食券濫用
A new restaurant has opened right next to my house. It has only been open for about 1-2 months, but it seems to be quite popular. I tried to stop by twice while passing by, but both times it was full and I couldn't get in. This time, I made a reservation and finally got to eat there. It is a newly built place where an electrical store used to be, and it operates as a combination of a pizza shop and an electrical store, which is a unique concept. The electrical store is run by the owner's brother. The menu doesn't have pasta or main dishes, so it's more of a pizzeria as the name suggests. In addition to dining in, they also offer takeout, and I saw several people coming in to pick up their orders while I was eating. When you enter, you can see a traditional stone oven, where they bake authentic Neapolitan pizza using firewood. Although there are some stone oven pizza places in Kyoto, there wasn't one in Uji until now. The quality of the pizza is comparable to popular places in Kyoto like "DaYuki" and "Emboca." The texture of the dough is excellent, with a chewy and crispy crust. Each pizza is quite large and has a good amount of toppings, but the reduced salt content in the dough makes it easy to eat. The prices, starting from 1000 yen, are reasonable for the size of the pizza. Additionally, during lunchtime, you get a drink and salad included for the same price. The owner, who was busy making pizzas, told me that he trained under an Italian pizza artisan at a popular restaurant in Tokyo that competes for the top spot in the pizza category on Tabelog. He was inspired by the style of his mentor's shop, where they serve large pizzas and encourage customers to take home leftovers. I wish they had a few more options on the menu since they only have about 5-6 tomato-based and cheese-based pizzas. If they offered half-and-half options for the larger pizzas, that would be great. The homemade dessert, Tiramisu, was also delicious, and being so close to home, I can see myself coming back many times. They seem to accept walk-ins for dinner on weekdays, except for weekends and holidays, so I'll try to visit on a weekday evening next time.