Korean Pizza vs American Pizza: How do they compare? 

This isn’t the first time (and won’t be the last) that I’ve eaten a pizza in Korea. Like many of the ‘standard’ western dishes you can find in Korea, they’ve put their own twist to the recipe. 

Let’s talk about toppings. You have the standards like pepperoni and supreme pizzas. Depending on the restaurant, their cheese pizza will sometimes have corn on it to add a sweeter flavor to it. 

But that’s one of the tamer options. Korean staples like bulgogi and kimchi can be toppings on some pizzas and give it a unique taste. You can also find potato slices, yams, shrimp, and even truffles on pizzas as well. 

As for restaurants, Dominos in Korea and Papa Johns can be found in larger cities, but there’s a wide range of Korean pizza franchises as well. 

Pizza School offers cheap pizza options (many under 10,000 won or under $10), and others that I’ve tried before including Pizza Alvolo, Imsil Cheese Pizza, and Mr. Pizza Korea as just a few of the options available. 

While going in and ordering takeout was the norm before, recent events dealing with COVID-19 had me looking for food places that deliver instead. 

One of the food delivery services in Korea is the Yogiyo App. When I first came to Korea, it was one of the suggested apps to download to help make life easier. Once I had my info entered, it was fairly straightforward to use. 

The Yogiyo App is completely in Korean, but many of the restaurants have pictures that simplify Ordering and once you can read Hangul, you’ll start to pick up on the different foods.

Some items to know with food delivery services in Korea. typically you don’t tip and delivery drivers use either scooters or motorcycles instead of cars.  streets in Korea are typically narrow so motorcycles allowed them to maneuver more easily and they have a carrier on the back to hold your food. You can even get McDonald’s delivered this way.

So today, ( at the time of writing)  I placed a Yogiyo food delivery order for a “real bulgogi” pizza. 

The food arrived in about 30 minutes wrapped up neatly in a bow. Some restaurants and cafes will include extra items such as tteokbokki ( or in this case cheese balls)  as a thank you for ordering from the restaurant. It’s not something that you always expect but it’s a nice surprise.

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Ask for the pizza, I could taste small onions alongside the bite-sized pieces of Korean BBQ Beef (bulgogi)  and underneath the cheese was a tasty BBQ sauce. it tasted sweeter than the pizzas in the US, and that something you notice with some of the foods in Korea when compared to their Western versions.

While most of the time I tried to cook at home, sometimes it’s nice to take a break from the kitchen and have a reminder of home. Maybe next time I’ll try to make some kimbap to bring along on my next trip. If you’re wanted to read about what I made last time you can learn about Miyeokgugk or take a look at my YouTube channel to see what I’m up to. Until next time: teach, learn, and explore.