed the phone down, raised your voice, lost your cool or sworn at the person attempting to take your order, who incidentally couldn't care less, because life's tough as it is, then we're afraid you lose out on karmic points. But you can still seek salvation at Andy's Pizzas.
These guys had won brownie points, even before they delivered our order, which goes to show that there's still a lot to be said for first impressions, especially for those in the delivery business. The person who took our order was helpful, patient and familiar with the menu. And no, he wasn't the owner.
Topping point
At Andy's, you can choose from 7", 10" and 12" pizzas, which they offer as Thin Crisp, Deep Pan and Stuffed Crust options. We ordered the 7" Veggie Supreme (Rs 160), which has thin strips of onion, black olives, sun-dried tomatoes and mushroom slices. Though, we didn't find the red peppers that accompanied the menu description.
We could talk about how the saltiness from the olives perfectly complemented the caramelised, almost fruity flavour of the sun-dried tomatoes, but it's pizza we're talking about, and the stars of the show remain the same: cheese, tomato sauce and the pizza base.
They use a quality mozzarella that is stringy to the point of embarrassing (or fun, depending on who you're sharing pizza with), the bread though could be fresher, but the tomato sauce? Aaah. It's good. It's fresh. And they use lots of it.
They might have got the spelling of the Margaritta (Rs 75 for a 7") wrong, but they've remembered that it does need to have fine slices of tomato as a topping. We opted for the stuffed crust, which they charge an additional Rs 30 for, and while it was good, it could do with more cheese.
The penne pasta in a black pepper sauce (Rs 100 for veg; Rs 120 with chicken) was so unusual, we were tempted to ask for the recipe. Salty, with generous twists of pepper, it's a welcome change from the usual suspects, including the Arrabbiata and Alfredo sauces.
Yes, there's a solid chance that things will change, Andy's will grow, they might open another outlet or bloat into a chain, expand to other cities. But thanks anyway.
P.S. Their restaurant opens soon.
At Andy's Pizzas, Hotel New Castle, Linking Road, Bandra (W).
Call 32250010/ 32260010 (limited delivery area)
Andy's Pizza didn't know we had ordered in. THE GUIDE reviews anonymously and pays for meals.
