Wednesday June 24, 2009
Tokyo, Japan
Rainy
My work day started at 6am today where just like in California, I had back2back conference calls until 11am with the US team. For some reason, I can focus more on conference calls and I find a lot more gets done in conference calls than in face2 face meetings my colleagues in Japan love. But because I was out of practice, I was exhausted after the calls and needed a break. So since I live close to Tokyo Midtown, I'd thought I got to Napule which is a very popular pizzeria in Japan and has gotten rave reviews.
The chef won several rewards including the top prize for a best pizza in the world competition in Italy. He is Japanese and supposedly has a very huge following. The lines to get into lunch are very long but when I got there around 1130am, I was the fifth person in line and was able to get seated within minutes. There are 3 set menus to choose from: Set Menu A came with salad, choice of pasta and coffee or tea, Set Menu B came with salad, choice of pizza and coffee/tea, and Set Menu C came with salad, choice of pasta, choice of fish/meat and coffee/tea. I chose Set Menu B with a pizza which came with "shirasu". Shirasu is basically baby sardine and is very high in calcium as it is eaten whole. So basically the pizza I had was anchovy pizza (which I LOVE by the way) with shirasu instead of the anchovies.
The salad arrived and was disappointing. It consists of lettuce which was fresh but served with canned corn. And I believe the dressing was bottled dressing not freshly made! But the star of the place is supposed to be the pizza so I didn't let the quality of the salad affect me. The pizza came piping hot from the oven and looked fabulous! And HUGE!! Its a bit bigger than a domino medium size pizza! It was loaded with shirasu. However, after one bite ------ MAJOR disappointment. The crust was very good but it was pretty obvious the tomato sauce came from a can! Either that or they made fresh tomato sauce that tasted like it came from the can as it did not taste fresh. Too bad because the cheese was very good and the combo of shirasu, cheese and fresh tomato sauce would have been fabulous. However, it only set me back 1600 yen which is a pretty good deal as the pizza was huge! A medium sized domino pizza would have cost 2000yen. I ended the meal with cold peach tea which was way too sweet and wondered why the place is popular. I concluded it either has to be the price, good marketing or "canned" tomato sauce is preferable to the Japanese palate. Anyhow, don't think I'll be going back there any time soon!
I MISS NEW YORK PIZZA!!!
The Shirasu Pizza
The sperm like things are shirasu. Its really good with rice too. really
Napule Restaurant
By the time I left which was about 1215pm, a long line has formed.
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