Good, old-fashioned pizzas
Growing up, Lloyd Anthony would watch in spell-bound fascination as his mother, formidable home cook Steph Anthony whipped up a string of meals that reflected the family’s multicultural roots. Steph hailed from British Guiana in South America so her meals were always peppered with Caribbean flavours, while her husband Alex Anthony is Eurasian, which meant meals like devil curry were a staple in the family home.

“My mum was always in the kitchen and I was always very curious about how she prepared food. I think that stuck with me and it’s something I’ve always wanted to get into myself,” says Lloyd, who is a warm, kind man.

When he grew up, Lloyd became an engineer but his passion for food remained – albeit on the back burner. Eventually, he started working in restaurants and soon realised that the pizzas he was making were always best-sellers. And so the kernel of an idea for Lloyd’s Pizza was born.

“Everything I know about pizza is taught by my mum. So everything is done by scratch, from the dough to the sauce,” he says.

The devil curry pizza borrows a traditional Eurasian-style devil curry and plonks it onto a pizza, in what proves to be a very successful pairing.

In 2019, he started operating in a condominium cafeteria in Kelana Jaya with the idea that if his pilot project proved successful, he would open a proper eatery.

The Covid-19 pandemic threw a spanner in the works but three years later, Lloyd’s Pizza has finally come full circle with the launch of a full dine-in restaurant in the bustling Subang Jaya artery of SS15.

“For the last three years, I’ve been circling certain locations – I’ve been to 22 units to check out the shop layouts, to find one I was happy with.

“And coming up with the funds to open a restaurant was not easy after the pandemic. A lot of people asked me, ‘Why don’t you just go back to your normal job if this is proving too difficult?’ And there were a lot of times that I myself questioned whether I should go on. But I didn’t quit and here I am now,” he says, smiling.

The eatery is tucked away on a first floor shop lot and is a small, cheerful space with sunny yellow walls and a joyful vibe that harks back to those nostalgic days of yore when simple pleasures offered the greatest rewards.

The vegetarian pizza is packed full of olives, mushrooms, broccoli and peppers in what proves to be a stand-up vegetable-friendly option. — LLOYD'S PIZZA

At the epicentre of all this is Lloyd himself, who greets customers like they are old friends, imparting a personal touch to every diner’s experience, a quality which is increasingly rarer in more commercial F&B entities.

On the food front, the eatery’s soul lies in its pizzas, which Lloyd crafts from scratch using time-treasured recipes. In putting together his repertoire of pizzas, he looked at his heritage and ancestry for inspiration and aimed to create pizzas that reminded people of fuss-free home comforts without too many additional bells and whistles.

His Mutton Curry Pizza (RM35) for example, combines homemade mutton curry chunks with onions and roasted cherry tomatoes; with cheese and a tomato base gilding the pizza crust. It sounds like a crazy, haphazard combination, but one bite later you’ll be wondering why more people aren’t doing this.

Because as it turns out, the mutton curry’s spicy undertones meld spectacularly well with the cheese and tomato in this configuration in what proves to be a case of opposites attracting and marriages made in heaven.

The mutton curry pizza is one of those ‘who woulda thunk?’ sort of meals that proves that two disparate ideas can come together very successfully on the plate.

Lloyd’s pizza crust is another standout here – an old-fashioned base that is reminiscent of homemade creations of yesteryear, where it is neither overly crusty nor overly doughy, sort of like a soft baked cookie with hints of burnished gold and a hearty bite.

Up next, definitely try The Devil (RM30) which features homemade devil chicken chunks alongside aged mozzarella and roasted cherry tomatoes. Devil curry (also called debal curry) is a classic Eurasian dish that is essentially a spicy chicken curry (hence the “devil” moniker) enhanced with white vinegar.

It is a bit strange to find this very same curry on a pizza. But once again, the pizza is proof that sometimes the strangest bedfellows end up being the best of friends because this is a pizza that hits all those requisite high notes and then some. There’s a soothing, sating sweet spot in the chicken which is comfort food at its finest, laid atop a pizza.

For a vegetarian option, look at the aptly-named Vegetarian (RM30 for a 12-inch pizza). In this configuration, mushrooms, capsicum, black olives, jalapenos, roasted cherry tomatoes, onions and aged mozzarella crust the surface of the pizza and make for a wholesome yet filling meal that both adults and kids will delight in.

The pesto pasta has a subtle, much-welcome kick to it, courtesy of the cili padi in the mixture.

From the pastas on offer, definitely try the Penne Pesto (RM23) which features a homemade pesto sauce with a kick in the form of cili padi. This gives the dish a herbaceous underbelly juxtaposed against a fiery counterpoint that makes it oh-so addictively good, as opposed to traditional iterations of pesto which are fairly one-dimensional.

The Penne Primavera (RM23) meanwhile is essentially penne coated in cream and Neapolitan sauce alongside broccoli, zucchini, capsicum, garlic and olive oil in what proves to be a simple, relatively unvarnished meal whose most coveted attribute is how much comfort it provides in every mouthful.

For dessert, the Soft Serve (RM6) ice-cream is a flat-out winner and is reminiscent of a famous fast food chain’s deliciously silken smooth ice cream. The chocolate ice-cream in particular is fantastically good and makes for a great ending to the meal.

The eatery also has a range of coffees made in-house and you would do well to try the Mocha (RM10 for the hot option). This is a delightful offering that perfectly straddles the chocolate-coffee divide harmoniously without one component overwhelming the other.

Ultimately, a meal at Lloyd’s Pizza offers old-fashioned, simple flavours that evoke nostalgia as well as the sense of having a good time in a place that you can easily imagine becoming a regular dining spot, largely because Lloyd has the ability to make you feel at home from the moment you walk in.

The penne primavera offers simplicity and understated flavours yet manages to be incredibly addictive. — AZLINA ABDULLAH/The Star

Moving forward, Lloyd hopes to build his roots in Subang before expanding to other locations.

“I would love to expand. There are other areas around here that I plan to expand to. Eventually, I may open in other states and maybe even overseas as some people have approached me about this,” he says.

Lloyd’s Pizza

73-1, Jalan SS15/8A

47500 Subang Jaya

Tel: 012-659 1081

Open Monday to Saturday: 11am to 9.30pm
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Former telco engineer Lloyd Anthony has discovered his passion for crafting home-hewn soul pizzas.