Pizza! Get It While It's Hot!
I am thoroughly fed up (certainly no pun intended) with the pizza in this country. If it’s not the sub par cheese, it’s the bizarre toppings. If it’s not the bizarre toppings, it’s the soupy sauce. If it’s not the soupy sauce, it’s the disgusting dough. Even if all the ingredients manage to taste bearable, the pizza is undercooked and floppy in the middle.
Each Italian restaurant left me with homesick disappointment. I haven’t tried any of the major chains like Pizza La, but I can’t afford them. Who wants to pay ¥3,500 for a pizza that might not pass a test of authenticity? My abdominal cravings grew to a thunderous kaminari, the likes of which GunmaOne of Japan's 47 prefectures. It forms the Northwest corner of the Kanto area. Prefecture had not seen. Then, a veteran gaijin told me about Martown Pizza in Maebashi. The owner had spent some time in America and grew fascinated with the music and pizza. He spent years perfecting his technique and then opened Martown, a play off the name “Motown.”
I was not disappointed! The pizza lacks the horrible drips of grease that I was lusting after, but for the first time in Japan, my tongue touched decent pizza. And it’s cheap too! A personal sized pizza is around ¥550. I was so impressed I ordered two, one with fresh tomato and basil, and the other with jalapeños. Martown offers the choice of crispy thin or thick crust, and neither is gummy and undercooked in the middle.
The restaurant itself feels like home. It’s a relaxed pizza parlor with art on the walls; rock paraphernalia; and a sense that beer, pizza, and friends cannot be lived without. Martown seems too good to be true, and it is. Martown is closing on October 5th, 2007. I don’t know the reasons for sure, but every gaijin heart in Gunma is breaking.
If you’re in the Maebashi area, stop by Martown and get pizza while it’s hot. Otherwise, you may never have another chance to eat real pizza while you’re in Japan.
For more information about Martown, use the website below. Most of it is in Japanese but some basic info is in English.
R104 IVY-TOWN Hiyoshi
1-1-7 Hiyoshi-cho
Maebashi,Gunma
027-231-2883
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