Brik Oven- Amazing pizza place, Bangalore, India
One lazy Saturday, me and my wife, embarked upon our personal ritual- hunting for and relish awesome food. Neha is my wife. This week pizza had been on Neha’s mind. Not that we didn’t have a pizza for a while. In fact, just last week we went to Pizza Bakery at RMZ Ecoworld in Bangalore. Pizzas there were great too. But more on that in a different story.
Then why did we go for pizza again? Well, I am an ardent pizza lover. Can never say NO to a pizza. Interestingly I had my first pizza during my first year at my college- IIT Bombay in 2005. The first bite ever was that of an 6 inch Dominos- Barbecue Chicken. Since that day, my love affair with pizza started.
For Neha, my wife, he mood dictates her choice. She likes pizza too, but doesn’t hog on it as I do. Her story is also an interesting one. There was a time when she didn’t like Cheese. Can u believe that? A pizza lover once didn’t like cheese! It is quite unbelievable, isn’t it? Well, that’s her story. She started having cheese, including paneer(cottage cheese), only after we got married. And gradually I made her fall in love with pizza. Now she an ardent pizza lover too.
It is strange how profoundly your life changes over time. You fall in love with something which you never knew even existed. You can’t imagine your life with a thing, once for which u didn’t have any particular liking. Well, that’s the reality of life. We change with each passing second, and transform into a different person altogether with time. As we evolve with the passage of time, and so does our likes and dislikes.
Our ride to Brink Oven
So coming back to the pizza story. It was a rainy evening. It was drizzling. We drove in our black Safari to Church Street from our home which is around 14km away. Typically it would have taken an hours to travel this distance in Bangalore traffic. We wanted to enjoy some pizza and also pick Brik Oven’s artisanal sourdough brown bread on our way back, which by the way has become an indispensable part of our daily breakfast.
By the time we left, it was already dark. The temperature has also fallen due to the evening showers. The weather was cool. Imagine those days when u wish to open your windows instead of turning on the car AC. The roads were relatively empty too. This lockdown and corona episode has brought a great respite from traffic. Driving on these sparsely occupied roads felt as if the city Bangalore has had a facial. All lanes once chocked with vehicles, seem to have been cleansed artificially. Now you can see the city which is underneath. We cruised through the empty roads. There were of course potholes and bad patches in the way. That’s where the real fun of driving a Safari comes, roads conditions don’t matter much. With the big wheelbase, you tend to just run over whatever comes in the way. The elevated seating position gives you a feeling of a King riding high on his horse. Only that the ride is smoother.
For us, it felt as if we were transported back in time and could feel the old Bangalore. A city which it must have been back in the years, without the snarls of traffic. A city where you can reach anywhere in 15mins without stopping. It was sheer bliss.
I think it still gone be like this for some time. Hopefully we get to enjoy it for some more months till this corona scare keeps people away from roads.
Church Street, Bangalore
We drove through the backside of Forum mall, via Lal Bagh, to MG Road, and eventually made the turn for Church Street. Church Street is a cute lane next to MG road made of cobbled stone, which gives it a cosy feel. It is lined with restaurants, pubs, and cafes and one could feel the vibe of energy with the weekend crowd bustling through the narrow lane. There is the sound of music, laughter, and casual conversations happening all around you. But NOT today. The Church street of today was empty with most of the places shut due to lack of demand. We could drive through the street in a few seconds. Usually it was a hard task to find a parking spot on a weekend. Even more so for our huge beast- Safari. But tonight was different. The whole street was lined with cars parked on one side. As if it was being used a spare parking street. We could find a place right at the front of Brik Oven. Believe me, It has never happened before!
Enter Brik Oven- the pizza place
So we stopped and went inside Brik Oven. It an unusually small place for a pizzeria so famous. Imagine a hall of a spacious 3BHK apartment. It is no bigger than that. It has just 5 tables which can seat roughly 14 people at a time. During the pre-COVID times, it was a norm for this space to be jam-packed. One had to wait outside for a minimum of 30–60 mins depending upon the time you reach here. Never had I found a place here without waiting at all. And I have been coming here for a few years now.
So we sat down on our table. There were a only a few more customers apart from the staff. The place has transformed into a delivery focused place. You can see a pile of pizza boxes in one corner, with more being brought every 30 mins. The was atypical of Brik Oven. In the hay days, it was operated by owners themselves who were passionate young people. They made pizza and had some help in form 2–3 people. They would work behind an open counter kitchen where you can see the pizza dough being tossed up and draped in shredded buffalo mozzarella cheese and topped with exquisite toppings. It was next tossed up into a food fired brick oven. Yes, there is a cute brick oven inside the kitchen. It is lit with wood and the pizza is cooked in the heat of the ambers. This is where the restaurant derives its name- BRIK OVEN.
The charred and crunchy pizza crust!
Due to the high temperature of burning wood, the pizza gets cooked really fast. It also is shown some flame of the woodfire to cook the top and char the curst, and thus you can notice the charred crust. This is usual for a conventional wood-fired pizza. Some of you might differ, but yes, it absolutely is. We have travelled to Italy for the love of pizza, and had all that Italy had to offer. So you can take my word when I say that charring of crust is an integral part of cooking a pizza. The ones which are made in an electric oven, won’t have this charring. But then you won’t get that smokiness of the crust as you get in a wood-fired oven. It is this smokey aroma which makes it special.
Always eat your pizza while it is hot! A cold pie is no more a pizza…
I can vouch that the pizza served here are good. They are very close to some of the best pizzas we have had in Italy. Folks at Brik Oven make use of good ingredients and serve it fresh and hot. That’s what makes a pizza good. I am thus not a fan of home delivery. A reheated pizza in a microwave is just not good. You are better off ordering from Dominos, who specialise in home-delivery. Now you might not get the healthiest pizza, but it will definitely taste good. So if you wish to enjoy a pizza in a proper manner, please eat it while it is still hot. I would say if you eat it post 5 mins of it being served piping hot to you, it is a waste of a good pizza. I know a few of you people like frozen pizza pies. I can empathise. I have also had frozen leftovers slices kept in the fridge. It does taste good, but it a totally different taste and experience. Not what a wood-fired pizza is known for. So please eat your pizza while it still hot and crunchy.
The aroma of Garlic Bread
We ordered a Garlic bread with cheese. A blue cheese dip to dip the crust and savour it. I wish the crust was tastier at Brik Oven. It is too bland for my taste. Thus a dip to go along with it is welcome. We also ordered 2 pizzas. The standard size here is 12"- not less, not more. But you do have an option to get a half-and-half pizza. I like this as it gives the chance to taste 2 different options without having to harass your stomach by stuffing 2 separate pizzas. It does greatly add to the experience as you can savour two different tastes while not burning a hole in your pocket. A pizza here cost at an average of 500–600 bucks. So you are already looking at a bill of 1600 plus if you have a dessert to go along with your pizzas and garlic breads.
Here comes the wood-fired Pizza
We ordered two half-and-half pizzas. One veg and one non-veg. Neha, my wife, is a Marwari. A pure veg by choice and upbringing. I on the other hand have grown in a similar setting. No non-veg at home, even eggs, was allowed. But I have developed a liking to non-veg as I love food in all shapes and forms.
Neha can only have 3 pizza slices, 4 at best. That’s her diet. I on the other hand can hog a max of two full 12" pizzas with a total of 12 slices. But on moderate days, I would still like to have a whole pizza pie to myself.
Neha ordered a combo of 4-cheese pizza, which as the name suggests is the combination of four different cheese- Mozzerrla, Blue cheese, Cheddar, and Feta. The other one was vegetable topping pizza with onions, sundried tomato, jalapenos, and greek feta cheese on base of a Margherita. I went for the polar opposite with the classic Pepperoni pizza and also chose a beef-based topping which has a hint of mustard on top.
I didn’t have any of Neha’s pizza. Despite knowing that she won’t finish the entire pie, I didn’t go for it because I wanted to limit myself from overeating. As a mentioned before, I simply despise cold pizza, thus hate go for a take-away for the leftovers. It is as if the spirit of pizza just goes away and what you end up eating at home feels like a dead body of a magnificent pizza. Thus I like to eat my entire pizza while at the restaurant. I did have a few slices of their cheesy garlic bread. Brik Oven also serves you infused Olive oil- with chilly and garlic infusion- in small glass bottles. It is ideal to drizzle the oil on the crust and cheese to enhance the taste. I love it, and often overdo it. Whenever I do pour more oil than required, I can see Neha glaring at me. She doesn’t have to say anything, those eyes of her does all the talking.
The Joy of eating a hot cheesy pizza
Anyways, coming back to the pizza. So I was talking about how Olive oil gave the taste an added dimension. Along with this I like my pizza to be sprinkled with chilli flakes and oregano. I like spicy food, and Pepper- red and black-makes it spicy and adds to more flavour. But often I like to taste the original taste of a pizza pie, without any such add-ons. Today was one such day. I was hungry and craving for pizza. This was the second time were having pizza in the lockdown dining outside. We did do a lot of home cooking experiments, but didn’t eat outside. To add to the decision, it was Pepperoni pizza staring at me from the table. If there is any pizza I would prefer having without the seasoning, it would be Pepperoni. I took a slice, folded it at the centre, and wrapped the tip of the triangle slice, with dripping liquid cheese, in the centre like an inverted tongue. Making a sandwich out of my pizza, I took a bite into that slice.
The amazing taste- Fat, Cheese, and dough
As I bit it, I could feel the overwhelming flavour of the fat of the pepperoni slices. I could feel the warmth of the cheese and the tomato sauce. The crust was soft in the centre, and it melted beautifully along with the cheese. Olive oil was doing its job by accentuating the taste even more. I kept on chewing. With every chew, I could feel the taste emerging out of the pepperoni slices. It had the bite, and the taste was simply amazing. With all that fat and carbohydrate going inside the stomach, the bite felt so delicious and extremely satisfying. There is something with fat and human mind. The moment a fatty food hits the taste buds, the mind explodes and gives in. Happens every time, whether it is a butter omelette, or a rich greasy curry or a bati floating in ghee. While we have advanced as a civilization, our mind and body still behaves like the early humans. That bite of a pepperoni pizza simply took me away.
As I chew, my eyes got closed automatically, and I was enjoying the burst of flavours in my mouth. It was as if, I am standing in a dark field and suddenly there are top of the line fireworks on display in the dark sky. That one bite, seemed as if I had spent a whole hour witnessing and enjoying those vibrant fireworks in the night sky. It felt as if the time had slowed down, and it was just me and that amazing taste which satisfies you to your core. It felt amazing.
Once I complete my first slice, it was now time to make the next move. I picked off the other variant slice laced with mustard sauce. It was a bit tangy and chewy at the same time. Taste was good, but not as great as the Pepperoni. I went along like a professional eating alternate slices. The still felt good, but not as great as it did with the slice.
As it often happens, that the first experiences are the often the most intense and always most memorable. Think of your first love, your first car ride, your first flight, your first pizza :). I bet you still have that memory in head in your mind album.
Eventually, I finished my pizza. My last slice was that of Pepperoni. This time it was with chilly flakes and oregano, drizzled with olive oil. That taste lingered in my mouth for a while and lingers in my head even till today. As I write, I am literally going through that experience again.
Amazing is the power of our mind, isn’t it? The mind is like a time machines. Just wish and it takes to the places in your memory land and makes your experience the emotions as if it was real and happening right now. It might only last for a few moments, but it does make you happy. As you experience, there is a smile in your inside your head, and it makes way to your face as well. I am still smiling, out of sheer happiness and bliss.
So this was the end to our pizza night out. I clicked only a few pics, as we both were engulfed with lust of pizza. Some a picked from the internet so that you guys can relate and imagine. Whatever I had, I did share it here.
What price did we pay? What is worth it?
Coming to the cost. Neha’s pizza cost 600 and mine 720. Our garlic bread was 180, with the dip being of 50 rupees. We also picked some artisanal brown breath to go. So that overall hit was 1900 bucks. Expensive for a pizza, but all worth it!
I have rated Brik Oven as one of the best pizza places in Bangalore for a long time. Lately, a few more places have caught my interest. More on those later. I hope my narration inspires you to go out with your loved ones on one such evening, on to the cobblestone lane of Church Street, where you can enjoy your pepperoni pizza. And if you do, that too for the first time, hope you remember us too and make us a part of your memory!
I end this story, with a quote is very dear to my heart. Cheers!
There is no sincerer love than the love of food
~ George Bernard Shaw
