Pizza is so great isn't it? I am not sure I have ever met anyone who didn't like pizza. There are so many great things about it. The cheese, the tomato sauce, cheesy crust. There are so many different variations of pizza.
When I moved to Japan 10 years ago, I was a little worried I wouldn't find any good pizza places. My only option at the time was Pizza La and Saizeria. I was also perplexed by how different the pizza in Japan is. "Mayonnaise and shrimp pizza!? That's crazy!" I thought at the time. But to be honest, I like it, I like the differences in pizza here compared to what we have in the states. (Still not a big fan of corn on pizza or putting Tabasco on my pizza.)
I was getting tired of Pizza La after a few years of having it. I wanted a different type of pizza and thought of getting it in Tokyo, but then wondered if there was somewhere in Ibaraki that was an independently owned pizza shop. Don't get me wrong, I love ordering from the big companies as well. (Thank you for coming to Japan Dominoes.) Nevertheless, I wanted to try something that was here in Ibaraki.
After using google, I found a place close to where I live in a small town called Kasumigaura city. A little pizzeria that looks like a pleasant house. When I read the name of the place, I had to read it twice. Pizza Bear?
In Japanese, it is called PIZZERIA くーま, Pizzeria Kuma which translate to Pizzeria Bear. I think it is a cute name and they even have a small bear paw print on the sign. What I really like about Pizza Kuma is how homey the restaurant feels. It feels that way because it might have been a house at some point. Pizza Kuma has four different dinning areas for you to sit in. One is a small dinning room looking area, another is a sort of half inside half outside dinning area and a counter area. The fourth area is an outside dinning area that is nice. If you are worried about any bugs getting on your pizza, the outside dinning area is covered so no bugs or rain water seasoning for your pizza.
The menu consists of tomato sauce pizza and non-tomato sauce pizza with some other specials. It is a pretty simple menu. The tomato sauce pizza comes in two styles, marinara and margarita. Both styles come plain, with wiener topping, bacon topping or a mix of both meats. The non-tomato sauce pizza replaces the tomato sauce for a white cream sauce. There are also special pizzas on the menu like the quatro (my favorite), the special margarita (haven't tried yet) and a salad pizza with prosciutto (also still need to try.) For my non-Japanese speakers, sorry there is no English menu so make sure to take a Japanese speaker with you. This also goes for the staff, they only speak Japanese. The staff is extremely friendly and are a nice family since this is a family owned business.
Let's get to the pizza.
The Quatro
One of my favorite pizzas from this awesome pizza place is the Quatro Cheese Formaggio with honey. Quatro meaning four, four cheeses that is, you can never have too much cheese. (Unless you eat the 1kg cheese pizza from Dominoes, that was way too much cheese.) I wasn't sure what all the cheeses were but my taste buds tried to answer that question. Mozzarella was in their of course, Gouda if I am not mistaken and a hint of blue cheese. I wasn't sure what the fourth cheese was. You will have to figure that out yourself when you bite into this amazing pizza. Pizza Kuma does a beautiful job of bringing this cheese soiree together for something delicious. I always eat one slice by itself and then add honey to the next slice, which is optional. My advice is to do the same, that way you can get a real taste for what awesome cheeses are in the pizza. Then add the honey for a little surprise of sweetness with the strong cheese flavor.
The Butachan!
The next pizza is a strange one. The butachan pizza! Buta 豚 in English is pork and this pizza has a lot of it. It also comes with negi, egg in the middle and seasame seeds.
It is a very interesting pizza. The pork with the cheese and the egg brought upon a bunch of flavors my taste buds couldn't process but not in a bad way. After my second bite I found the pizza to be delicious, weird, but delicious. The egg in the middle was the weirdest part for me but once I mixed it with the pork I thought that is was a bit like sukiyaki with cheese. I think it was a good experience and I recommend trying it. It is a one of a kind.
Shrimp Basil
The next pizza is the shrimp basil pizza. This pizza comes with tomato sauce and white cream sauce. I ordered the cream sauce shrimp basil. This pizza is pure basil with cheese, it really relies heavily on the basil. So all you basil lovers, this is the pizza for you. The shrimp adds a little more crunch to the pizza which is a nice addition with that seafood taste. It isn't my favorite pizza at Pizza Kuma but if you love basil, give this one a try.
Margherita
Ok, I had a hard time thinking about this pizza and how I was going to write about it. The reason being is, I am not a super huge fan of the margherita pizza. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike it but it isn't my favorite. Growing up in the states, I cannot remember one time I had a margherita pizza. Now in Japan, I am surrounded by them. In my opinion, margherita pizzas need more cheese. I do like the addition of the basil leaves but it is just way too much tomato sauce. For those of you who love this pizza, I do highly recommend trying Pizza Kuma's margherita pizza. It didn't sway my opinion on margherita pizzas but it was very good.
Size comparison
The size of the pizzas aren't too bad considering how most Japanese pizzas are small. I can probably eat one whole pie by myself. Two if I am starving but that is pushing it. So if you go with family or friends, I highly recommend ordering more than one pie.
I haven't mentioned this part yet but Pizza Kuma's crust is amazing. I do not know what they put in their pizza dough but it is fantastic. Usually, when I eat a pizza, I am always sad when I get to the crust because the awesome parts of the pizza are over. But Pizza Kuma's crust is something to look forward to. I was delightfully surprised the first time I tried their crust. "I thought that crusts were not supposed to be this good." I said the first time I tried it. But now, when I finish the cheese and other ingredients, I have something awesome to look forward to. Crunchy and delicious!
One thing about Pizza Kuma that I am not crazy about is their hours, but I understand why they have the hours that they have. They are usually open from 11:30 a.m. to 6:30p.m. Tuesday to Saturday. So it is kind of hard to visit the place after work for dinner. In the Kandatsu area of Kasumigaura city, there are a lot of factories. Bosch Rexroth, Coca Cola, Hitachi and more. This pizza place, most likely makes most of their income from the factory workers during lunch time or when they are returning home. There are many restaurants who do this, especially small mom and pop shops like Pizza Kuma. Because of that, I always try to make it out there on a Saturday for lunch. Another word of caution, their parking lot is small so I suggest car pooling there.
Because of the current pandemic, Pizza Kuma has had to shorten their hours. They are now open till 3:00 p.m.. As of writing this post, there aren't any new corona virus cases in Ibaraki. So hopefully, Pizza Kuma can return to their normal hours soon.
If you are in Kasumigaura city, I hope you can stop by and grab a slice in this delicious homey pizza place. Who knows, I might be at the counter across from you, pouring honey on my quatro.
Enjoy!
For more information on Pizza Kuma check out their Facebook page:
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