#YearLongPizzaTrip At Pizza Express

I don't think I need to give any introduction about Pizza Express. Many of you are aware about its existance both in India and abroad. So when I got the knowledge about the big surprise happening at Pizza Express, I just couldn't say no! Pizza Express is very special to me for my own reasons because it was the first restaurant I ever reviewed on my blog. So I am not going to go much in detail about its history and existence.

Coming to Pizza Express was a walk down memory lane for me as I had already come earlier for one of their Pizza Expressers Meet Up Event and celebrating my Eddie Daddy's birthday. And now that I went again this time as a food blogger, I was very thrilled to know the big surprise and to eat some delicious pizzas, though while on my way to Colaba, I was pondering over what this big surprise might be in the train. So I couldn't wait to reach Colaba soonish.

The best part about this event in Pizza Express was that there were a bunch of food bloggers invited but I terribly missed the guys I met at the Expresser Meet up (well of course the "Branded Bawi" was there :P) but this was just another fun. And after a packed house at around 8 PM, we were all eager to know the big surprise but still, there was some more time to it. In the meanwhile, we were introduced to the "Summer Menu" to eat some of the dishes.

Summer Menu

Before the dishes were served, we met the head Pizzialo at Colaba outlet, Shri. In my first meet-up, I had already met him and he's way too cool. He gave a brief insight about the history of Pizza Express and about the ingredients used in the pizzas and then we took a tour of the restaurants where we caught the pizzialos in action flipping the pizza dough high in air and in style.

Hello Shri! 

Let's go to oven soon babeh!

 After the restaurant tour, we played a super awesome quiz relating to Pizza Express and Italy and learnt to flip the pizza dough the way these super Pizzialos do. Lol, no! We didn't play it with a real dough but a fake rubber dough. It kind of reminded me of little me playing frizzbee. While some were pro at it, it was a dud for someone, toh chalo khelo frizbee yaar!

While we were gorging on the starters, finally it was time to unveil the big surprise. It was the Year Long Pizza Trip campaign on Instagram. Now you would wonder what this #YearLongPizzaTrip might be! Let me tell you'll the rules.

1. Click a picture of your meal (meals) at Pizza Express and post on your Instagram feed.
2. Write a small review on the caption column next to the picture.
3. Add #YearLongPizzaTrip hashtag and tag @PizzaExpressIN
4. Selection of review on basis of picture angle, creative caption writing and the number of hearts (likes) gathered.
5. Winner gets to gorge on free pizza at Pizza Express for a year entirely on the house. (2 pizzas a month can be claimed.)

Now to the awesome food we ate from the summer menu, lets start with the starters. The very first starter to arrive was the New Polpette. The new Polpette consisted of chicken meatballs in Bolognese sauce with fresh parsley, served with warm dough sticks. This dish was amazing, very delicious, and the meatballs were soft and tender and melt in mouth. Tangy sauce and soft chicken balls together, keep chewing on and on till it melted in my mouth.

Polpette

The Baked Mushrooms were next. These were the button mushrooms filled with mozzarella cheese, pesto and pesto rosso and served with dough balls. Yummy! But still couldn't get over the polpette.

Baked Mushrooms

Now coming to Pizza, the New Polpette Bolognese is the new pizza in the summer menu. Being un peu similar to the Polpette starter, there were also jalapenos peppers and mozzarella with rocket leaves on top. I don't like too much of rocket leaves on the pizza but just wished there were more meatballs on a single slice. Otherwise the taste was extremely delicious and saucy.

Polpette Bolognese

The Risotto Pollo Funghi was next which consisted of portobello mushroom, chicken pesto and and parsley topped with rocket leaves and shaved emilgrana.  Loved every bite of it. It was perfectly done and enjoyed it quite a lot. Second after the new polpette starter.

Risotto Pollo Funghi

The new introduction in the summer menu was Farafelle con Salsiccia. It was farafelle pasta, or bow pasta as I like to call it, cooked in white wine and cream sauce, rosemary with addition of pork sausages. Somehow I have never liked a pasta in white sauce, maybe personal taste. And neither do I like too much of rosemary. But, as much I thought it would be good, it was quite a disappointment. Firstly, excessive rosemary in the pasta and sadly the pasta was undercooked. It was difficult to chew the pasta for me. Most of the times, the pasta is overcooked that it slips from my fork, but here, sadly and unfortunately, the pasta was undercooked. The sausages were the only thing I liked in it and we just picked those and ate. There was also a bit of Bolognese sauce left in my plate and I tried eating the pasta by dipping it in the Bolognese sauce. Verdict: was way better than the original, however with an undercooked pasta

Farafelle Con Salsiccia

"Ah! Time for desserts" (I say this very much in Peter Dinklage aka Tyrion Lannister's accent) and when I am in Pizza Express and think of a dessert, it is one and only: CHEESECAKE. Coming to Pizza Express and not eating a cheesecake is like not eating a cake on a birthday. Since it was the meals from summer menu we were gorging on, we had the Mango Cheesecake with pieces of fresh Alphonso in it and served with their in house gelato ice cream. It was an absolute delight for me though I wish to have tasted more mango. We ordered 2 mango cheesecakes. However, for me, nothing beats the classic, plain cheesecake.

Mango Cheesecake

Even after that, we weren't satisfied. Called for the "CLASSIC CHEESECAKE"! Classic because it is just classic and no matter how one modifies the cheese cake by adding mangoes,etc, nothing beats the original. 3 cheesecakes attacked by 4 people and it was so tempting that at a point of time, we didn't care about taking the picture. We ate like we had never heard or seen a cheesecake ever in our lives! Itna craze and attacked like uncivilized people! :P

Comfort Dessert. Classic Cheesecake 

We clicked a lot of pictures in the events and had a great interactive session with all the foodies. Pizza Express is personally one of my favourite and kind of close to my heart too. It might be a little expensive on pocket, but its surely one of the best Italian restaurant in the city. And surely my visits are going to be frequent.


I might not have a fixed address of all outlets but Pizza Express has its outlets at Colaba, Thane, Andheri West, Andheri East and BKC.
Price: Rs. 1500-2500/- for 2 persons.

Enjoy!