NYNY

Back in the day, it was Leo’s Pizzeria that – arguably – gave Delhi its proper introduction to perfectly done Neapolitan-style pizza. It was revelatory stuff – fermented sourdough crust, perfectly balanced tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, top-notch cured meats. It’s been almost a decade since, and though all their outlets are still full to the brim, they’ve turned their attention to a sister concern: the mighty New York slice. 

The pizzeria occupies a large corner of Hauz Khas G-Block market. Despite the bright neon signs and glazed tiles, the place is admittedly slightly too bougie to embody the real grab-and-go philosophy of New York pizza, but hey, this is a newish concept to Delhi.

There are several 18-inch pies placed under a large glass counter, each cut into giant slices. The menu’s mercifully concise – seven kinds of pizza on offer – four vegetarian and three non-vegetarian. The sausage and bacon pizza’s particularly excellent, with generous toppings of italian fennel sausage and perfectly crisp bacon atop a cheese slice. The pepperoni was slightly drier than I’d like. The stracciatella, however, was a revelation: creamy goo atop blistered mozzarella and tomato sauce, making for a fantastic bite.

The slices are double baked, and in true NY style, come with a thicker crust that retains its shape when you fold it, topped with shredded, low-moisture mozzarella.  Go beyond the slices, and the menu has little more to offer, with some sides of chicken wings, garlic knots and, for some strange reason that I wasn’t quite able to fathom, prawn crackers. We ended up ordering the garlic parmesan knots: warm, carby, garlicky and oozing with butter, with a hefty shaving of parmesan on top. 

There’s a bar too, with four stools, but alcohol isn’t what draws in you here. On the contrary, this is the place you want to land up at once you’re done with your drinks. But in case you don’t find a place at the nearby Soda Shopp or Painkiller in the same market, traipse in here, and they’ll be happy to whip up some classic cocktails for you, along with a few simple but well-executed in-house ones, like the Bergamot Noir, with Jaeger and lime, or a dry martini, or perhaps some prosecco to wash down your greasy slices. And of course, there’s always a crisp beer waiting to be had with a slice of the bacon pizza.