Indian Pizza Meetup Unlocks the Mysteries of Bombay Eats

Lunch’er Adam used the ML Forums to organize a meetup at Bombay Eats yesterday so lunchers could sample the various Indian pizzas being offered by Bombay Eats (on 52nd btw. 8+9th Ave.) See, despite my pleading they don’t offer their Indian food topped pies by the slice, only as an entire pizza. They’ll jury-rig a slice of saag pizza if you ask nicely, but if you want to try the real deal you have to order a whole fresh pie. Not a problem if you can get 8 lunchers together for lunch… which is exactly what happened yesterday. Lunch’er “Adam Prato” sent in this report:

Lamb Keema Pie
Lamb Keema Pie. Photo courtesy of Jessica@Food Mayhem

We actually had a great turnout. At the start, 5 of us midtownlunchers (jessica@foodmayhem, wellerfan, stevenp, scottyelich, and I) showed up for the Indian Pizza outing. After some deliberation, we decided to order 2 18″ pies; stevenp had heard that the 14″ was too doughy, which was exactly my concern since the difference between most “medium” and “large” pies is how thin they stretch the same amount of dough. We went with the Lamb Keema and the Saag paneer. Shortly after ordering, 3 of my coworkers (all of Indian descent) had unexpectedly stumbled in after a meeting since I told them all about the “indian pizza” phenomenon. Though they were there for the buffet, we coerced them into the indian pizza. With the magic number of 8 people, we were able to order a 3rd pie! So we went with the Chicken Tikka.

Unfortunately for Wellerfan, this was his first time eating indian food, so he didn’t get an authentic indian food experience. Fortunately for Wellerfan, it was still shockingly good! Considering I’m of Italian descent and having grown up in Bensonhurst, I did not have my hopes up for “good pizza”. What we got was very good Indian food on a pretty good crust [ in hindsight, I should never have doubted the people whose contribution to the world of bread is naan, paratha, chapati, roti, puri, etc ]. This wasn’t random buffet food slopped onto a pizza crust and thrown in the oven. This was quality indian cuisine served in a very unique way. All of the pizzas had the requisite indian toppings (lamb keema, chicken tikka, saag paneer), but also included fresh veggies [ onion, pepper, broccoli, etc ].

We were given a choice of White or Whole Wheat dough [ we opted for the whole wheat with the Saag Paneer, which worked out very well]. Though the crust was slightly crumby, it held up to the Indian food and still retained its status of New York Style pizza. Only one person in the group ate with a fork, my friend from New Mexico, the rest picked it up, folded it, and it stood straight out on its own like NY Pizza should. The food was perfectly spiced as you would expect Indian food to be, though he brought us heat seekers some crushed red pepper. The owner assured us he could make the pizza as hot to taste as you would expect from Indian food.

Zach, your original post was intriguing, but absolutely paled in comparison to how good the indian pizza actually was. This is worth going to especially if you like indian food [so much so that I believe their buffet warrants it’s own review]. The pizza actually works out to $3 a slice, which is more than reasonable for a Midtown Lunch *if* you go in a large group [as the owner won’t do by-the-slice].

One last surprise: The owner (Prakash) also owns Mi Nidito- the mexican restaurant on 51st and 8th! He said that he used to offer Mexican style pizza as well [Chicken Mole? YES PLEASE!]. He said he could make this to order if you give him some heads up [I sense a follow-up lunch gathering in our future]. He also said to keep on the lookout for new Mexican-Indian fusion dishes from his restaurant.

Thanks to Jessica from Food Mayhem for the photos.  Read her take on the outing (with more photos) here>>

Post by Lunch’er “Adam Prato”

Bombay Eats, 314 West 52nd Street (btw. 8+9th), 212-265-7777

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