Jon Dunbar is a copy editor at The Korea Times, as well as editor of the Foreign Community page and curator of the Korea Times Archive. If you have suggestions for possible articles, or wish to contribute articles yourself, contact jdunbar@koreatimes.co.kr.
RESTAURANT OF THE WEEK This restaurant chain's pizza is old school
A meat lover pizza from Pizza School, June 3 / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar
By Jon Dunbar
I'm not going to try convincing you that Pizza School's food is great. It harkens back to an age when the pizza options in Korea were limited and low quality, made with cheap ingredients and some very odd toppings. Yet, of all the pizza chains this description fits, Pizza School is the only one that consistently lights up people's faces whenever its name is brought up.
Maybe it's nostalgia? Not for that older era when pizza in Korea just wasn't very good (which can still be found), but for a childhood of pizza parties at school, or right outside your school. To be honest, the apples and sharpened pencil in the logo always slightly repulsed me. Or it could just be that, despite the cheap ingredients, the cost to the consumer also remains incredibly cheap.
I still remember my first visit to a Pizza School, probably over 15 years ago — a pepperoni pizza cost a mere 5,000 won. On a recent visit, I found the price has since nearly doubled, up to 9,900 won, but even that's still incredibly cheap compared to everywhere else. At that price, how can you say no? Unless you have enough money to pay at least double that price for the same amount of pizza at most other places, some of which are no better than this.
Apparently, the secret to their low price is, according to their website, mass-manufacturing the dough in advance at a dough factory in order to save time later. If that's how it works, it may explain why the dough is nothing special. Another website claims they keep the price low by excluding franchise fees, distribution margins and costs for interior decorating. And the interiors, while offering ample seating, are not very nice to look at: yellow everything, and stacked with boxes everywhere.
The decor is both effortlessly utilitarian and specifically recognizable at a Pizza School in central Seoul's Yongsan District, June 3. Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar
Pizza School checks the list of oddities on Korean pizzas that foreigners complain about. The menu is heavy with options offering potato wedges and sweet potato, including the sweet potato ring. More pizzas than are necessary come with corn. Fortunately, the most basic ones don't, and so I have no experience seeing if they will cooperate if you ask for no corn.
A Pizza School in central Seoul's Yongsan District, June 3 / Korea Times photo by Jon Dunbar
And there are some excessively weird Korean-style toppings on the menu, as seen in the carbonara pizza, the sweet and sour shrimp pizza and the chicken tender pizza (yes, with full-size chicken tenders). Many come drizzled in inappropriate condiments that definitely came from a squeeze bottle.
Some of the pizzas will leave you asking philosophical questions about how to eat them, such as the quesadilla pizzas, the "Grilled-Holic" bite pizzas and the Deutsche and Mexican bite pizzas.
There are a lot of weird things on the menu, and it's clear someone's having a lot of fun inventing them. If you don't feel like gambling away 15,900 won (their highest price), you can just stick to the classics, namely pepperoni or cheese (8,900 won!).
Is the pizza good? Yes, it is for those prices, though not quite as good as when the same pizzas cost 5,000 won.
Since opening in 2006, Pizza School has spread across the nation. If you're in Korea, chances are there's one within walking distance of wherever you are right now. If their website's map is correct, there are 963 Pizza Schools across Korea.
There's no shame in trying to relive your youth — or at least imagine someone's youth — with a stop by a Pizza School near you.