Si Nonna’s: The Original Sourdough Pizza, Lower Parel, Mumbai

Si Nonna’s: The Original Sourdough Pizza: Restaurant Name
Phone: 080 47483101
Address: Shop 12 & 13, Trade World B, Kamala Mills Compound, Senapati Bapat Marg, Lower Parel, Mumbai, Maharashtra 400013 India
Time: 10:00 AM – 23:30 PM
Meals for two: ₹ 1,500
Cuisines: Pizza, Italian, Desserts, Beverages
Facilities: Home Delivery, Takeaway Available, Wine and Beer, Mall Parking, Indoor Seating

I’m convinced that the world is divided into three kinds of people. Those who love sourdough and those who don’t. The third kind? The ones who don’t know what sourdough is. Soudough pizza!?

I’m a full-time fan of sourdough bread, the oldest way of leavening bread by using a natural starter culture of bacteria and yeast. No additives or preservatives. Made many special trips to San Francisco, famous for its sourdough bread. In Paris, the Poilane sourdough is my mecca.

Si Nonna’s opens in Mumbai and serves a magical combination: The forever popular pizza, made with sourdough base. I’m overjoyed. Not only is it light, easy-to-digest, but also crusty, robust and packs a tangy bite too.

Si Nonna’s: The Original Sourdough Pizza: Decor

Nudged into a row of the Kamla Mills restaurants, Si Nonna’s is a cheerful and colourful two-roomed restaurant. Artificial flowers and leaves festoon overhead, innovatively and cheekily interspersed with tin openers, cheese graters, pizza cutter et al. Open kitchen with the pizza oven, blackboard with chalked-in menu of the day and a shelf full of coffee bags from Karnataka on sale. Sourdough bread too, which you must definitely buy and take home.

Why I invite dining companions

Food is very subjective and it is always important to get an accurate perspective. For instance, at dinner here, I invite a fab foodie family that loves pizzas (and I love them). But boy, are they disappointed here? They are not sourdough fans at all. However, they do enjoy some of the main dishes and the tiramisu.

Why the opinions of foodie strangers matter

I notice these two happy diners, smiling ear to ear. I barge in on their meal and ask them how they enjoy Si Nonna’s. Both were booked to dine at a restaurant across the street. They spotted the signboard of Si Nonna’s,which announced ‘sourdough pizzas’ and being sourdough fans, left the restaurant they were to dine-in and came right across for dinner. Saifa Shaikh, real estate broker and Shruti Wadetiwar (used to bake sourdough pizza) are happy they made the decision to dine here. They love the 4 cheese pizza and as I was chatting with them, the articulate helpful server Vinayak Baria was holding a glass jar of a 500-year-old mother dough and explaining to them how their owner Ayush Jatia brought this from the Galliano family in Naples and the pizza is baked as per Nonna Galliano’s recipe in the special tiled oven with a base of ash from the Vesuvius.

Food:

Fried nibbles, salads, oven baked starters and of course, hand stretched Neapolitan pizzas here. Nine different varieties of pizzas, that are not named, just numbered. Pizza number three, generously topped with mozzarella, comes up tops. As does the (believe it or not) vegan pizza topped with cashew cheese. And of course for pork lovers, the spicy salami is a must try.

The choice of add ons is a superb idea. We opted for blue cheese, fried onions and mushrooms and sparkle our pizzas even more.

Begin with the dips, ask for the sourdough bread (one with garlic too). In the mains, the Parmigiano Melanzana and Chicken with jalapeño, pass muster.

A basic selection of Wine Aperol, Campari, and beer served here. An exclusive cocktail menu too. Dreamy, creamy tiramisu, spiked with freshly brewed coffee makes for a sweet finale.

My Point:

We welcome this exclusive Neapolitan sourdough pizzeria, probably India’s very first. The distinct aroma, the crazily addictive crusty texture, fermented flavour and various health benefits thrill. Jains and Vegans can customise their pizzas on request. Kudos to Ayush Jatia.

Sourdough fans this way, please! Remember to buy a loaf and take it home, like we did.