Quick Bites: Sandy's Pizza

In this over-saturated food industry, it is very rare that I come across “good finds”. You know, those small, hole-in-the-walls where you find excellent food with a home-grown feel. Everything seems to be going in the direction of “bigger and better”, franchising, constant expansion, banking on the tried and tested formulas and distributing it to the masses. Nothing wrong with that, but most of the time the quality and painstaking care that is put into preparing delicious food is lost.

Recently, when I was coming home from work, I saw a delivery bike with the name “Sandy’s Pizza” emblazoned on the box parked in front of our building. I have read about it more than a year ago in other blogs but have never gotten to try it. Since we lived in Makati at the time, it was impossible to have a taste of this much talked about pizza that is based in residential San Juan. I don’t know how it is now, but at the time they were only doing deliveries and did not have facilities for dine-in customers. Despite that, people were constantly gushing in their multiply.com site about how delicious the pizzas were and that they could not get enough of this gem of a pizzeria.

It took a while after spotting that delivery bike until Matt and I finally got to sample Sandy’s pizza. The first time we had it, we passed by their small store in San Juan at around 9:30 PM, hoping that they were still taking orders. Although they were already closed, they were kind enough to accommodate us and baked us a combination pizza (Chicken Curry, Garlic Tuyo, Garlic Chorizo and White Pizza) for take-out. The second time, we had them deliver another combination pizza (Garlic Tuyo, Mexican Chili, Meatzarella and Filipino Adobo and White Cheese) to our pad.

Both times the pizzas were absolutely phenomenal- and I do not use that word loosely when it comes to food. Yes, there are some pizzas out there that come close and even fewer that might be better (actually, only Caruso comes to mind), but what has gotten me smitten is that its high quality and tastiness has taken me completely by surprise. First of all, the pricing I believe is just right. It might be more expensive than your average neighborhood pizza joint, but for the authenticity and quality that you get, you cannot complain. Second, the toppings are unique and full of flavor. They are not overly-generous with it, but you can be sure that they taste good. Finally, the crust is perfect- soft and chewy on the inside, light and crispy on the outside. If this is not the perfect pizza, then it surely comes very close to it.

I think foodies like me appreciate dishes and restaurants more when we get the vibe that the food comes from someone who is more of a food lover than a businessman. And I get that feeling from the owner of Sandy’s. You can tell from how the crust was made to the careful conceptualization of her innovative pizza toppings, she has put a lot of love into these pizzas. Although I have never met her (I just saw pictures of her in her multiply site with her famous actor brother), I can’t help but admire her for turning her love for a particular dish into something truly spectacular that she can share with others. You just got to love that, too.

Sandy’s Pizza
J. Abad Santos St.
San Juan, Metro Manila
Tel. no. (632) 7218334
Website: sandyspizza1.multiply.com