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Shakey's Pizza is inexplicably popular in Japan. Well, that's not quite true. There's an explanation, but it doesn't really make a lot of sense in a country of relatively affluent people with ready access to good quality food. They are mainly popular for their incredibly crappy lunch buffet which is a festival of bad carbohydrates (fried potatoes, sparsely topped pizza, and spaghetti).
The good folks at Shakey's have taken the cake when it comes to "weird" Japanese pizza. The specimen at the bottom has pumpkin, red bean paste, mini marshmallows and black sesame sauce. The marshmallows really are the kicker. This is a culture that reacts with abhorrence at the idea of candied sweet potatoes so my husband and I did a double-take when we saw this sign. Yes, they've finally become "one of us".
As a pudgy American, I wanted to check out Shakey's when we were in Osaka. Never made it there, but we did go to a nearby Saizeriya. While not a buffet, it was the only place we found that had a "serve yourself" beverage station!
ReplyDeleteI did a double-take, too, even before reading all of your post. Wow! So Shakey's does fusion--who knew? ;)
ReplyDelete@Me: It seems a lot of family restaurants have (and actively tout) self-serve beverage stations. Too bad the glasses are so small, though I suppose you get your share of exercise going back to refill them.
We used to have Shakey's Pizza in Gifu many moons ago before the hungry gaijin population put them out of business. I think people were bringing in lunch boxes to fill with all you can ear pizza. Not a good idea!
ReplyDeleteJapan Australia
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ReplyDeleteI grew up in Southern California in the '60'-'70's and went to Shakey's pizza. They had this olde-timey thing going on with a piano player with the striped shirt and an arm band. Pitchers of root beer! Anyway, when I was living in Kamakura back in '90's I stumbled into one of these in Tokyo I think. It was the worst pizza i've ever had...
ReplyDeleteI describe it to people here saying "imagine you take the cardboard box that a delivery pizza comes in, cut a circle out of the bottom and that's your Japanese pizza..ha!
I grew up in Southern California in the '60'-'70's and went to Shakey's pizza. They had this olde-timey thing going on with a piano player with the striped shirt and an arm band. Pitchers of root beer! Anyway, when I was living in Kamakura back in '90's I stumbled into one of these in Tokyo I think. It was the worst pizza i've ever had...I describe it to people here saying "imagine you take the cardboard box that a delivery pizza comes in, cut a circle out of the bottom and that's your Japanese pizza..ha!
ReplyDeleteShakey's is kind of crap pizza in the States, but it's gourmet compared to the quality in Japan. Either way, I sometimes go to their buffet since it's so cheap and some of the pizza varieties aren't terrible to eat. You'll definitely end up full, so can't complain, heh. You'd have to be crazy to go during the normal service hours and pay full price for a pizza, though.
ReplyDeleteI'm also a fan of Sizzler, although it's significantly more expensive.