A pizza like none we’ve ever had before arrives just in time for cherry blossom season.
Earlier this week, we found out that, in celebration of cherry blossom season, Domino’s Pizza Japan has created a Sakura Pizza. This was a culinary concept that instantly stimulated our appetites and puzzled our brains, so as soon as we had the chance, we sat down to taste test this unusual innovation.
In addition to the Sakura Pizza, Domino’s has also added Sakura Mozzarella Balls to its side order menu. We were all set to order a small Sakura Pizza and some Sakura Mozzarella Balls, which ordered by themselves would have cost us 4,080 yen for delivery, when we remembered that Domino’s is also offering a Sakura Set, which gets you a small Sakura Pizza, Sakura Mozzarella Balls, your choice of one other small pizza and side order for 3,999 yen, so that’s what we went with.
Ordinarily, Domino’s Pizza Japan’s delivery boxes look more or less like the ones used by Domino’s in the U.S., but for this special occasion, ours came in a sakura-decorated container…
…and inside was the Sakura Pizza!
First, though, let’s start with the Sakura Mozzarella Balls. With their pink breading, they definitely bring to mind cherry blossoms.
However, the uniqueness here turned out to be entirely limited to the color, as our taste testing Japanese-language reporter, Tasuku Egawa, discovered that they taste just like the regular version (though that still means they taste good).
Thankfully, things got a lot more interesting with the Sakura Pizza itself.
With bits of strawberry and tapioca as the toppings, plus sakura-flavor chocolate stuffed into the crust before it’s dusted with powdered sugar, this sounded like it was going to be very sweet. But unlike some dessert pizzas that use cream or chocolate sauce instead of cheese, the Sakura Pizza does still use cheese like a normal pizza would, and there’s cheese in the crust that melts together with the sakura chocolate there.
We were a little worried that this lack of clear identity might make for a muddled mess in the flavor department. So what did Tasuku think when he bit into a slice?
“It’s soooo good!”
As weird as the concept might seem, the Sakura Pizza is properly delicious, and worth eating even without the novelty factor, Tasuku says. In terms of flavor, it’s solidly in the desert category, with the sweet fruitiness of the strawberries really shining through.
There is, however, one potential problem with the Sakura Pizza, which is that it might not actually satisfy a pizza craving. Because of its sweet and fruity flavor, Tasuku said it felt more like eating a pie that happened to have a pizza crust. So while he wholeheartedly recommends Domino’s Japan’s Sakura Pizza, getting it as part of the Sakura Set, with another, more orthodox pizza as your main course and the Sakura Pizza as your dessert, really is the best plan.
The Sakura Pizza and Sakura Mozzarella Balls will be on sale until March 31, with a special extension until April 28 for Japan’s Tohoku region and Hokkaido Prefecture.
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[ Read in Japanese ]