BY JEREMY MALCAMPO
When Bollywood Indian Restaurant released its musing cuisine recently in Greenbelt, Makati City, which was a contemporary line of Pizzanaans with different flavors, I, as a sampler, was initially loaded with culinary confusion that I thought was translatable only by my basic eating satisfaction. Is there really such a thing as Indian Pizza?
With my simple eating sense, pizza is always good when meat is treated with herbs and spicing, when they’re highlighted by richness, and complemented by starch, and when fat fuses all these elements together. Or maybe, it’s always a basic culinary science of pizza. Perhaps, this is the basis for Bollywood’s serving of Pizzanaans for the modern Pinoy pizza-eater.
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Amitabh Bachchan | | Bollywood’s Peity Zinta—in its succulent heap of curry-sautéed shrimps, squid-rings, garlic-anchois, and oiled anchovies, with cilantro, and "spicy basilio" topped on a "gamey" bed of cottage cheese or "fromage blanc" and "Piaz-rings" seasoned by salt and wild pepper-ground, over a Tandoor-baked Naan bread—is with no "culinary-obtuse" sense, a good seafood pizza with Indian taste harmony. This pizza takes its character from its base-sauce of curry with heavy Jeera-spice, and some Chini. The seafood toppings are well-sautéed in Cumin, Curry, Cardamom, Marjoram, and stock with a good "Mirepois," making them good partners to Cottage cheese, as they bring out a "gamey," and nutty profile of the Paneer, and Naan. Inasmuch as basic Indian culinary connection to our Filipino ways and eating judgment, pizza is always a combination of bread and richness (meat or cheese,) the way we’ve enjoyed it through time, Indian method, Italian, or not. However, on Bollywood’s style—or maybe, how they do it now in India’s dynamic Mumbai F&B scene—there is always that privilege to serve pizza the way one prefers it, not just for modern culinary glamour, but to redress the economic needs of Indian societies wherever they are in the world. The ingredients used are readily available locally, like anywhere else. Of course, a Filipino-Indian person eats differently compared to a full-bred Indian person in Chidambaram, Kerala, or Tamil Nadu of Southern India. At least I had that in mind when I visited Bollywood, and when I sampled the restaurant’s other Pizzanaan concoctions.
The restaurant’s Amitabh Bachchan—which is a humble combination of "rondelled" lamb sausages hinted with Javitri, Lahsun, and chicken Kaleja in heavy Masala, fresh white onion rings, brined black olives, and Curry-Tamatar-sauce over cheese and Naan—reminds one of the Italian versions such as the Veal Franks, and Mutton Sausage Pizzas of Bari, and Taranto of Italy. Obviously, Bollywood’s Indian version is spicier, and rounder with herbs. When I tasted it, the base sauce that was heavy in curry and cumin (as the recipe’s standard) had some mild Saffron and Caraway profiles. Based on my food-drink tasting at this hub, the Lamb Sausage Pizza worked with Pinotage, Shiraz, and a very cold San-Mig Pale Pilsen (but not with San-Mig Light.) Personally, the beer redefined the spicyness in the mouth, and gave my palate a "round finish" of mild sweetness as I prepared for some Indian house-staples available in the menu.
After I tasted two more concoctions of the Pizzanaans (one flavored with basic Cottage Cheese, olives, Julienned Bell Peppers, and Sag, and a pizza which was vegetarian in class over a thick curry sauce,) I went on to sample the regulars.
Boneless Chicken Tikka for P250, Jeenga Shorba (shrimp soup with carrots, cauliflower, and beans,) for P125, were good in cookery, and pricing as I decided to extend my meal. I ordered a platter of vegetable Samosa for P89, just so to live up with my standard Indian cuisine (critique) review.
Highlighting the traditional "rotis" of Southern India with such globally acceptable Mediterranean ingredients (as olive-tel, Zaiphal, Tej Patta, Suwa, Saunf, Pudina, Piaz, Paneer, Lahsun, Kumbhi, Tamatar, etc.,) Bollywood simply fortifies Indian-food service in the Philippines as the Indian community with Indian food aficionados mature with our local modern lifestyles.
Since, pizza (Naan in a generic Roti distinction, flat bread, and pita in the Mediterranean,) conquered our side of the world since the Americans opened our palates for Pizza-eating, Bollywood takes an extra step to serve not just our Filipino-Indian community, but also to redefine the Pinoy Pizza-lovers’ palate with a sense of adventurism. Perhaps, I look at it that way. Remembering the writings of Rudyard Kipling on the cultural demographics of India, one translates Indian traditional cuisine as something you keep in your heart.
Personally, I think, you do not take in Indian Cuisine… it captivates you. But, then again when we talk about food, we always tend to forget the good stuff… especially when the Filipino palate is ready for the world.
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