Mar-De Napoli

It took me more than 3 months to get to one, but I finally hit one of the 3 Vera Pizza Napolitana pizzarias in my area. This one was Mar-De Napoli in the Yoga section of Setagaya-ku. It is the 239th certified Vera Pizza Napolitana Pizzaria in the world and the first one that I've gone to...period. Never looked for one in the States and the ones in Italy are all wonderful so don't count.

Website its got a few branches, but this Yoga branch is the cerified one.

Went the the family and two family friends so that made us 8 people which called for a lot of food. By car, took about 10 mins. By train I would guess 15-20. There was more than pizza, but I'm just going to focus on that. Most of the pizza menu consisted of Italian-style pizzas but a few Japanese-style toppings snuck in. Host mother was all over one of them and ordered two unfortunetately. There were some salads and pastas ordered as well. The spaghetti carbonara was excellent, but a little lacking in eggs. They used a different type of bacon that was not pancetta that gave the dish a very smoky, but not a bad flavor.


So now the pizza. This sign was in front of the pizzaria. Rough translation "The main branch of Pizzaria Mar-de Napoli in Setagaya has been chosen as the 239th Vera Pizza Napolitana in the World." Let's see how many more of these seals I can take pictures of before returning to America. Needless to say, I am very excited at this point.
Here's the front of the store. Looks legit to me.....

This is a lunch deal if I've ever seen one. 5 courses in including a pizza course for 1600 yen. Next time I would go for one but I was after pizza and host mother gladly ordered 5 on a bunch of pasta and salad. It really tasted like being back in America as far as the pizza, pasta, and salad went. There were also two gratins that were rice based and japanese influenced. Kind of a cheesy seafood mess baked on rice. Tasted good, but not what I was after.

The oven. Wood buring, lots of capacity. Most pizza I saw in it were two pies (individual size) but could handle more. Love the tile on the outside. I really doubt this beauty was Made in Japan.
While we were waiting for about 20 mins to get a table (Good sign) there was one little Japanese guy occasionally assisted by a woman making pizzas. At bit strange to see a Japanese guy doing this. They had a nice set up. Everything laid out, organized on a marble table. Flour bucket on the side and rack after rack of resting dough. Menu



The technique was incredible. THey had the marble counter to shape the pizzas properly on the table top, but also did a crazy mid-air sideways roll at the end. Incredibly fast, making the roundest pizzas I've ever seen. Now there is no rule against slightly oblong pizzas in Vera Pizza like there is as far as oven temperature and ingredients, but seeing perfect circle after perfect circle was amazing. Take a look at the videos. The crust was very very thin. Also, they left about an inch and a half of uncovered crust on the edges.
It's dark, but you can see the wood and saw dust occasionally added. Yes, sawdust. Little smoky flavor in there.
Fire was a bit low I think. It got the pizzas cooked quick enough, but if you see the firing video, the pizza had to be moved and rotated by hand very close to the fire. You must turn it, but the manhandling was a bit odd and took time away from making new ones. Had the fire been big enough, only one pizziaolo would have been necessary.
Results...odd firing technique aside this is Vera Pizza. Sauce was naturally sweet and definitely san marzano. Flavored simply. Bit of garlic, oregano. Just a bright red sauce. Mozzarella and basil were fresh. Pizza was incredibly light. Second only to Bafetto in Rome as far as lightness. Definitely need a fork to eat this one. Because the crust was so light an floppy. Texture and flavor were excellent. Tasted like yeast, wheat, smoke, a little heavy on salt in the crust. One thing that was out of balance.
Bubbly goodness.
Thin
This one had gorgonzola, smoked mozzarella, spinach, prosciutto sausage. Everything light. Best part of all the pizzas, as it should be, was the crust.

Wa-fuu (japanese style.) Seafood, mozzarella, green onions touch of cream, some odd mayo/fish egg mix on the bottom. My least favorite, host mother ordered two. She loves the mayo stuff. The toppings arent pretty but check out those bubbles. Now thats pretty. Apparentlt VPN does not certify based on what else the pizzaria makes outside of hte 4 standard VPN pizzas.