07 October 2012

Bento! #95: Cheapest (ham+"soft salami") pizza in Japan

I love pizza. A typical 12" pizza here though would run me around at least 1500 yen. And that probably wouldn't be the typical pizza I'd eat elsewhere; it would probably be more suited to the Japanese palate. I do know of this place near Meguro which serves Sunday lunch buffet for just 1000 yen (or at least, two years ago when I last went there, they were doing that), and their pizza is quite good. Meguro though is like a 2-hour commute from home so I don't go there often. Only when I go to the church there. I do have friends who are members of CostCo, the popular American members-only store. At CostCo, a very delicious 16" real pizza is only around 1000 yen. While there's one that's just about an hour from my place, I don't get to go there that often because I am not a CostCo member. So, how do I satisfy my craving for pizza? Well, I settle for this:

I buy this pizza from the supermarket. Guess how much this sells for. It's just 250 yen. Or well, it's fluctuated between 238 yen and 258 yen. It's not yet exactly ready-to-eat, though. So I use my microwave/oven-toaster (many microwave ovens here are microwave and oven toasters in one), and have it toast for about 7 minutes (there's just one temperature setting, typical of small oven toasters). I leave it in the oven for about a minute to let the heat cook it just a little bit more, and then voila. I sprinkle some parmesan cheese, black pepper, and Tabasco sauce, and I have me a pretty heavy breakfast or a light, quick lunch. It has a very thin crust, and what I usually do is fold it in half and eat it like a sandwich or a taco. If it's for lunch, I usually eat it with Coke or Pepsi so that I can feel full sooner. In this case, I ate it for lunch with some lettuce and bell pepper salad with Caesar dressing (and parmesan and black pepper). Totally, that's a pretty good meal for under 400 yen. Yum.

The toppings on this pizza I got is "ham and soft salami." Next time, I'll show you the sausage/weiner version, and the four-cheese and "margherita" versions. I forgot the exact brand name of this thing, but it seems that at every supermarket I've been to, there's always something like this that is between 240 to 260 yen in price. Before buying, make sure you have a microwave+toaster thing first, though!

Lastly, I should warn you. So I have one (or two) of these at least once a week. When I went back to the Philippines (or went to visit CostCo) and was able to taste "real" pizza, you really get to feel the difference. But yeah, at 250 yen, and out of my love for pizza, that's reason enough for me to buy this thing at least once a week. It makes for a very cheap, quick meal, too!

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