Trip to Manhattan with Fat Lulu herself!

My first experience of real (well real Americana!) pizza was in Manhattan at the impressionable age of 12. So much so that till date the aroma of thin crust, pepperoni pizza dripping with pork fat and cheese reminds me of NYC, along with French’s mustard sauce. Coming from a depressingly substandard pizza experience from my native country (read: Nirula’s), thin crust pizzas remain my eternal favourite. I am not an elitist when I say I can’t eat regular commercial pizza; its just not done right, isn’t consistent across outlets and no matter what they stuff in the base, its just very packet-y… which draws me to freshly made, hand tossed stuff wherever I can find it. There was this one place in the ‘backside’ of Khan Market (that’s what everybody told us when we asked for directions!!) and another in Select Citywalk (hole in the wall kinda joint) and then there’s Fat Lulu’s in Gurgaon. Expensive, quirky and very yum. Onion rings (75) like they should be, bottled iced tea (sad!), crunchy on the outside and soft on the inside Hudson Garlic Bread (75) and pretty darned good pizza for a standalone restaurant.I didn’t try the Spinach and Ricotta Quiche but am told it’s fab and definitely sounds intriguing. We had the classic Manhattan, pepperoni pizza (Large – 800), which was actually enough for the two of us, made me wonder how small would small be. I loved the crust, they got the pepperoni right, salty, crispy on the edges and no thick layer of overtly dairy, cheese; not gourmet but nice. They have pastas and salads too; didn’t have the space so the Caesar Salad is still on the cards!

This is what Fat Lulu’s have to say about themselves – We bring you our great New York style pizzas with fresh hand tossed bases in whole wheat, spinach, beetroot & garlic. Along with a secret tomato paste recipe, imported meats & cheeses and the choicest of fresh ingredients and toppings, all prepared in a wood fired stone oven for that ultimate thin crust pizza pie!

Fat Lulu’s has fine dining pricing but a brick and mortar ambiance; a nice mix if you really love your pizza. The staff are the easy going kind; polite but don’t expect a comprehensible run down of the menu. The wood fired oven is visible to guests and makes for a great conversation piece – cauldron shaped and superbly antique looking, we had a suspicion that one of the chimney pipes spreads wafts of pizza goodness all over the dining area. Don’t miss the artwork, the buxom oddity of a woman could well be their mascot!

Ed: Cover picture not from this establishment.