While Italy is the homeland of pizza, Tokyo’s artisans are surprisingly adept at crafting this internationally renowned food favorite. With a particular fondness for Naples-style pizza, the city is home to a slew of pizzerias that offer delectable Neapolitan pizzas.
Listed below are five authentic pizzerias in Tokyo’s Shinagawa Ward. Grab a slice of pizza baked in a genuine pizza oven and enjoy the specialties of each pizzeria.
Pizzeria Bakka M’unica
Pizza ＋ Izakaya ＝ Pizzakaya
Pizzeria Bakka M'unica, a quick two-minute walk from Samezu Station on the Keikyu Line, is a unique Japanese-Italian fusion restaurant popular for its “Pizzakaya” concept. The pizzeria’s manager is an avid fan of both pizza and izakaya (Japanese bars) and thus opened a restaurant that combines the two. While the star of the restaurant is of course the pizza, it also has a full Japanese izakaya menu. The shop even features an open terrace where visitors can bring their pets.
The restaurant's pizza dough is crafted with four different types of flour and left to rise for a minimum of 48 hours, creating a glutinous texture with large, fluffy edges.
One of the restaurant’s most notable menu items is its “pizza margherita” with fresh burrata. This margherita pizza is garnished with a healthy serving of the fresh Italian cheese and is limited to only six servings per day!
The mellow, creamy flavor of the burrata—known as “miraculous cheese” due to its short shelf life—pairs wonderfully with the aromatic flavors of the fresh basil and tomato sauce, which is made with three types of canned tomatoes.
For a taste of Sicily, visitors can choose the “Pistachio” pizza, which features a base sauce of pistachio paste and fresh cream topped with ricotta cheese, buffalo mozzarella, homemade ham, basil, and crushed pistachios.
The savory aroma of the pistachios matches the gentle saltiness of the ham, and the crunchiness of the crushed nuts adds an addicting textural element.
Pizzeria Bakka M’unica offers a wide variety of pizzas, with 26 different options. The pizzas are baked quickly in a pizza oven made by Neapolitan artisans, and according to Mr. Hazama, the shop’s manager, the pizza oven is the only one of its kind in Japan.
The pizzeria is in the process of constructing a third restaurant that will also serve as a beer factory. The facility will offer multiple types of beer including one that uses pizza dough as an ingredient and one that has a cola-like taste. Mr. Hazama, who is developing the beer, is adamant that cola is the best drink to go with pizza!
If you find yourself in Shinagawa, dine in at Pizzeria Bakka M’unica, or opt for takeout, delivery, or frozen pizzas.
Pizzeria Bakka M'unica
Address: 1-3-17 Higashioi, Shinagawa City, Tokyo
Two minutes walk from Samezu Station on Keikyu Line
Business hours: 11:30-15:00 (L.O. 14:00), 17:00-22:00 (L.O. 21:30) Closed for dinner on the third Monday of each month
URL: http://www.bakka.jp
Pizzeria Oca
Hot dishes served fresh from the pizza oven
After four years of training in Naples, Shigeki Okada opened “Pizzeria Oca” in 2012.
The intimate, 10-seat restaurant is usually bustling with locals and is especially busy on weekends and holidays. The shop’s interior was personally designed by Mr. Okada and welcomes guests with its relaxed and homey atmosphere.
Given its cuisine, it is no surprise that Pizzeria Oca’s central focal point is its pizza oven, which was manufactured by Yamamiya Kamado Kogyosho—a kamado specialty store established in 1921. Although the oven is located in the heart of the restaurant, it is not oppressive or hot for guests. Instead, the oven’s crackling wood and constant aromas of freshly baked pizza brings people together and stimulates their appetites.
A delicious option from Pizzeria Oca is its “Pizza Cosacca,” which is a tomato sauce-based pizza with chopped garlic, Parmigiano cheese, and black pepper. The combination of the acidic tomato sauce, crunchy garlic, and tangy black pepper creates a mouthwatering bite.
Pizzeria Oca’s dough is thin and crispy with few edges. During his training, Mr. Okada ate a variety of pizzas and came to prefer the thin type.
One of the shop’s most popular menu items is its Lasagna with Meat Sauce, which stays hot even after hours! While the photo above shows two servings, the dish typically only includes one serving and is heated in the pizza oven right before serving. Thanks to the oven’s roaring fire, the pasta, cheese, béchamel sauce, and homemade meat sauce melt together, creating a creamy and savory dish.
The restaurant’s handmade “Sangenton pork sausage” is packed with herbs and meat filling and is so plump that it can be a little difficult to cut it! The savory flavor of the meat, paired with the aromatic herbs creates a full-bodied experience with every bite.
This year, 2022, marks the restaurant's 10th anniversary, and Mr. Okada is looking forward to serving delicious food for years to come.
If you are in the Nakanobu area’s shopping district, be sure to stop by Pizzeria Oca for an authentic taste of Italy!
Pizzeria Oca
Address: 2-8-13 Nakanobu, Shinagawa City, Tokyo
3 minutes walk from Ebara-Nakanobu Station on Tokyu Ikegami Line
Business hours: 11:30 - 14:00, 17:30 - Last
Closed: Open year-round
URL: https://gd3g300.gorp.jp
La TRIPLETTA
A brightly-lit restaurant serving a wide variety of Italian cuisine
La TRIPLETTA, opened in 2014, is an Italian restaurant where passersby can observe pizza-making through its large street-facing windows.
The restaurant’s name, which means "hat trick" in Italian, expresses the facility’s desire to elicit the same excitement people feel when a hat trick is scored through food.
The restaurant’s bright atmosphere is inspired by southern Italy and features an open kitchen where customers can watch chefs cook from their seats. The restaurant seats 40 people, with four seats at the counter and 36 at the tables. The tables, chairs, tiles, and cutlery are all purchased from Italy!
The shop’s pizza oven was built by a craftsman that the owner, Kenji Ota, met when he trained in Naples. The dedicated craftsman traveled all the way to Japan and told the owner, “If you open a restaurant, I will build an oven for you.”
Today, the restaurant offers 30 types of pizza—20 types for lunch—and also serves side dishes.
For its Margherita sauce, the restaurant blends canned tomatoes to create a perfectly balanced acidic and sweet sauce. Due to seasonal variations, the shop reviews the recipe every six months!
Aside from its pizza, the restaurant also offers an assortment of appetizers including daily specials such as prosciutto, salami, caprese, warasa carpaccio with marinated mackerel, chickpea salad, and quiches.
A delicious choice from La TRIPLETTA is its authentically crafted Zuppaforte—a Neapolitan dish of pork chops stewed in a spicy tomato sauce. The shop uses fresh pork chops from a nearby butcher shop, which enhance the flavor of the chili pepper tomato sauce.
La TRIPLETTA’s sister gelato store, La DOPPIETTA TOKYO PLUS, is located about a 3-minute walk away from the restaurant. Guests can also order gelato at La TRIPLETTA, but the sister store has a wider variety. After a hearty meal of pizza, a cool and refreshing gelato is an excellent choice for dessert.
The restaurant has been in business since before the redevelopment of the Musashikoyama Station area, and manager Mr. Kanai hopes that the restaurant has been and will continue to be loved by the locals.
The restaurant offers takeout and delivery services, so you can enjoy a pizza at home with family and friends.
La TRIPLETTA
Address: 3-13-12 Oyama, Shinagawa City, Tokyo
2 minutes walk from Musashikoyama station on Tokyu Meguro line
Business hours: 11:30-14:00, 17:30-22:00
Closed: Tuesday all day, Wednesday for lunch
URL: https://latripletta.com
PIZZERIA BRUNA
Authentic pizza in a modern space
After working at an Italian restaurant and helping a friend with his pizzeria, Tetsuya Yamada opened his own restaurant, PIZZERIA BRUNA, in 2019.
The restaurant provides a modern and warm interior, complete with counter seating that serves up a front-row look at the pizza-making process.
The pizza oven was manufactured by Yamamiya Kamado Kogyosho and has excellent heat retention properties. Before putting pizza in the oven, Mr. Yamada throws salt into the oven to ensure that the underside of the dough is seasoned, making the entire pizza even tastier.
Interestingly, the restaurant's pizza dough is made from bread flour, instead of pizza flour and is laid in a wine cellar to ferment at a low temperature to bring out its flavor. The resulting dough is thin, crispy, and chewy.
Pictured above is one of the restaurant’s most popular pizzas—“Nduja.” This rare pizza starts with Nduja, a paste of pork and pepper salami and a specialty of Calabria, and is topped with mozzarella cheese and salsiccia.
The sizzling oily pizza matches wonderfully with the spiciness of the nduja, and you can even add oiled green chili sauce to make it spicier!
Quattro Formaggi is a pizza topped with four kinds of cheese—mozzarella, grana padano, mascarpone, and gorgonzola. These four cheeses give the dish an exquisite creamy flavor. The sweet honey, served on the side, complements the flavor of the cheese and the saltiness of the pizza dough.
The restaurant is a popular lunch spot during the week and is also busy in the evenings for drinks. PIZZERIA BRUNA also offers take-out and thus, can be used for a variety of occasions.
PIZZERIA BRUNA
Address: 7-7-2 Nishi-Gotanda, Shinagawa City, Tokyo
Six-minute walk from JR Gotanda Station, three-minute walk from Tokyu Ikegami Line Oosaki-Hirokoji Station
Business hours: 11:30-15:00, 18:00-23:00
Closed: Monday
URL https://www.instagram.com/pizzeria_bruna/
ROUTINE DINING
Pizza party at your ease!
Routine Dining, located along Nakahara Road, is easily distinguishable thanks to its storefront, which is decorated with a mural of a pizza chef against the colors of the Italian flag. To reach the dining area, go inside and climb the red stairs to the second floor.
Opened in 2011, the restaurant has a drinks counter, tables and a semi-private room. The owner and a certified sommelier, Keisuke Yoshida, displays the restaurant’s daily specials and wine recommendations on a blackboard near the entrance.
To make the Neapolitan pizza more palatable to everyone in the community, the restaurant increased the water content in the dough, resulting in a crust that retains its soft and chewy texture.
One of the restaurant’s standard pizzas is its “Puttanesca,” which has a tomato sauce base topped with mozzarella cheese, small tomatoes, anchovies, olives, and capers, creating an intense savory bite.
The menu changes daily and uses seasonal ingredients. When we visited, the recommendation of the day was the Hokkaido Octopus Ceviche with Ume Plum Sauce. The marinated octopus paired wonderfully with the sourness of the plum and the bitterness of the arugula, making it a perfect accompaniment to alcoholic beverages. During autumn, the restaurant offers numerous dishes with mushrooms. Some dishes are available for take-out.
In the evening, the restaurant offers a casual course menu that can be enjoyed by two or more people, as well as parties.
Routine Dining
Address: 6-33-11 Hatanodai, Shinagawa City, Tokyo
5 minutes walk from Hatanodai station on the Tokyu line.
Business hours: 11:30-15:00 (L.O.14:30), 17:00-23:00 (L.O.22:00)
Closed on Thursdays
URL: http://www.routine-dining.com
Visit Shinagawa City and discover your next favorite pizza spot! The restaurants’ passion and attention to detail shine through their handcrafted dough, baking techniques, and unique flavor combinations. Enjoy authentic oven-baked pizzas for lunch or dinner, or opt for take-out for a flavorful evening or party at home.
*Please note that store hours and offerings are subject to change.
