Because of our personal eating quirks and diverse taste preferences, it is not surprising that Do-It-Yourself (DIY) concept is fast becoming a trend among the restaurants in the metro. In a DIY restaurant, not only do diners get to play chef as they choose, assemble, or even cook their own food; they also get to mix and match ingredients to suit their own tastes.
Case in point: the proliferation of DIY Pizza restaurants in the metro. Sure, Manila has no shortage in great pizza places, especially ones that serve the best cheese pizzas. But sometimes, when the craving is intense (or weird), what’s readily available just won’t cut it.
To exploit the growing interest in artisanal, made-to-order pizza, Mad for Pizza opened its first store at the second floor of Il Terrazzo in Quezon City.
Chef Cyril Reyes
DIY Pizza Pie
Mad for Pizza lets its diners customize their own 10” pizza for P285. The first step is to pick the flavor of your dough: Classic, Herb, Garlic Parmesan, and Spinach. Dough here is only kneaded and rolled upon order; so expect the process to take a while.
Then, you are to choose your base sauce: House Pizza Sauce, Roasted Garlic Alfredo, Fra Diablo (spicy tomato cream), and BBQ. Their House Pizza Sauce is sweeter than tangy and blends well with meat and cheese toppings. The Alfredo Sauce is great with garlic, spinach, eggplant, and seafood pizzas. If you can’t decide which to pick among the four, Mad for Pizza allows you to have two different sauces in either half of the pie.
The third step is when you go crazy about mixing and matching toppings. Mad for Pizza encourages you to put as many toppings as you can. In fact, there had been many instances when customers ordered a pizza with all toppings on it. The most extreme request they got was for a birthday celebration, when a customer order one pizza, with a double serving of all toppings on it. The four-inches-thick pie was so tall; the customers had to use spoons to consume it.
Our custom pizza: Half All-Cheese (Mozzarella, Parmesan, Cheese Mix, and Cheddar) and Half Herbs and Seafood (Basil, Cilantro, Oregano, Rosemary, Calamari, Clams, Fish)
But for those who are too lazy to customize their pizza, Ready to Order (P268) options are also available. In the picture below is the sweet and crispy Justin’s Favorite pizza with mozzarella, parmesan, cheddar, pepperoni, bacon, sausage, meatball crumble.
Justin's Favorite
But wait, there’s more!
Mad for Pizza sets itself apart from the other DIY pizza places by offering a long list of appetizers, entrees, and desserts that goes well with an order or two of their custom pies.
Chicken Spinach Egg Roll
For starters, there’s the crunchy Chicken Spinach Egg Roll (P198) that you will enjoy dipping in the tart tomato sauce. The Fried Calamari (P188), crispy and not at all gummy, also makes a great appetizer. But if you’re expecting a topping-laden pizza in the later course, you might want to line up your tummy with a light and refreshing House Salad (P188).
Fried Calamari
House Salad
Those who are accustomed to eating their pizzas with pastas will find the Spaghetti Bolognese (P208) a good match for the pie. But I were you, I’ll get either the burly but sweet, fall-off-the-bone Tennessee Pork Spare Ribs (P248) or the fork-tender Amboy Angus Beef Belly in Adobo Sauce (P248). Both of these are the two next best options in the menu, after, of course, your custom-built pizza.
Bolognese
Angus Beef Belly
Tennessee Pork Ribs
Panna Cotta
Frozen Iced Tea
Mad for Pizza may not be the first or the biggest player in the DIY pizza category but it sure is committed to its goal in providing diners fresh and quality options in customizing their pies. This, plus their surprisingly good, non-pizza options are enough reasons why one should check out this promising newcomer.
Mad for Pizza is at the 2nd Floor of Il Terrazzo Center, Tomas Morato, Quezon City. For reservations, call 02-351-26-21.
