January 2019 – Thefoodiefetish

Bacar is a pizzeria less than a five-minute walk from the Prefectural Office Station. It is in a dark alley, but with its bright neon yellow sign, you can’t miss it. The interior and exterior have a rustic European bistro feel.

I read that this place can get quite packed, so I got there right after it opened. True enough, 40 minutes later, the restaurant started to fill up.

The restaurant offers a simple menu of two kinds of pizzas (Yes, only Margherita and Marinara), appetizers, drinks, and desserts. I ordered a salad, pizza, and dessert.

I started with a green salad with thinly sliced Okinawan pork roast ham. The ham was savory with a mild smokey flavor; it enveloped each bite with a lovely umami flavor. The waiter told me they would start making the pizza once I finished my salad.

The pizza was cooked in a wood-fired oven. Watching the pizzaiolo make pizza was like watching an artist work on a painting. The waiter who showed me to my seat waited next to the oven, grabbed the dish as soon as the pizza hit the plate, and sprinted across the room to deliver the pizza. The Margherita pizza had a perfect balance of tomato and mozzarella cheese (flown in from Italy). The pizza had quite a bit of olive oil; I could see it glistening under the light. The pizza had characteristics of a Neopolitan pizza crust – smokey, crispy, tender, and chewy. Each bite is a mouthful of goodness!

I had the Crema Catalina for dessert. Bacar added its own twist to this Spanish dessert by freezing it. The texture is harder, dense, and cold. The taste is similar to Crème brûlée. It was not very sweet or creamy, without the heaviness and a hint of bitterness from the burnt brown sugar topping; I loved it!

The total cost of the meal was ¥2720. This is an excellent place to go if you want Italian-style pizza.