There seems to be a new pizza shop with desi offerings popping up every week outside the downtown core—and I, for one, am here for it.

Readers may have read our reviews of Shinwari BBQ and Pizza in Barrhaven and Chilli Craft Pizza in Bayshore. You know we’re big fans of the South Asian twist on pizza.

In case you haven’t read our previous articles and wondering what the heck desi pizza is, allow me to explain: You take your classic sauce and cheese base, even the vegetables—onions, bell peppers and mushrooms—will be familiar to you. However, instead of your classic meat toppings, desi pizza offers marinated and spicy meat commonly found in dishes from the Indian subcontinent, such as tandoori or butter chicken, or vegetarian equivalents such as paneer.

Yum.

Imagine our surprise then when we recently found out that Maple Delight Pizza—a new pizza joint serving desi pizzas—was opening on Merivale Road, in our neighbourhood.

I popped over to the shop after work one day to introduce myself to the gentleman running the shop. Originally from the Gujarat state in western India, he told me he moved to Ottawa from Alberta in 2018 and wanted to open a shop that offers classic Canadian fare, but also wanted to add an international flavour to his pies.

Take a glance at the menu and you’ll see exactly what he’s talking about. The Enticing Paneer Tikka is only a few rows down from the Canadian Delight, which comes with sauce, mozzarella, pepperoni, mushroom, ham and bacon.

Enough chatting, I was getting hungry. I picked up a Tandoori Chicken Delight pizza and a garlic dip. After tip, the medium set me back around. $26.

The pizza was still warm when I got home. The gooey cheese made for a nice contrast with the crispy, charred onions and bell peppers. The marinated tandoori chicken had a kick, but the jalapenos turned it up a notch on the heat scale.

All was well with the world.