Born in SAS Nagar, restaurateur Jyoti Singh moved to Italy 20 years ago and struggled his way to the top. Despite being a food lover, Singh worked as a cleaner at a dhaba to earn his living when in Rome, shares he, at the launch of his first restaurant in India, Pizzamore, Sector 22, Chandigarh.
“I used to clean utensils at a dhaba there, just to be able to get my hands on some good food after work. There on, I worked at some other restaurants too; from 1993 till 2000, I earned my livelihood by doing petty jobs at various food joints. It was on April 13, 2000, that I opened my first Indian restaurant in Italy. Today, I have five up-and- running restaurants there. My aim is to make Italians eat desi Indian food and bring the authentic Italian taste to India,” says Singh.
With his first restaurant, Singh brought with him head chef Attilio Fortuna (59), who says he was born in the kitchen, literally. “People are born in hospitals, and I took birth in my father’s bakery! Generations of my family have been into food,” says the chef.
“My forte is a wide range of breads, bakery items, cookies and cakes. My aim of being in Chandigarh is to give the food lovers of the city a taste of my culture. Popular international pizza chains make pizzas with a very industrial twist, while we strive to give you the perfect handcrafted, homemade taste,” says chef Fotuna, to which Singh adds, “Now, if someone were to give you butter chicken, but not the Punjabi way, would you like it? The same way, we are bringing forward the authentic taste of Italian pizzas, pastas, puccia and focaccia.”
{{/usCountry}}“My forte is a wide range of breads, bakery items, cookies and cakes. My aim of being in Chandigarh is to give the food lovers of the city a taste of my culture. Popular international pizza chains make pizzas with a very industrial twist, while we strive to give you the perfect handcrafted, homemade taste,” says chef Fotuna, to which Singh adds, “Now, if someone were to give you butter chicken, but not the Punjabi way, would you like it? The same way, we are bringing forward the authentic taste of Italian pizzas, pastas, puccia and focaccia.”
{{/usCountry}}Features that they claim make their pizzas stand out are the minimal use of oil and the base being prepared with yeast. They also serve olive oil alongside the pizza, just in case!