Nippon Ham "Meat and Vienna" La Pizza

The DSM-IV is a reference guide for those working in psychologically related professions that sets criteria for mental illnesses. I no longer have access to one (and when I did, it was the DSM-III... yes, I'm an antique), but I wonder if there is a disorder listed in there which relates to people who crave bad pizza yet still are disappointed by it when they get it. I'm pretty sure that I suffer from such a disorder (malus pizza opto), and the fact that I bought this package of 3 mini pizzas is proof of that.

When I saw this for 250 yen ($3.00) at Yuakaraya supermarket, I could see enough through the clear parts of the packaging to see that there isn't enough cheese on one of these to satisfy an African Pygmy mouse. I knew that, yet I threw it in my basket anyway because the compulsion to buy bad pizza is utterly irrational. Considering that there was truth in advertising, not only from what I could actually see but also from the illustration in the upper right corner, I can't even hold Nippon Ham responsible for my disappointment.

Each pizza is about 12 cm. wide (4.7 in.) and comes with a decent amount of sauce and a serviceable smattering of little pieces of sausage. There are only 199 calories per pizza, but that's no surprise given the small amount of cheese. Frankly, I knew when I bought them that what I was really getting as "pizza-like bread". My hope was that the crust was a good experience and the flavors of the sauce and wieners pleasant. I don't eat much white bread (I mainly make my own whole wheat bread) and this was an indulgence that I wanted to enjoy with some leftover chicken breast.

While the cheese was practically non-existent, the crust was pretty nice, but not as a pizza crust. It was more like a mildly crispy, chewy bit of bread reminiscent of nan. The only thing is that I wouldn't follow the cooking instructions on the bag for the best results. It recommends 4 minutes at 1000 watts, but I got the best result using 500 watts for about 10-15 minutes. Cooking at the higher wattage for a shorter time just left the bread soft and warm rather than givng a bit of a crispy edge to it.

As a pizza, this really doesn't work at all unless your definition is limited to a smattering of toppings on soft bread. If that floats your boat, then by all means run out and buy this pizza as soon as possible and experience three nights of subjectively good pizza bliss. For me, this worked well as an interesting bit of bread, but it also was a nice base for building a better pizza by adding an ounce (28 grams) of cheese and some leftover cooked chicken. However, I wouldn't buy this again. I'm far more likely to try a new sort of bad pizza next time my disorder kicks in.

Nippon Ham La Pizza Margherita

I have a confession to make. No, I'm not a man. I'm also not really Japanese. And, I'm not a sentient Japanese love doll come to life. This is a confession with a little "c". I like the sort of bad pre-made pizza that you sometimes get in deli and freezer sections. I prefer good pizza, of course, but I have an affinity for any type. That's why you will continue to see the occasional review of such things here.


Since I prefer a good one, I picked up this "La Pizza" brand pizza, by the folks at Nippon Ham when my friend April Marie Claire recommended this line on her blog. She mentioned that you can have a whole pizza for around 600 calories (depending on the type). She also mentioned that they are fresh, and I believe that is true since they have a relatively current expiration date on them and are kept in the refrigerated section instead of the freezer.

I had the choice of several varieties of pizza, including cheese with meat sauce, double bacon, sausage and beef stew. I decided to go for one that didn't have meat because the sausage and ham made in Japan can sometimes taste a bit funky and that's why I'm talking about the margherita one.

The pizza is a lot smaller than the package would lead you to believe. It's 22-23 cm. around (8.6-9 in.), but the package is 30 cm. (11.8 in.) square. The whole pizza has 624 calories if you skip the oily basil sauce packet. You can add in 41 more calories if you add the sauce.


I am trying to limit portions so I only made half of it at once and I cooked it in the toaster oven with a pre-heated tray. That is, I put the empty tray in the toaster oven and get it hot so that the crust is heated up more quickly. One of the problems I have with small Japanese ovens is that the cheese gets overcooked while the crust stays soggy because the heating element is too close to the top of the pizza. I put the basil sauce on one slice and left the other plain to compare the flavor. Because of the way I cut the pizza into 4 slices before cooking it, the cheese slid off onto the tray a bit and the crust stayed soft despite my efforts to crisp it up with a preheated tray.

One thing that I noticed about this pizza as compared to most of the others I've found in Japan is that it has more cheese, though it's still fairly concentrated in the center. It doesn't smell like much other than plain old vague pizza scent. The flavor is excellent though. The cheese is real and actually tastes like good mozzarella. The tomato sauce could be a bit zestier, but it is fine and fills the bill adequately. It's not acidic or too salty. Japanese pizza sauce that is sold in tubes for people to make pizza toast usually is very oily, acidic and tastes odd. This sauce has none of those bad points. The basil sauce, which I was worried would be too much, was excellent and added a very pleasant dimension. I wished I had put it on both slices.

This was a really nice deli pizza. It's by far the best pre-made heat and eat pizza I've had in 20 years in Japan. A big part of that is the cheese, but the basil sauces was also good. The only down side for me was that the crust was soft, but I think that could be fixed by placing the entire pizza directly on the rack rather than putting it on a tray. Unfortunately, I can't do that with mine since I already cut it into 4 slices and the cheese will leak off the edges if I put it on the rack. I add my recommendation to try this pizza to April Marie's. As she says, "it's delish."