Comfort Food at Harpo’s Pizza! 

Who doesn’t love pizza? I mean, it really is one of the most popular and most consumed in terms of comfort food, and Harpo’s Pizza has been feeding most of Colombo’s hungry with their wood-fired oven baked pizzas and freshly whipped up pastas – each item bursting with a mix of flavours.

The very first standalone outlet of Harpo’s Pizza opened in Nugegoda a little over a month ago, catering to delivery, dine-in and takeaway orders of loyal customers in the area, and surrounding areas, customers who’ve been satiated by tucking into the freshly prepared pizzas and pastas.

Dropping into the outlet for a review, I met Alec van Cuylenberg (you might’ve seen him if you’ve dropped into the Colombo Fort Café at the Dutch Hospital) who looks after the operations of the outlet, and happily delved into a couple of favourites on the menu, which features all of Harpo’s pizza favourites in addition to several new items. Introducing homegrown pizzas to the menu is what really sets them apart, says Alec, which are essentially their very own unique recipes, featuring a farmhouse style pizza with tomato and fresh vegetables, the pizza calamari with tomato and tempered calamari, pepper pork pizza with curry paste and peppered pork, pizza tropical with ham, pineapple, sausage and tomato, the spicy Sri Lankan consisting of tomato, curry flavoured chicken, green chillies, red onions and a spicy omelette, and a pizza pancetta and parmigiana which includes crispy bacon, tomato and parmesan cheese.

Despite being open for such a short while, the response has been overwhelmingly good, with customers who drop in daily for lunch, and the outlet buzzing with orders by evening. Customers’ favourites include the homegrown range in addition to the fresh pastas and of course the Italian specials – unique to the Harpo’s Pizza brand.

While waiting for my pizza tikka to arrive, I sip on strawberry iced tea soda served in a cute mason jar, perfect and refreshing. The beverages are all made in-house, and feature interesting items such as thambili tea, homemade ginger beer, limeade, orangeade, peach iced tea soda and a thambili and lime combo. I munch on a few slices of focaccia topped with chopped tomatoes rosemary, and drizzled with olive oil, which is a light and refreshing starter. The thin bread is sliced like pizza, and one portion can be easily shared between two people, or even three (depending on how famished you are!). Other sides include garlic bread, three different types of salad (mixed vegetable salad, a mustard chicken salad and a seafood pasta salad), crispy chicken wings and spiced pork riblets.

The pizza tikka is served warm, straight out of the brick wood-fired oven, generously topped with cubes of the orangish red chicken, combined with chopped capsicums and onions. The pizza is excellent, the flavours coming through very well, and no skimping of essential ingredients, which is all you could ask for in a pizza.

The crab and lobster meat cannelloni is divine! Three hefty rolls of tube pasta stuffed with crab and shoe lobster baked in a rich, sizzling cheese sauce – comfort food at best! Be warned though, if you believe you can brave a few slices of pizza and this dish too, you might be proven wrong because the cheese really weighs it down therefore, it can be easily shared between a few people. The cannelloni is soft, and the cheese sauce makes it creamy and is a stellar combination with the crab and lobster meat. Chef Rasika Perera takes care of the kitchen operations, and looks into each order.

The Harpo’s Pizza outlet is located at 178/A, Stanley Thilakaratne Mawatha, Nugegoda. They are open everyday from 11am-10pm on weekdays, and stay open until 12am on weekends. Prices are all inclusive, and delivery areas include Colombo 1-15, Nawala, Rajagiriya, Kotte, Dehiwela, Mount Lavinia, Mirihana, Boralesgamuwa, Maharagama and Battaramulla. They can be contacted on (011) 4323023 and (011) 4869000 for delivery.

Text and photographs by Sarah Kellapatha