A pizza so popular it sold out in days last year…but will this year’s version be a sell-out hit?
When tsukimi (“moon-viewing”) season rolls around in early autumn, fast food chains in Japan add limited-edition tsukimi items to their menus to mark the occasion. Out of all the tsukimi options, though, Domino’s Japan’s moon-viewing pizza is one of the most popular, selling out in less than a week last year.
This year, the chain is going even bigger with a new Tsukimi Quattro, and in order to prevent it from selling out in days, the chain says it has stocked up on five times as much of the raw ingredients compared to last year. We were lucky enough to be invited to a pre-release tasting event in Tokyo, so our reporter P.K. Sanjun headed over to get a taste of the new pizza and see how it compares to last year’s sell-out variety.
▼ The star ingredient is egg, as “tsukimi” is shorthand for dishes containing egg in Japan, due to the round egg yolk’s resemblance to the full moon.
▼ The CEO of Domino’s Japan, a Dutchman named Martin Steenks, was also at the event.
Like the 2023 tsukimi pizza, this year’s is also a Quattro, but instead of containing Creamy Egg Genovese, the new Cheeseburger Pizza will be taking its place, joining the Teri Chiki Egg, Creamy Egg & Bacon, and Creamy Egg & Four Mushrooms that appeared in the Quattro last year.
▼ The Tsukimi Quattro is priced from 1,890 yen (US$13.04) for a small.
Domino’s says every slice of this pizza is stronger in flavour compared to last year, and when P.K. got a taste of it, he wholeheartedly agreed. Each quarter contains a different sauce: white sauce, Camembert cheese sauce, demi-glace sauce, and mayonnaise sauce, so there’s a wide variety of flavours to excite the palate, but what was most surprising to P.K. was the taste of the eggs.
Usually, the egg flavour in tsukimi items tends to be mild and mellow but here it left a strong and impactful impression. This was actually a good thing, as each pizza slice contained so many ingredients that the taste of egg would otherwise be swallowed up by them, but here the eggs were allowed to shine as bright as the harvest moon.
Domino’s says the strong flavours is intentional, as the pizza is designed to be enjoyed with alcohol while viewing the moon. P.K. agrees it’ll be ideal for that, as the abundance of white-based sauces and lack of tomato sauce in the pizza makes it fairly heavy, so it would go down well with some liquid refreshment.
▼ While the Tsukimi Quattro is designed for sharing, solo diners can enjoy the moon with a limited-edition “Pizza Bento” containing the Creamy Egg & Bacon pizza, priced from 990 yen.
Both the Quattro and Bento pizzas are absolutely delicious, with hearty ingredients and flavours perfect for the cooler days and nights of early autumn. It’ll be a great accompaniment to the rising moon on the official night of tsukimi, which this year falls on 17 September, but the pizza can be enjoyed anytime while it’s on the menu from 9-29 September.
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