Many overseas visitors are still shocked to find some of the best pizzas on the planet right here in Japan, particularly in Tokyo. In fact, pizzas here are so established that “Tokyo-style pizza” has become its own category, a reference to the airy, thick-edged, thin-crust dough that is cooked Neapolitan style in a wood-fired oven.
However, the scorn laid upon some early iterations of Japanese pizza was, more often than not, justified. Corn, potato, shrimp and mayonnaise combined haphazardly atop a dough resembling cardboard was the stuff of every Italian pizza chef’s nightmare. Those toppings can be transcendent when used sparingly, though. Where commercial pizza chains got it so wrong by maxing out on ingredients and toppings, Japanese artisans made things right by paring back.
The toppings on Tokyo-style pizzas can also be eclectic: chopped maguro (tuna) is seared while a pizza bakes, turning the fish into tataki-style tartare, which is then spread before eating. This particular pizza was popularized by Savoy Tomato and Cheese in Tokyo’s Azabu-Juban neighborhood (it also made an…
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