Savoy Mishuku Shimouma in Setagaya
As a freelance writer, I rarely get to choose what I write about. Even when I wrote movies for a living, I had to write to a pretty specific brief: “Action movie starring 40-year-old white man that can be shot in a month and costs less than $10 million” isn’t the most fulfilling concept artistically speaking, but it’s what we had to do to make money back in the day. Now, movie & TV writers are free to write whatever they want, because no one’s getting paid anyway.
Recently, I was hired to write an article about the best pizza places in Tokyo. This allowed me to spend tons of money (far more than I’m making from the article because me bad at business) on eating great pizza. 2 of my last 3 meals have been pizza. It’s been great.
While researching the best pizza places in town, we came upon Savoy, one of the most famous spots in Tokyo that’s gotten rave reviews from unlikely places. While Savoy has several locations, one of them happens to be not far from where we live, and since it was raining, we were able to get a table at short notice.
Savoy’s Shimouma location and its big, fancy oven
You’ve probably never heard of Shimouma. It’s in Setagaya City. Never heard of that either? Well, it’s a place in Tokyo. Have you heard of Roppongi? Well, this is close to Gohongi. (“Roppongi” means “six trees” in Japanese. This is therefore “five trees.”) The major point here is that this isn’t a place you’re likely to walk past, because you don’t even know where it is. It may be prudent to get a reservation normally, but on a rainy night, we were one of only two tables.
Despite what I’d heard, the menu was quite extensive. They had several kinds of pizza, along with many other Italian favorites. The pizzas are made out in the open, so you can watch them putting together your particular pie. Prices weren’t mega-cheap, but weren’t “best pizza in the world” crazy either. We went with one pizza and an appetizer to share. Oh, and Eriko got a “red orange juice” that was less sour than most blood orange juices.
Meatballs at Savoy in Setagaya
Our appetizer was the meatballs, which consisted of four small meatballs topped with a sprinkling of cheese and served on some mashed potatoes. I would say the potatoes were unnecessary, as I couldn’t taste them much. The sauce was all right, and the meatballs had a nice char on them. Were they flavorful enough to cost almost as much as a pizza? I don’t think so.
I should explain why I’m being so hard on the meatballs: a few weeks ago, I got the itch to cook, and found a recipe for salami meatballs in red sauce. I made them. I grated fresh parmesan. I put green stuff on top. Look at them:
This is how you keep your lady happy.
I stared daggers at Eriko while asking her whose meatballs were better, and she said, objectively, without any prodding from me, that mine were the best. She has since told me that she thought I was making a joke and that I wanted her to compare my testicles to the meatballs at Savoy. Whatever. I say my meatballs are better.
Pizza marinara at Savoy Mishuku-dori
Whenever I get pizza, anywhere in the world, I almost always get a pizza marinara. That’s not just because it’s usually the cheapest pizza on the menu, or because my body has decided it will only tolerate the finest cheeses from now on. It’s because marinara is the best-tasting pizza and I will accept no arguments to the contrary. Unfortunately, Japan’s obsession with toppings means they can’t leave well enough alone, so they often put disgusting rings of anchovy paste on top. Luckily, Savoy didn’t do that.
The first thing to notice about this pizza is how absolutely covered in toppings it was. Garlic, oregano, basil, olive oil: I’d never seen a marinara with this many toppings on it. The toppings seemed way out of proportion to the tomato sauce, which was lightly applied, and it definitely came through in the taste.
I can’t say the tomato sauce was that flavorful, but man was everything else packed with flavor. The garlic and oregano came way to the forefront, and the crust was just the right thickness so it could be picked up but wasn’t chewy. Eriko and I kept looking at each other in confusion. Usually, what we like about this type of pizza is the sauce, but this one wasn’t sauce-forward at all. It was oregano-forward, and instead of that being a bad thing, it was great.
I wish I could taste this pizza with the sauce they use at L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, the best pizza in Tokyo. I wonder if it would still be good, or if it would clash. It was definitely salty and oily, but the crust was such that we didn’t feel weighed down (I actually worked out when we got home), and it was a unique experience. Using the same basic ingredients everyone else uses, they created a pizza marinara that tasted like nobody else’s. Well done, guy.
Verdict: is Savoy one of the best pizzas in Tokyo?
I would say Savoy definitely belongs on the list of best pizzas in Tokyo. They do my favorite kind of pizza in a way I’d never tried it before, and it was great. Plus, the pizza itself wasn’t that expensive. If I lived a bit closer to Savoy, I’d probably eat lunch there all the time. I’d put it just below L’Antica, but above Gino Sorbillo, Kevelos, and Tonino, places we really like.
Most visitors to Tokyo probably aren’t coming here for pizza, or if they are, they want to try something wacky like pizza omakase or one of the topping-filled abominations some folks love. But if you want a standard pizza done with expert skill, Savoy is absolutely worth going across town for. Tokyo residents should schedule a night out here. It gets our seal of approval.
Where to find Savoy Pizza in Tokyo
Address: 〒154-0002 Tokyo, Setagaya City, Shimouma, 1 Chome−23−13 フェルテロアール祐天寺 １F
Hours: 11:30am-2pm, 5:30pm-8:30pm Fri-Tues, closed Wed and Thurs.
Reservations: Tabelog
Savoy actually has several locations in Tokyo: Shimouma, Azabujuban, Minato, Harare, and someplace called Kaminarimon. We’ve only been to the Shimouma location, so if there’s a difference between them, you’ll just have to figure it out for yourself. That way, you get to eat five pizzas. Yay.
