What is a Freshizza? A Fresh-pizza of course. It has the type of hip, cool sounding name that will entice young people with a disposable income to eat it. Right? I mean Mentos were known as “the freshmaker” and they were cool. Will Smith was a nobody until he became the Fresh Prince. The Hindustan Times reports:
Pizza Hut, the world’s largest pizza chain, on Wednesday launched a new product, Freshizza. The launch was marked by an innovative cookery show hosted by the fresh face of Bollywood actor Zayed Khan and food critic Rashmi Uday Singh.
The highlight of the show included a special demonstration of the pizza dough being made fresh at the restaurant in Janpath, New Delhi. The new crust is neither too thick nor too thin. It has delightfully soft texture and uses a uniquely flavoured tomato sauce, Mozzarella cheese, combined with an exciting range of toppings and garnished with orange Cheddar cheese.
Wow. Janpath must have been rocking in an orgy of excitement as that dough was worked over. I can only imagine. Where can I get me some Freshizza? Apparently google.com hasn’t yet heard of it. Neither has the official Pizza Hut website. Folks, I think Delhi has finally arrived as a world-class city, a trend-setter.
It is the result of months of pioneering effort by the Indian and international research and development team. India is the first market to launch this product.”
Holy crap. This is like the Pizza equivalent of the Manhattan Project. I’m glad major Indian news media is covering this.
Fortunately, in America nobody reprints PR stunts by food conglomerates 🙂
Not surprising (if true). I have eaten at multiple Pizza Huts in India, and I’ve gotta tell you the customer service and the pizza itself is considerably better than it is in the US. (Almost as good as McDonalds’ McAloo Tikki Burger). Not only that, but when I visited the Pizza Hut in some random town on the Delhi-Agra road, all the employees were having a team meeting led by management where they were seriously discussing how to improve their services. And their expressions showed that they actually cared. It was crazy.
How’s this for a slogan:
“Freshizza, the sizzle fo’shizzle.”
Or maybe “Drop it like it’s hot.”
Why not taaza pizza? pizzatazza? An indian word begging to be picked and they go pick ‘fresh’
vurdlife bhai,
In the bargain, though, you get to witness an improptu performance of break dance by shoeshine boys. If there does exist a cross between Salaam Bombay and some Rajnikanth vehicle, those ten-year olds stepped right out of it. With a shoeshine kit dangling daintily around each neck, they dance in formation like they were coached by Saroj Khan herself.
At the end of the performance they press their greasy faces and their tiny noses to the glass windows separating them from your table — their breath condensing on the glass in circular patterns. The rest of your meal is keenly observed by hungry pairs of eyes that do not blink.
I do not know what is fresher or more appetizing — the ambience, the dollop of respect for brown skin, or the orange cheddar cheese on your “pizza” (personally I think cheddar takes the cake/breadstick). Either is surely sufficient to make a repeat customer out of you, although I must confess I hadn’t the appetite for a second visit.
If the fresh, fresh flavour of Vasant Vihar’s cheddar pizza is a little too intense for you, may I suggest a visit to the M-block Pizza Corner instead? This other chain is as swadeshi as Uma Bharti’s orange vestments (which are actually the colour of cheddar cheese, come to think of it), and in place of street urchins, the all-male waiter crew dances in formation (and in red uniforms) to suitably loud music, several inches away from your nose (unless you have a particularly long nose, that is). If that doesn’t hit the spot, what will?
Bon appetit!
–Dilliwala
i love the pizza huts in india.. where else can you get paneer pizza with south indian sauce… they need to bring it here..
as cheesy (pardon the punniness) as freshizza sounds.. it’s probably better than any papa johns, or slice of pie here in the states..
obviously, y’all haven’t been to zachary’s in berkeley.
I’ve been told that Pizza Hut is considered somewhat of a trendy restaurant in India. Hard to believe, and I wonder if this is still the case today.
“I’ve been told that Pizza Hut is considered somewhat of a trendy restaurant in India. Hard to believe, and I wonder if this is still the case today.”
Yep – and that is the case with most of U.S fastfood joints. It is pity how U.S manages to export their crappiest foods to the third world as the trendier food. I am waiting to see whether Wal-MArt is going to be a premium store in India. That will be really funny.
“obviously, y’all haven’t been to zachary’s in berkeley.”
I love that place. But you gotta agree that that one is also an innovation – their chunky deep dish pizzas are not very authentic according to some pizza aficionados.
Two Boots to Go (cajun/italian w/ spicy sauce, thin crust and some funky topping combinations) in Manhattan is my absolute favorite slice. Though Zachary’s is definitely up there in the Pantheon of Godly Pizza.
Dude, you gotta get some of that brick-oven $hit. On a sidenote, New Haven’s Italian community produced the wonderful Sally’s, Pepes, and Modern, which are all great.
When I go to India, I never eat in any western food outlet.
When in India eat the real food.
Murg Musallam, Butter Chicken….. oh… my…. GOD
I wonder if they chose Zayed Khan as their spokesperson because of his appearance in the film/3-hour long Pizza Hut commercial Main Hoon Na.
I heard in the India these joints microwave the (partially oven baked) pizza crust before serving…ugh!
I heard in India they have monkeys throw their feces in the oven….
….I hear a lot of things…
Holy hell…since when is anything fresh at Janpath?
well i guess that was the point.. “FRESH..AT JANPATH”