The Lowdown: Fusion pizza
Doesn’t sound like one for the pizza purists…
Probably not, but hey; people have been putting pineapple on pizzas for years, why not kimchi?
I suppose. What’s it all about then?
London-based sourdough pizza and craft beer brand Four Hundred Rabbits – which operates four sites across Crystal Palace, West Norwood, Herne Hill, and Nunhead – is joining forces with Korean street food slingers On The Bab - which currently has a few restaurants in London and a single site in Paris, with a new international location in the South Korean capital of Seoul to launch later this year – to create what they’ve dubbed ‘London’s first Korean pizza’. Called ‘The Bulgogi Pizza’, and set to appear on the menu of all Four Hundred Rabbits restaurants throughout March, it will feature bulgogi beef, onions, shiitake mushrooms, spring onions and chopped chilli on a sourdough base, and be served with a side of kimchi coleslaw.
Is this really a new thing?
It may be in London (although we think Soho-based Korean barbecue restaurant Arang may have served its own take on Korean pizza before), but in Seoul the concept has been something of a cult foodie fascination for a number of years. Pizza can often be used by chefs in Seoul as a test-bed for experimenting with flavour combinations. Examples we’ve read about include a surf and turf topping of sausage, shrimp, calamari, bacon, steak and broccoli; and another with strawberries and mozzarella that’s drizzled generously with a cream cheese icing and served with pickles.
Wow, so a far cry from the margheritas and stuffed-crust pepperoni we’re used to
Absolutely, although you can still find some weird and wonderful pizza combinations over here too.
Where?
At the moment one of the most notable, certainly if you scroll through Instagram, is the La Fonduta pizza, which is a collaboration between Neapolitan chain Pizza Pilgrims and The Cheese Bar in Camden. Available at all Pizza Pilgrims restaurants until the end of the month, it features a blend of Cornish gouda, Cotswold hard cheese, mozzarella and ricotta, which is melted down with white wine and garlic, and topped with a slice of prosciutto, a balsamic pickled onion, and cornichons.
That does sound delicious. Any others?
Head over to Kentish Town and you’ll find the recently opened fusion pizzeria East West, which ‘aims to marry southern Italian-style pizzas with the home-cooked recipes and flavours of northern India’. Options include a butter chicken pizza with semi dried tomatoes, truffled oyster mushrooms and fennel pesto.
Sounds like fusion pizza really is a thing right now…
Oh it is, although it’s not always a winner. Take KFC’s collaboration with Pizza Hut, which has seen the latter serve a Gravy Supreme and, more recently, a Popcorn Chicken pizza; an unholy-sounding (and looking) combination of ‘special’ gravy sauce, mozzarella cheese, sweetcorn and KFC popcorn chicken.
I think I’d rather take my chances with the strawberries and pickles...
You're probably not alone.
