Maybe most don’t equate India with pizza, but it’s certainly seeped into the culture: IndiaRetailing.com reported in 2016 that the beloved Italian shareable boasts the highest market share in the country among international quick-service restaurants, and the widest acceptance across consumer segments. Indeed, international names like Pizza Hut and Domino’s have been entrenched here for years.

But at the Novotel hotel in Visakhapatnam, executive chef Mrinmoy Pal—known by co-workers and the culinary industry simply as chef Moy—is doing things a little differently.

It helps that he sports a resume many chefs would envy, having honed his skills around the world over nearly 20 years at renowned brands like the Taj and Oberoi hotel groups, Carnival Cruise Line and Hyatt. He has studied pizza in-depth in both Europe and the States, and while working at the Novotel for the last year, he’s been rethinking the thin-crust pies (the style, chef Moy says, Indian guests insist upon) in the property’s casual yet elegant The Square, a round-the-clock dining destination for hotel guests and locals alike.

He also has an outlook that aligns perfectly with Italian ideals—a love for unfussy food where fresh ingredients can shine, cooked with love. “When I make anything, I think it’s my food,” says chef Moy. “We maintain authenticity with the right recipes, the right techniques. My concept is simple food, using local produce. As a chef, I know people are coming with great expectations, and I have to fulfill that.”

Still, he’s not afraid to get creative, drawing influences from his home country to put a local spin on some Italian favorites. On my recent visit for a pizza demo, chef Moy crafted a traditional veggie pie with an Indian twist, its toppings preroasted to a delectable charred-edge crisp in the tandoori oven. Then came his “naanza” creation, which he’s hoping to land on the menu for 2018. The country’s popular flatbread, naan, is topped with a flavorful Indian-spiced makhani gravy in lieu of traditional tomato sauce, mozzarella, plus a vividly hued veggie mix—tricolor peppers, black olives, onions and sundried tomatoes—then sprinkled with olive oil, oregano and red pepper flakes after baking.

For a sweet finish, chef Moy whipped up two more unique Indian-Italian hybrids, both tapping the popular gulab jamun dessert, in which spongelike balls made mainly of milk powder are doused in a pool of rose-flavored honey. Yes, Indian sweets are essentially sugar explosions, but the dessert’s typical over-the-top sweetness was tempered in chef Moy’s creations, which incorporated the balls in a take on tiramisu, elegantly served in a martini glass, and a cheesecake.