Bizarrely tempting pie isn’t for Japan, though.

Pizza can be divided into two categories. In one group are authentic examples of Italian cuisine, using only traditional ingredients and cooking methods, And then there’s the other group, which starts off similarly, as a cheese-covered disc of dough, but then adds whatever toppings the chef feels like.

Pizza Hut is pretty firmly in the latter group, and as a global company always willing to adapt to local tastes, it sometimes offers some very unique pies. The latest example? Its new spicy ramen pizza.

▼ A promotional image shows the pizza being eaten with chopsticks, but we imagine using your hands is also acceptable (the rules of fine ramen pizza dining etiquette are somewhat hazy).

Now you might be thinking “What does Pizza Hut know about ramen?”, and that’s a reasonable concern for a company that could have named itself “Ramen Shack” if that was the kind of food it wanted to focus on. But Pizza Hut has a partner for its new menu item: popular Japanese ramen chain Menya Musashi.

You might remember Menya Musashi for its own innovative attempts to push the ramen envelope, such as tapioca bubble tea ramen, bear ramen, chocolate ramen, and green tea ramen. With all those on its resume, its partnership with Pizza Hut to create the “A Soul in Every Bite Ramen Pizza” (borrowing a phrase often used by chefs in Japan to show their pride in their work) doesn’t seem quite so crazy.

The ingredient list is also pretty faithful to what you’d find in a bowl of legitimate ramen (with the addition of cheese, of course). Along with the noodles-as-toppings, you get chashu pork slices, bamboo shoots, diced green onion, soft-boiled eggs, white sesame, and chili flakes. Instead of a zesty marinara, it’s slathered with a garlic tonkotsu (pork-stock) sauce, mimicking the flavorful ramen broth style.

This isn’t the absolute first time we’ve heard of ramen pizza, but our previous encounters were at a random independent cafe in in rural Hokkaido and inside the kitchen of a man of questionable mental stability, whereas the A Soul in Every Bite Ramen Pizza is coming from arguably the world’s most famous pizza provider.

The ramen pizza goes on sale June 30, but while it’s an unexpected crossover between the culinary traditions of Italy and Japan, the Putting our Soul into Every Bite Ramen Pizza is being offered exclusively by Pizza Hut Taiwan, priced at 459 New Taiwan dollars (US$15.50). We’re keeping our fingers crossed that it eventually makes its way to Japan, perhaps as part of an exchange promotion with Domino’s Japan’s Tsundere Pizza, or else maybe we’ll just have to pick one in Taipei the next time we head to a Taiwanese Starbucks for another almond tofu Frappuccino.

Source: Pizza Hut Taiwan via Hachima Kiko via Twitter/@grantqoo0506
Top image: Pizza Hut Taiwan
Insert image: Pizza Hut Taiwan
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