Too much of a good thing, or just enough?

We weren’t sure if curry pizza is something that should exist. You could make the argument that the combination seems too weird to work. Alternatively, one could contend that, with curry and pizza already being two of the world’s most delicious foods as separate entities, combining them carries the risk of creating some sort of super cuisine that, once tasted, we’d all be unable to stop eating, leading to the collapse of society as all other human activity is preempted by thoughts of “…or we could just go get more curry pizza instead.”

But regardless of whether or not curry pizza should exist, it does exist. On June 15, Pizza Hut Japan started baking its new Drinkable Cheese Curry Pizza (or “Nomeru Pizza Cheese Curry” if you’re ordering in Japanese), and, even knowing the danger we might be exposing ourselves to, its siren song was too strong for us to resist taste-testing it.

Opening up the box, the initial visual impression isn’t so shocking, since the curry goes on the crust first and then gets mostly covered up by the cheese. Speaking of the cheese, Pizza Hut’s curry pizza uses two types, and neither is mozzarella. Spread on top of the curry is a cheddar cheese sauce, with a liquid-like consistency that justifies the “Drinkable” part of the pizza’s name. Then, out towards the edge of the crust, there’s gouda cheese too.

There’s so much cheese and curry that it almost overflows, but the Drinkable Cheese Curry Pizza’s crust gets thicker as it get farther from the center. It’s not a conventional thick crust, and it’s not a deep-dish pizza either, but more like a basin, keeping the gooey goodness on the dough even as each individual slice doesn’t have all that much verticality.

And yes, this gooiness is good. Taste-testing duties fell to our Japanese-language reporter Yayoi Saginomiya, who found the mix of cheese and curry to be captivatingly delicious. As is often the case with curry in Japan, the focus here is more on the dish’s savory qualities, and the intent isn’t to pummel you with spiciness. So while the flavor of curry shines through, it doesn’t hit you with any particularly piquant properties, making the Drinkable Cheese Curry Pizza easy to share with friends or family even if they aren’t spice fiends.

▼ A medium-size Drinkable Cheese Curry Pizza is priced at 2,230 yen (US$14.50) for carry-out and 3,190 yen for delivery.

But while Yayoi’s notes indicate that Pizza Hut Japan’s curry pizza is every bit as tasty as we’d hoped/feared, this doesn’t mean that society is doomed. It’s only scheduled to be on the menu until June 15, or while supplies last, so we will eventually have to go back to doing things other than eating curry pizza…but not for a while.

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