Pizza di Passeggio is the base of the concept of Kono Pizza - a pizza to go, easy to eat, no mess. Over 80 restaurants across the world, Kono Pizza first started in Italy by Rossano Boscolo.
You know how you like to fold your pizza in two to eat more easily? There you go! Kono Pizza does it for you in a cone form. And it is geniously design that the tip is a little more thick in order to contain all the good juices that might otherwise be oozing out. The dough are made and cooked in Italy, flash frozen and imported to Montreal. They then go through a little joy ride a exclusively design oven where each of them spends two minutes to develop that perfect golden and crispy crust. They are then filled with yummy ingredients ranging from breakfast goods to traditional pizza toppings to sweet fillings. The cones can also be ordered to go where they package it in a convenient design with a tray that holds from 4 to 6 cones. The tray itself can be heated along with the cones in the microwave or the conventional oven. How awesome is that?
We had an amazing foodie gathering where we had the chance to sample some of the stuff offered on the menu. It is really fun to finally meet some of these people you have been exchanging words with either on facebook or twitter. All really passionate and outgoing peeps gathered for one common interest: FOOD. Among them was FoodGuyMTL, ShutUpandEatMTL, MrLew's Great Burger Search, Foodie Date Night, Kristel's Kitchen, Le Méchant Mangeur just to name a few.
We are first starting off with a classical KONO pizza cone: the carni. Made of tomato sauce, mozzarella (low moisture to avoid any dripping off the cone), bacon and sausage. The initial bite reveals a crunchy dough combined with oozing cheezy goodness. The flavor is well balanced and just eating from a cone makes it fun also! However, compared to the traditional slice of pizza, the mozz is not as stretchy.
Then, we samples the pesto classical KONO pizza which was composed of tomato sauce, bocconcini, fresh tomato and homemade pesto sauce. Love how the tomatoes just squirted out of freshness! And I was thankful for the more heavy bottom as the moisture of the tomato could have easily made a mess! We also had the opportunity to drizzle a little bit of white truffle oil to add a touch of nuttyness! Great way to fancy up your cone!
The following was a deli KONO cone which was made differently than the classical ones. The cones are first heated through the oven and then the fillings are added. This prevents getting ingredients such as prosciutto to cook and dry up to too much. It thus keeps the filling at the desired cool temperature while munching on a hot dough. The deli KONO cone was the prosciutto one made of prosciutto (obv!), aragula and basil sauce (resembles a mayonnaise). This one was my least favorite as I found that there was too much meat and not enough freshness to counterbalance the saltiness. It was more like eating a deli sandwich than a pizza. Maybe that is the objective too...
KONO pizza also makes a special flavor each week. This week: chicken parmigiana with parmesan, emmental and mozzarella. The mix of cheeses provides a desired combination of flavors while maintaining a somewhat elastic texture. They are served either with fresh homemade sundried tomato pesto or a hint of truffle oil. Unfortunately, the quantity was limited and I didn't have the chance to taste one :(
As mentionned, they also developed flavors for the sweet tooth. David, the owner has a weakness for nutella. I mean who doesn't?!? I literally eat spoonful of nutella! miam! Well, let's say that my taste buds and tummy were incredibly satisfied when i bit into the nutella and strawberry sweet KONO cones. They add a little bit of sugar to the dough and sprinkle the whole with icing sugar. It reminded me of beavertails somehow. One thing for sure, we can't complain there isn't enough nutella in there!!!
And KONO pizza had the kindness to prepare a special request for Mr.Lew GBS: Choco-Bacon! Hell yeah! Along with all the hype of bacon comes the combination with chocolate. The pairing of the salty, crunchy and smokyness of bacon perfectly enhances the richness and sweetness of cocoa. For those who are curious but still doubtful, I suggest you try the Applewood smoked bacon, Alderwood salt and deep milk chocolate from Vosges. Seriously. Wow! The version of KONO pizza is interesting, they added more bits of bacon in there. However, the nutella was definitely overpowering the bacon and unfortunately hid it more than anything. But the initial bite was very good though!
Overall, I love the concept of KONO pizza. I had some ups and downs for their menu but I definitely think there is a lot of potential for interesting new products! Moreover, they do adapt to the local taste... maybe we will see a maple syrup featured KONO or even a poutine one! Who knows!
Special thanks to KONO Pizza Canada and to Mechant Mangeur for the invite!
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