Volcano pizza satisfies hunger for food and sensation

Dicky Christanto ,  The Jakarta Post ,  Denpasar   |  Fri, 05/16/2008 12:48 PM  |  Bali

PIZZA ERUPTION: A fresh from the oven volcano pizza served to customers at Papa’s restaurant. Around 900 pizzas are ordered from the restaurant each month.

For those who have been familiar with the concept of pizza just like what they see in many of television ads or popular restaurants, please think again, as a volcano-like traditional pizza is ready to satisfy not only your hunger for food but also for sensation.

The dramatic part took place when a waiter pour alcohol all over the pizza dome and then ignited a fire on it. As the dome exploded the customers have a chance to behold the blazingly fun side of this cuisine.

Once the nearly 20-centimeter-high flour-based dome that covered the surface of the pizza, which trapped a unique flavor originated from the unity of cheese, flour and meat that are baked in a European traditional oven, cracked open, it would unleash the tempting fragrant all over the table, which made one more eager to take it.

"This unique scenery offered by the way we serve the pizza usually triggered a massive response when the other tables hurriedly ordered the same menu. That is why during the peak hours, we will be very busy preparing this pizza," Bagus Ngurah, general manager of Papa's restaurant, which serves the menu, told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

DubbedPizza, the Rp 90,000 (US$9.5) pizza was among 11 kind of pizzas served in this restaurant, which claims to be one of the establishments that pursues the authentic taste of Italian cuisines.

"We manage to sell around 900 vulcano (Italian term for volcano) pizzas in monthly basis, or around 20 to 30 daily, making it the most favorite menu in this restaurant," he said.

He acknowledged that the volcano pizza was the only menu that stayed in their *menu' chart while dozens others had been removed due to the six monthly food rotations.

However, Ngurah said that currently he and his staff were in extra-alert in guarding the secret recipe of the volcano pizza, since there were several other new restaurants that have managed to copy the recipe, including on how making the sensational form and explosion of the pizza.

Established in 1996, Papa's restaurant that is located in the famous Kuta beach, has long been known for not only its volcano pizza but also its cozy atmosphere.

Commenting on the recipe's copy cats, Chef Kadek Widiantara, the inventor of the vulcano pizza, acknowledged that some of the copycats were used to be his own colleagues at the restaurant. But he had no worry because those copycats could only able to imitate the form and the ingredients of the pizza.

"They will never be able to imitate the taste of the pizza," he told the Post.

When asked about how he invented the pizza, Widiantara acknowledged that it was inspired by Calzione, another Italian traditional food.

"I was trying hard to improve the appearance of traditional pizza back then. It was almost become a nearly frustrating effort since it took almost three months to create the vulcano pizza," he said.

Learning how to cook Italian cuisines since 15 years ago, the senior chef is now assisted by 15 cooks in the restaurant kitchen.

"From all the cooks available here, there are only two cooks that know about the recipe. It is a way to anticipate the days when I am not around and a customer orders that explosive delicacies," he said.

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