Embers In The Village owner Abhishek Jain has opened pizzeria Slice of India. Photos: Supplied.
Craving Indian? Love pizza? Well now you can have the best of both worlds.
The team behind Windang’s beloved Indian restaurant Embers in the Village has turned one of its popular weekend specials — Indian fusion pizzas — into a full-fledged pizzeria.
Embers owner Abhishek Jain launched Slice of India after constantly selling out of its Indian pizza specials.
“We used to do butter chicken pizzas and tandoori chicken pizzas as specials some weekends, and they used to be such a hit,” Abhishek said.
“People used to order 10 pizzas at a time.
“We couldn’t keep up with those demands, because we were a dedicated Indian restaurant, not a pizza shop.”
Since opening Slice of India last week, which comes exactly four years after opening Embers, the demand for the fusion pizzas has only grown further.
“Thursday [12 September] was our first day, and we were in trial mode. It was just seeing how everything was going and if the pizzas were coming out well,” he said.
“On Saturday, we sold over 100 pizzas just in one night. Saturday was a crazy response.”
The initial inspiration for Abhishek’s pizza creations came from experimenting in the Embers kitchen, first with a butter chicken pizza.
“People love pizza and people love butter chicken, so why not butter chicken pizza?” he said.
“So we produced that and it was such a hit that during the weekends we used to sell so many butter chicken pizzas, and that’s why I thought, why not open just a dedicated pizza shop and introduce some more Indian fusion pizzas and see how it goes.”
He said Embers was relocated upstairs from the Windang post office to allow for a bigger restaurant, and the pizzeria has moved into the downstairs location.
On the menu is a mix of traditional and Indian pizzas, with classics like pepperoni, Hawaiian, vegetarian, supreme, barbecue meat lovers, cheesy garlic bread and mozzarella sticks.
“Then I’ve got seven of the Indian-flavoured pizzas, which I think are the most popular at Embers,” he said.
“I’ve picked the bestselling curries from Embers and tried to introduce them to the pizza, like paneer tikka, tandoori chicken and chilli chicken.”
He said his ability to fuse together different flavours stemmed from having worked his way through the ranks of many Illawarra restaurants while he studied a master’s in biotechnology at the University of Wollongong.
“Since I moved to Australia nine years ago as a student, I’ve always worked in hospitality,” he said.
“I started working as a dishwasher, washing dishes at the back of the kitchen.”
He said he had worked in fish and chip shops, cafes, Indian restaurants and Thai food outlets.
“I’ve worked in almost every cuisine just to get some different experience so I know what I can do fusion wise and working with different flavours,” he said.
“When I completed uni and got my permanent residency, that’s when I thought I’m done with studies and I need to follow my passion, which is cooking.”
Eventually he would like to franchise Slice of India but will continue to operate Embers in The Village as a single restaurant.
Slice of India is located at 2/233 Windang Road, Windang and opens Tuesdays to Sundays from 4 – 10 pm.
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