Pizzazz
The onslaught of competitive Italian pie chucking
Like the story of Prometheus and the first flame, the mass market launch of thin crust pizza in Colombo has a fairly linear history. Household (or not) names such as Regina Margherita, Michaelangelo’s, 82 Barnes and Rocco’s had their thin crust pizza making expertise originate from a single person. This is why Santore Bistro and a few other newcomers to the market have been welcome, just to provide a fresh infusion of ideas, insight and technique to one of my favourite types of cuisine.
So, Domenico’s. Formerly of Santore fame, now at his own eponymous pizza and lasagne serving outfit. Simple, Italian pies made right in front of you, goes the billing — and it seemed worth checking out. This place, of course, is situated along a road that is fast turning into eatery central — the recently carpeted, plush Thimbirigasyaya Road.
First, the bruschetta; which came highly recommended. Very simple — two pieces of bread under tomatoes and herbs drizzled generously with olive oil. The bread was great, the olive oil showed up and then discreetly slid to a side as good olive oil should. I did, however find the chopped tomato a little disappointing (not enough crunch for me, a little softer than I expected). The herbs were also dried instead of fresh cut, something my companion — with a much better palette than I, thought detracted from the execution. Call these what they really are, quibbles about what was a simple dish actually done well.
Having stalked Domenico’s Facebook page to within an inch of its life, our next stop on the comestibles was the surprisingly little advertised can of Hipster-Italian-Fanta; or more properly San Pellegrino (orange flavour). Not sure what else to say except it had Italian words all over the can, and tasted like … Fanta orange. They also do iced tea in intriguing flavours such as cherry and grape at LKR 150 a cup; which I promised myself for next time.
And then, the main event and this is where my practiced pizza ordering experience from a chain betrayed me. Frankly, there is little on the menu that I’d consider a classical pizza topping combo. A little to my (mock) dismay, there are no toppings featuring pineapple either. Prices range from around LKR 1100 to the most expensive at LKR 2100. There are some strange (and to me, frankly bizarre) beasts on that menu — like the pumpkin surprise; and the tuna carpaccio. Although tempted by the smokedsalmon, in the end, we opted for a half and half — quattro formaggi (four cheese) and (chicken) bacon/mushroom.
The pizza itself was really well done — wood fired oven, as is now common at all such outfits and the crust was thin enough that it took 10 minutes or less to deliver a piping hot pizza. The thing to note is that what you see is really what you get, even the tomato paste base was minimal — this thing is all topping and has a crust so thin you can rip a piece off a slice, roll itinto a delicious cylinder and pop it in your mouth.
Personally, I loved the four cheese pizza segment. The cheeses (parmesan, emmental, gorgonzola and mozzarella) oozed deliciously, sending me briefly to a rapturous place where Kotmale is only a place in Sri Lanka; and in no way the brand responsible for cheap and cheerful,samey, slightly plasticky cheese of indeterminate origin. Again, for my token quibble — the parmesan probably overpowered the other cheeses slightly (or maybe I just recognized the taste first). Even the bacon and mushroom pizza delivered good taste, though the unusual (but quite pleasantly textured) taste was identified by the chef as abalone mushroom. They also use oyster mushrooms in the topping.
All in all, this place is pretty good, though I’d stop short of saying they’re the greatest — no sticker shock at the end, what you pay is exactly the price on the menu. Like most if not all eateries sprouting up on the Thimbirigasyaya Road stretch though, this place is a little small, and can’t fit in many customers (only about 4–5 tables). They do reasonably brisk delivery though, and even promised to deliver to my side of the boondocks for a nominal fee. Decent pizza, from an inventive hands-on chef at a relatively low price? Sounds great to me
