Pizzarium, I love you! Seoul South Korea

While walking home from our failed attempt to locate the Noryangjin fish market with my Canadian friend we stopped in the Itaewon neighborhood in search of some Mexican food. The Itaewon neighborhood is near a large US military base, is a popular western bar scene and has several restaurants that cater to “western” taste. I don’t particularly enjoy this neighborhood because of the very reasons mentioned above and I’m often assumed to be American. That being said it was as we were leaving the neighborhood and once again simply walking in a random direction that we came across the Pizzarium. It looked to me like it’s run by a small family of Koreans. Now some of you that know me, understand just how much I love pizza. If there was one food I could only have for the rest of my days pizza would probably be it. I usually need at very least a slice or two every week. So it was much to my surprise when we came across this little spot which sold pizza’s by the slice.

I was already full from having eaten at “Kraze burger” earlier and squeezing in a slice a pizza just seemed too greedy and glutton like.  Therefore I didn’t order any at all…  I was crying on the inside about having found pizza by the slices that looked delicious but with a full stomach…  ;-) I did however make a promise to myself to go back the next day.

The following day when I walked in I was the only customer in the place.  Because I and other travelers often wander into these places in between or after the lunch and supper rush hours it’s not unusual to find a place empty. The previous day I had taken one bite of the pizza just to sample it and had been quite impressed by that one bite.  I was now here to really give this pizza a serious taste test.

This time I ordered a piece of Salami pizza and waited while they placed it into the oven.  The employee spreading out the dough was sipping on a pint of beer, which I thought was nice. A happy employee makes a good employee as far as I’m concerned.  Here’s a picture of the menu, the view outside (located beside a garage) and several of the slices waiting to be placed into the oven:

With my pizza ready I sat down for my first bite.   The pizza sauce is nice and fresh and contains small pieces of actual tomato. The salami was thinly sliced and slightly on the spicy side but only a warm spicy nothing too crazy. The dough itself had a nice crispy bottom but otherwise it was soft and chewy like a very fresh bread.

Here’s a picture of the pizza in question, if you’re a pizza lover make sure you click on the fork picture for an amazing close up which will really give you a good idea of the crispy bottom crust yet chewy inside:

Most slice selections are vegetables such as potato, egg plant, mushroom, anchovy or spicy tuna. I had the salami which also contained some small strips of onions and it was simply delicious.

While I was chewing on my first few bites a thought rang out in my skull: “You’re missing something important with your meal!”  It’s at that point I almost jumped up to the counter and came back to my table with a large grin.  Can you spot what was missing?  (This is a travel vacation after all!)

The total was 8500 won for a very large slice of pizza and one large beer.  (Or 8.50$ Canadian: 5.50 for the slice, 3 dollars for the beer) .  My review of this pizza?  I say this as a true pizza lover:  Hands down the best pizza I have ever eaten.  Keep in mind that this was eaten when I was partially full. .

As I was finishing my beer the staff then brought me a few small pieces of another pizza to taste. I thought this was really nice of them.  The small pieces smelled absolutely delicious.  It was mostly just cheese with a few small pieces of herb underneath.

I thanked them and explained that I was full but would eat it anyway (turn away a piece of the best pizza i’ve ever had? NEVER!).  When I asked them what kind of pizza it was they answered margarita.  I prefer some type of meat on my pizza but have to be honest when I say it was probably tastier than the salami slice I had just eaten.

This was confirmed a few days later when I revisited this place with two of my Korean friends.  Neither of them had heard of the place before, they both thought it was one of the best pizza’s they ever had and we all loved the margarita best. Here’s a few pictures from their visit, “Q” as he called himself had a beautiful camera which took even nicer pictures. I’ll get a link to his blog in order to give him credit up here eventually.  Update: you can find his blog here (in Korean)

Pizzarium, absolutely delicious and tasty…