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Kotteri-fuu Ramen Pizza is a collaboration between Pizza Hut and Tenkaippin, a popular Kyoto-based ramen chain known for its thick chicken-and-vegetable broth.

Kotteri-fuu Ramen Pizza is a collaboration between Pizza Hut and Tenkaippin, a popular Kyoto-based ramen chain known for its thick chicken-and-vegetable broth. (Aaron Kidd/Stars and Stripes)

Cover your eyes, Italians. It was only a matter of time before Japan put ramen on pizza.

Kotteri-fuu Ramen Pizza is a collaboration between Pizza Hut and Tenkaippin, a popular Kyoto, Japan-based ramen chain known for its thick chicken-and-vegetable broth. Kotteri-fuu translates to “rich-style.”

There’s no tomato sauce on this gimmick of a pie, but you will find pretty much everything you’d expect in a typical bowl of ramen: noodles, chashu pork, green onions and a sauce based on Tenkaippin’s signature soup.

The pizza comes with a warm pouch filled with extra sauce. Drizzle it on top of your pie before serving.

There are also two kinds of cheese — mozzarella and Gouda — baked onto the cracker-like crust, but those flavors are buried. I barely noticed them.

Kotteri-fuu Ramen Pizza is a collaboration between Pizza Hut and Tenkaippin, a popular Kyoto-based ramen chain known for its thick chicken-and-vegetable broth.

Kotteri-fuu Ramen Pizza is a collaboration between Pizza Hut and Tenkaippin, a popular Kyoto-based ramen chain known for its thick chicken-and-vegetable broth. (Aaron Kidd/Stars and Stripes)

Kotteri-fuu Ramen Pizza is a collaboration between Pizza Hut and Tenkaippin, a popular Kyoto-based ramen chain known for its thick chicken-and-vegetable broth.

Kotteri-fuu Ramen Pizza is a collaboration between Pizza Hut and Tenkaippin, a popular Kyoto-based ramen chain known for its thick chicken-and-vegetable broth. (Aaron Kidd/Stars and Stripes)

Kotteri-fuu Ramen Pizza is a collaboration between Pizza Hut and Tenkaippin, a popular Kyoto-based ramen chain known for its thick chicken-and-vegetable broth.

Kotteri-fuu Ramen Pizza is a collaboration between Pizza Hut and Tenkaippin, a popular Kyoto-based ramen chain known for its thick chicken-and-vegetable broth. (Aaron Kidd/Stars and Stripes)

The pie’s aroma reminded me of the seasoning you shake onto freshly boiled instant noodles. And it tasted a lot like instant ramen, thanks to the sauce.

The thinly-sliced chashu was more like Canadian bacon, but the noodles were pretty good — soft in some places and a bit crunchy in others.

Verdict: Worth a try for the novelty, but this was a one-time-only experience for me.

The ramen pizza, sold only in medium size, costs 1,980 yen (about $13,40) for takeout and 2,230 yen for delivery, tax included. It’s available to Pizza Hut customers in Japan until Feb. 12.

author picture
Aaron Kidd is the Pacific bureau chief, working out of Akasaka Press Center and Yokota Air Base in Tokyo. The University of South Carolina alum previously edited for Southeastern newspapers, including The Charlotte Observer and Augusta Chronicle. 

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