Throughout Cherry Hill, there’s no shortage of pizza places to get your fix of classic, cheesy goodness. However, among this plethora of pizza locations, Pizza Twist sets itself apart. Located on Evesham Road, unlike other pizza restaurants, Pizza Twist transforms pizza into a gateway toward South Asian cuisine.
While most pizza places primarily serve similar items such as your typical pepperoni or Margherita pizza, Pizza Twist fuses elements of Indian cuisine into its menu. For appetizers, Pizza Twist offers paneer, a cheese used in traditional Indian cuisine, and samosa, a South Asian pastry often filled with savory fillings like potatoes, peas and various spices. Customers can also dine on breadsticks before their main dish, including a Spicy Lamb Bread Twist which features a tandoori sauce. The Tandoori Lamb Salad Twist also highlights this sauce while acting as a healthier alternative. There are seasoned fries, Cheesy Garlic Bread and a Caesar Salad (with or without chicken) which are commonplace in most pizza places, too.
In addition to these starters, Pizza Twist serves pasta, wings and a myriad of pizza options as a main course. Pasta choices include a Palak Paneer Pasta Twist, a Butter Chicken Pasta Twist and a Shahi Pasta Twist along with a tried-and-true Penne Meatball Pasta. For those in the mood for wings, customers can try achari, tandoori, tikka masala and Manchurian wings in either a six-piece, 10-piece, 12-piece or 24-piece portion. When it comes to pizza, there are endless possibilities. Pizza Twist offers traditional options such as a BBQ Chicken Pizza, Mango Habanero Pizza and an All Meat Pizza while also having Twist Pizza options that are rooted in Indian culture. Twist Pizzas often accent South Asian sauces including tandoori and tikka masala in either chicken or veggie options. Moreover, Pizza Twist has a large variety of vegan, plant-based and halal options, guaranteeing that there’s something for everyone.
“We wanted to bring an Indian-style restaurant to Cherry Hill because there’s a big Asian community here, and there’s not many restaurants to provide to them. It’s not just [the Asian community] that likes it, everyone likes the food … That’s why we wanted to bring something new here and make it different. There’s really no other place that does Indian-style pizza,” said Japundeep Singh, owner of Pizza Twist.
When giving Pizza Twist a try, I began with the most popular appetizer: the Masala Fries Twist. This starter was enveloped in a masala sauce and topped with red onions, garlic, ginger, green chilies and cilantro. I thoroughly enjoyed the fries; flavor exploded in every bite, accompanied by the perfect level of crispiness and a slight kick.
For my main course, I dove into the Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza Twist, the Butter Chicken Pizza Twist, the Tandoori Chicken Pizza Twist and the Achari Chicken Pizza Twist. The Chicken Tikka Masala Pizza Twist featured a tikka masala sauce and tikka masala chicken paired with fresh bell peppers. In the Butter Chicken Pizza Twist, butter sauce and butter chicken were highlighted. The Tandoori Chicken Pizza Twist had tandoori sauce and tandoori chicken. In the Achari Chicken Pizza Twist, there was garlic sauce and achari chicken with added flavor from jalapeno peppers. Although the Achari Chicken Pizza Twist is a popular option for most, the peppers made the pizza a bit too spicy for my taste. All of these pizzas were topped with mozzarella cheese, red onions, garlic, ginger, green chilies and cilantro. These pizzas were flooded with flavor, but the Butter Chicken Pizza Twist was my favorite – the taste of the butter sauce effortlessly flowed with the toppings. All of these pizzas had a medium level of spiciness, but you can adjust the kick based on your preferences.
The food came out relatively quickly, only taking about 15 minutes. Inside Pizza Twist, Punjabi music played, allowing customers to fully immerse themselves in South Asian culture. The interior also had white paneling and red accents throughout the restaurant, providing a modern look. However, seating inside was limited with only a few tables.
Although the price point at Pizza Twist was slightly higher than other pizza places, Pizza Twist offers fresh ingredients throughout all of its dishes. Everything that goes into each pizza is high quality, allowing those at Pizza Twist to take pride in their work.
“My favorite part is telling people what we’re about and providing quality service. All of our ingredients are locally sourced … All our ingredients are non-GMO. We cut all our toppings fresh – we pick them up at local produce stores … Nothing comes in frozen. We make our dough fresh every day. Everything’s organic, and we make everything in-house,” said Singh.
By combining traditional South Asian cuisine with the American staple of pizza, Pizza Twist shares the flavor and joy of Indian cuisine with Cherry Hill. With a wide variety of options, each customer can find a dish suited to their liking or experiment with a new fusion of flavors.
“That’s why we decided to make Pizza Twist: mixing two ethnicities together,” said Singh.
