Pizzeria Leon in Chuo-ku, Osaka

An excellent addition to our list of Osaka Pizza restaurants; we present this review of Pizzeria Leon, near Temmabashi Station in Chuo-ku.  In short; they make a truly fantastic pizza, perhaps the best in Osaka.

Yes, it’s that good.

Pizzeria Leon lists its full name as Pizzeria Leon Tenma Osaka. This shop is located about a 10-minute walk from Temmabashi Station, on the south side of the O River, off the north-easter corner of Osaka Castle. They have a sister restaurant (called Pizzeria Trattoria Leon) on the northern side of the river, in Kita-ku.

This is a proper restaurant, with seating inside, and a covered patio outside (a great seat in the warmer months). As you approach, you’ll see a complicated tangle of metal out front, which is the venting for the traditional pizza oven located in the kitchen.

It is a restaurant, but we’ll keep the focus of this review on the pizza.

That, my friends, is a very good looking pizza. I have never seen another one like it.

When it’s your turn to order a pizza, the pizza menu at Osaka’s Leon Pizzeria begins with 12 tomato sauce-base pizzas, including their take on an American pizza:

American Pizza: Gouda Cheese, Pepperoni
— From the Pizza Menu at Pizzeria Leon

I feel confident speaking for the whole of America when I say that the Gouda cheese is not typical “American pizza” at all.

In addition to those pizza rosso, there are an additional nine cheese base-pizzas: nine, with two additional pizzas “blacked out.” One that caught my eye was the Genovese.

Genovese Pizza: Basil Sauce, Mozzarella, Salami, Cherry Tomatoes
— From the bianca pizza menu at Leon Pizzeria

If I told you I had just had this same pizza for lunch, would you believe me? It’s true; I had the Genoe Salami Pizza at Due Sette Pizzeria (it was fantastic, also one of the best pizzas in Japan).

Basil sauce pizzas, as a category; that is a topic worthy of its own post.

There was yet another pizza on the “Special” menu:

Otto Formaggi e Pistachio Siciliana Pizza: Topped with cheese fondue-style blend and rare Bronte pistachios from Sicily, harvested only once every two years. Honey is baked together to add a delightful aroma and gentle sweetness.
— From the special menu at Pizza Leon

In case your Italian is a little rusty, the “Otto” in Leon Pizza’s “Otto Formaggi” means “eight;” that is an eight-cheese pizza. While four-cheese pizzas are common, I have only ever seen the eight-cheese variety at Pizza Bar on 38th (in Tokyo).

As tempted as I was to do that Genovese, there was another pizza that I was interested, mostly because of how it looked:

The Famous Bismarck Leon Pizza: Mozzarella, Bacon, Salami, Mushrooms, Soft-Boiled Egg
— From the Leon Pizza menu

The Bismarck Pizza is a Napoletana classic. The standard version of the Bismarck pizza is something like a margherita (tomato base, with mozzarella) with prosciutto (or ham), with an egg in it’s center. While I had seen some beautiful examples (PST Higashiasabu in Tokyo makes a double-egg version that once caught my eye), I have never been tempted to try it (the egg isn’t an attraction). In this instance, calling this pizza the “Leon” Bismarck offered the promise of something different, and so it was.

First, the addition of mushrooms. And not “ham,” but bacon, and, salami. Sounded wonderful.

(Perhaps because of the bacon alone:) This was the pizza that made me raise my hand (although I asked them to omit the “soft-cooked” egg).

I ordered the Leon Bismarck and a beer, and sat back ready for the magic to begin.

Just look at that pizza. Wow.

The Leon Bismarck (absent the egg) is the “Snow White” of pizza. Their beautiful Bismarck comes out “uncut,” with thin slices of pale mushrooms added after the pizza is cooked. Atop it all, a finely grated dry cheese. Since the mushrooms form an insulating layer, that fine cheese doesn’t melt, it stays light, almost powdery.

The effect might be different with a bright-yellow yoke in the middle, but my pizza was like a plate of marshmallows, on a fluffy white pillow, in a field of fresh powdery snow, on a bright blue-bird day. Radiant. Extraordinary. I almost don’t want to go back, so this untainted image will be how I will always remember Leon.

The mushrooms slices looked almost like sections of banana. That doesn’t fit my “snowy” theme, but in the half-light of an evening on the patio, that is what came to mind.

But wait-wait, that’s not all…

As I mentioned the pizza arrives “intact,” left to the diner to dissect. I am happy for them to cut the thing for me, but I have seen other places do this same non-trick. Frey’s Famous Pizza in Tokyo gives you a knife with which you can do as you please. Pizzeria Quarantuno 41 in Nagoya, also, requires you to carve your own pie. Here in Osaka, the rather unfriendly Pizzeria Regalo refuses to cut the pizza for you as well.

Tucked beneath the pizza was a round pizza cutter, which I used to carve mine into the traditional six.

“And the taste, already???”

The first bite was all raw mushroom, immediately followed by the flavor of finely grated parmesan cheese. To be clear: on the menu they list mozzarella, but all the dry parmesan on top was a pleasant surprise.

While the first contact with the mushrooms feels dry and fresh (like a salad with no dressing), beneath that mushroom bounce was a one-two punch combination of the bacon and salami, all suspended in warm, melted mozzarella. The change up from cold mushrooms, to flowy, salt cheese and meat was…

Extravagant.

Not only, but yes, certainly about the bacon. You see…

The night before I was at Osaka’s Pizzeria Cuorerudino, where I mistakenly ordered a pizza with “basil” where I had thought there might be “bacon.” It was a simple mistake that any illiterate person could have made. That pizza was… just okay, and I left hungry for a proper bacon pizza. I didn’t know it then, but Pizzeria Leon was going to truly satisfy that craving.

That bacon and cheese taste; just amazing. Not big, vulgar bites, but thin slices of high quality, savory bacon. Every bite would start with that slightly salty parmigiano atop the spongy mushrooms, and then punch through to rich mozzarella and alternating notes of cured, salty, meat.

As for that cheese on top, I had already assumed parmesan, but I wanted to confirm.

All the servers are young girls. The insultingly inhuman QR code system has removed the function of talking with the staff (except for me, I always order face to face), and the girls that night (that mostly just deliver the food) seemed surprised when I asked them a question. When I asked the server about the cheese on top, she had no idea. But she ran off, and a few moments later she produced an entire block of cheese for my inspection.

Isn’t that wonderful? Erai desu, neh.

Back to the pizza: So tasty, so extraordinary, but… can you pick it up?

Yes, this fine pizza easily passes the Pizza Czar pizza test.

The pizza was so fantastic, the crust, forced to share the stage with some much other talent, was less of a focus. Tasty, definitely, maybe not as much as some other places (Due Sette has a more flavorful crust). And yet, each slice would end with a doughy chew, and something like the flavor of butter (I am not claiming that there is butter in the dough, or the process, but that was my impression).

Along with my pizza, I ordered a beer; a Castello Rossa. It is an actual Italian beer, from Birre Castello. It was sweet; like a hard candy, or like a fizzy caramel liqueur with some bite. I had never heard of of this beer until recently, but I recently had another good Birre Castello experience at Il Lupone Pizzeria (in Tokyo).

For the record: the Japanese menu has more drink options than the English-language version; there were more beer choices on the J-side.

While I only ordered pizza, I tried to try something else. Leon Pizzeria in Osaka is more than a pizza shop, they have full menu. While I am ever-focused on pizza, I was eager to try the mussels.

Steamed Live Mussels in White Wine: Our fresh mussels are available in limited quantities. We recommend enjoying them with a baguette – a perfect match with wine.

They were indeed limited, and there were none available when I asked for them. Hmmm, next time.

I eat so much pizza, I rarely finish one. The pizza at Leon, however, I ate so enthusiastically, I was almost surprised when I looked up and it was gone.

Absolutely fantastic. I have a new favorite in Osaka.

Highly recommended.

For more Osaka Pizza see:

— Critter’s Pizza in Nishishinsaibashi in Chuo-ku
— Detroit-style pizza in Osaka at Craft Beer & Pizza Imazato in Higashinari-ku
— Due Sette Pizza in Nishi-ku
— Pizza Bar Full House in Kita-ku
— NYC-style slices at Hughes Pizza in Kita-ku
— More slices at Henry’s Pizza in Chuo-ku
— Taisho pizza at Pizzeria da Dots in Taisho-ku
— That’s Pizza in Nishi-ku
— Drunk Bears pizza in Umeda
— The Goofy’s Pizza in Kita-ku
— The Michelin Recommended Pizzeria da Tigre in Nishi-ku
— [A] PIZZA in Chou-ku, Osaka
— Detroit slices at Mikes Detroit Pizza in Miyakojima-ku
— For a fancy pizza, see Dal Donnaiolo in Nishitenma in Kita-ku
— If you really, really like to wait in line: Regalo Pizza in Fukushima