PIZZA AROMA — Restaurant in Minano

I don’t remember the last time this happened. But I just had a life changing meal in a relatively remote Japanese town. My brother and I were on a road trip to checkout the river in Nagatoro and we were taking in the scenic vistas of the Japanese countryside when we came across the quaint little sign for Pizza Aroma. Intrigued I pulled up the spot on google maps and I was blown away to see that it was a Neapolitan pizza spot — in the middle of pretty much nowhere! I immediately made a mental note to come back to Pizza Aroma for dinner.

On entering the pizzeria I was floored by the strong scent of tangy tomatoes. In that instant I knew that this was probably going to be one for the books. I saw some trophies and awards but I paid no heed as I was distracted by the wood fired oven by the bar (I must say even before the fragrant tomatoes got to me, before I entered the pizzeria, I knew I was in for a treat — I saw neatly arranged wood splits by the front door). My brother and I went straight to the bar and even before attempting to parse the menu which was in 100% Japanese I placed an order for a Margherita pizza. They simply had to have one. Thankfully my brother spoke fluent Japanese and we added a Quattro formaggi and miso pork pizza.

Margherita (9/10): As expected the tomato sauce base was sublime. Some people might find it a touch too salty, but I think it was perfect. The basil was somehow able to cut through the powerful tomato flavor. And the pizza base was chewy and a delight to bite and chew through. The one slight ding I’d give is that the cheese could have been softer in the finished pizza.

Quattro formaggi (10/10): I would give this pizza a score of 100 if I could. I was honestly making embarrassing noises as I was enjoying this pizza but I don’t care because it was that good. Gorgonzola, Grana Padano, and Mozzarella are all usual suspects that one might see in a Quattro formaggi pizza. The addition of mascarpone as the fourth cheese here elevated this Quattro formaggi pizza to god-tier status. The faint sweetness and the cloud-like consistency of the mascarpone paired really well with the bold flavors of the Gorgonzola and I couldn’t help but surrender.

Miso Pork (9/10): This was great. A reminder that I was indeed in rural Japan and not in Naples. However coming on the heels of the heavenly Quattro formaggi, it was simply overshadowed in spite of it being pretty darn delicious.

I just had to know more about the pizza chef and so with my brother functioning as our translator, I got to know that the chef had multiple year-long training stints in Italy, and has also won multiple awards for his pizzas in Japan AND in Italy! When I asked him why he opened up a pizzeria in the middle of nowhere he answered that he wanted to be close to his hometown. Hence his choice of location, instead of something in a more metropolitan city like Yokohama or Tokyo. I found it tremendously inspiring. This guy is pure talent and his pizzas are honestly some of the best pizzas I’ve had in my whole life. He could easily go toe-to-toe with the best Neapolitan pies I’ve had in the American west coast. And yet he chooses to setup shop in an unassuming shack in rural Japan. My brother and I told him he reminds us of Saiba Joichiro from Food Wars and he said he was honored — he had seen the whole show like us from start to...

初回はランチで訪れ、マルゲリータを食べました。 それがこれまでに食べたピッツァの中で一番美味しく、一週間も経たないうちに今度はディナーで伺い、今度はお酒と一緒に『魚介のマリネ』と『牛すじと牛タンの煮込み』、そしてピッツァのマリナーラを頼みました。ピッツァが美味しいのは前回マルゲリータを食べたためわかっていたのですが、それ以外もまた美味しい。そんな美味しい料理をお酒と一緒に味わうのがとても幸せでした。完全にアロマさんのファンになりました。次に行った時どのピッツァを頼むか考えて、今から楽しみにしています。 そして、マリナーラはチーズが乗っていないため避けてしまう方がいるかもしれませんが、ここのお店のマリナーラは騙されたと思ってぜひ一度ご賞味頂きたいです。チーズは乗っておらずとも味気ないなんて事はなく旨みが感じられジューシーで、何より生地のおいしさとあいまって素晴らしい美味しさです。 料理が美味しいだけでなくお店の雰囲気も接客もとても良いです。お腹も心も、とても満足な心持ちでお店を出ることができます。

お車で来店しお店真横の駐車スペースが埋まっていた場合は、諦めて帰らずにお店の方に声をかけてみてください。すぐ近くの駐車場を案内してもらえます。

あと、カウンター席があるお陰でおひとり様でも気兼ねなく訪れられるのもいい点です。 現に私はランチもディナー...

ネットで検索していたら高評価で美味しそうだったので群馬県から足を運ばせて頂きました ほぼ開店したばかりの時間に到着したので待ち時間は無し 賞を受賞しているとの事でマルゲリータとシンプルで味が分かりやすいマリナーラにアンチョビをトッピング 前菜に魚介のマリネとソフトドリンクをオーダー 先ずは前菜の魚介のマリネは漬け込んであるのでしっかり味が染みていて非常に美味でした 続いてマリナーラ アンチョビのトッピングは大正解で生地とシンプルなトマトソースと具が絶妙でめちゃ美味しかったです 食べてる途中でマルゲリータが到着 モッツァレラがタップリです とてもハイクオリティな美味しさです 但し生地のクオリティにモッツァレラのクオリティが追いついていない感じがして勿体ないです オプションでフレッシュモッツァレラか水牛のフレッシュモッツァレラを選べるなら迷わず選択します マルゲリータはモッツァレラのクオリティが大事だと思いますので料金払ってでもオプション選択の余地が有ると有り難いです ですので今回はマリナーラの方がバランスも良く美味しかったです

その後デザートとエスプレッソ頂きました エスプレッソは美味しかったので紙コップだと色気が無いのでデミタスカップで提供して頂けると嬉しいです

群馬県から足を運んだ甲斐はありまし...