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Osaka’s pizza scene is about to get an unlikely visitor from London. Panzer’s Deli – the St John’s Wood institution, beloved by generations of Londoners for its hand-sliced smoked salmon and salt beef bagels – is making its Japan debut with a week-long residency at Hughes Pizza’s new Utsubo Park branch.
Running from May 12 to 17, the residency comes via Circus Pizza, the in-house pizzeria at Panzer’s, run by head chef and self-described chief dough operative Kit Delamain.
After spotting Hughes Pizza’s pop-up with fellow London pizzeria Dough Hands last year, Kit decided that if his pizzas were going to travel, where better than 9,000 kilometres to central Osaka and one of the city’s favourite pizzerias.
Circus Pizza is no stranger to Delamain’s flights of imagination. He trained in Naples, but his pizzas have built a reputation for being anything but traditional – and for coming sweet.
Past specials have fused classic British desserts like sticky toffee pudding and rhubarb and custard with Neapolitan technique, and celebrated British seasonality with limited-run pies, like a spring sausage special with Neapolitan friarielli and crispy Cumberland sausages, and a primavera with English asparagus.
The headline act in Osaka is The Panzer: thinly sliced smoked salmon layered over a mozzarella and basil base, with Delamain and Hughes Pizza founder Alex Hughes sourcing their salmon from local supplier Iuchi Suisan.
The second pie is built around pastel de nata, the famous Portuguese custard tart. It’s a custard pizza based on a secret recipe true to the original tart and makes a sweet finish to a slice or two of the smoked salmon.
For Hughes Pizza, one of the city’s go-to spots for NY-style slices, the residency is another feather in its cap on the collaboration front. The Panzer’s collab follows tie-ins with London’s aforementioned Dough Hands, Osaka neighbours Los Elegantes and a house beer with Nomcraft Brewing – and is another sign that Osaka’s pizza scene is pulling international attention.
Taste Panzer’s pizzas at Hughes Pizza Parkside, May 12 to 17. Find Hughes Pizza on Instagram for opening hours and details.
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