Straight from Naples
Neapolitan pizza in Karkardooma, East Delhi.
Invitalia is a small family-run Italian kitchen at 188 Saini Enclave. Neapolitan dough, buffalo mozzarella, ravioli rolled here with Italian ‘00’ flour — and everything on the card is vegetarian.
We open at half past three in the evening. The lights over the tables outside stay on till half past eleven.
- 3.30 pm – 11.30 pmEvery day except Wednesday
- Pure vegetarianThe whole card, no exceptions
- 188 Saini EnclaveKarkardooma, near Anand Vihar · tables outside
The pizza
Eleven Neapolitan rounds come out of the kitchen. The Queen’s Margherita is the one to start with — tomato sauce, buffalo mozzarella, basil, extra virgin olive oil, parmesan, and nothing in the way of any of it.
From there it climbs: the Al-fungi is built on a mushroom sauce rather than tomato, the Truffle Mushroom has black truffle crème and white truffle oil in it, and the All-peppers is as hot as this card gets. All eleven are in the pizza list further down, with what goes into each one.
- Queen’s Margherita₹350
- Caramelised Onion₹380
- Quattro Formaggi₹420
- Truffle Mushroom₹450
- Truffata₹480
The dough is the whole thing
The pizza is Neapolitan — a soft, high-edged round rather than a thin crisp base. It is what the sign means by Straight From Naples, and it is what most people who come back come back for.
The ravioli dough is made on the premises with Italian ‘00’ flour, and it is rolled fresh rather than bought in. That is the reason it costs a little more than the rest of the pasta and the reason it runs out on a busy evening. The other pasta shapes — penne, fusilli, farfalle, spaghetti, fettuccini — are semolina.
A note that catches people out: the pasta comes without vegetables in it. Vegetables go on as an add-on, which is how it is done in Italy.
The cheese, and the truffle
Buffalo mozzarella goes on nearly everything. Past that there is goat cheese and mascarpone in the Quattro Formaggi, pecorino and bocconcini and burrata to add on, and cheddar in the calzone.
Truffle turns up in three forms and they are not the same thing: black truffle crème under the Truffle Mushroom pizza, white truffle oil over the top of it, and truffle butter in the garlic bread. It is the part of the card people order on somebody else’s recommendation.
All of it is vegetarian
No meat, no egg, no fish, on any page of the card. It is worth saying plainly because it is a real reason people choose one place over another in Delhi, and because a family sitting down does not want to have that conversation with a waiter first.
In their own words
“Introducing our Italian Restaurant where you can enjoy the authentic Italian cuisine along with some more options from around the world.”
Invitalia’s own description of itself. Day-to-day pictures go up on their Instagram.
Finding the place
Ground floor, 188 Saini Enclave — Karkardooma, on the Anand Vihar side. The lit sign over the doorway is the thing to look for; it is visible from the road once it is dark. There are tables out on the street, which is where most people end up sitting.
188, Saini Enclave, Karkardooma,Anand Vihar, New Delhi, Delhi, 110092
- Monday3.30 pm – 11.30 pm
- Tuesday3.30 pm – 11.30 pm
- WednesdayClosed
- Thursday3.30 pm – 11.30 pm
- Friday3.30 pm – 11.30 pm
- Saturday3.30 pm – 11.30 pm
- Sunday3.30 pm – 11.30 pm
Nothing has to be booked, but ring ahead if there are more than four or five of you. Most people spend between four and six hundred rupees a head.
Send us a message
For a table for a group, a question about something on the card, or anything else — leave a number here and somebody will ring back. The quickest way is still to ring or send a WhatsApp during opening hours.