The RC Asks: Just What the Hell Is Indian Pizza?

News broke a few months ago that Tiffin owner Munish Narula was going to open an Indian pizza joint next to his Northern Liberties restaurant. While we called to check up on his progress, our real motive was to ask him what the hell Indian pizza is.

Narula was happy to report that construction on the restaurant started two weeks ago; that, hopefully, Tiffin Pizza (the working title—“We haven’t come up with a good name yet!”) will open by mid-July; and that it will also serve wraps and salads. As for that eyebrow-raising Italian-Indian fusion concept, he says, “Well, we don’t want it to be Indian just for the sake of being Indian. We want it to taste good.” So he broke it down for us …

The sauce?

“Tomato-based, but with Indian herbs and spices.”

The cheese?

“Don’t know yet. [laughs] Still working on it.”

Toppings?

“All Indian. Like tandorri chicken—that’s our BBQ chicken. We’ll bake it in the clay oven first, then put it on the pizza. The challenge is having it sit in a pizza box for 40 minutes, then seeing how it tastes.”

The crust?

“A thinner crust—but not Domino’s thin.”

(Yes, we asked) Have they tried putting it on a naan?

“We did, and it tasted really good. At least one pie on the menu will be done on naan.”

Narula says, like Tiffin, the new place’s “bread-and-butter” will be delivery, but there will be a small dining room—maybe 24 seats. And as for the talk of a Tiffin outpost in Elkins Park? Narula says discussions with Elkins Park Square fell through, but that he would love to open a Tiffin in the Elkins Park/Jenkintown area. He’s now looking at a few new locations—including the Creekside Co-op by the Elkins Park train station.