Pizzeria Da Nagino

It was a little late for lunch, but I was walking around Higashiyama Sanjo area, wondering where I could find a good place to eat… and I came across a restaurant called Pizzeria Da Nagino along Sanjo Street. This is a well-known pizzeria in Kyoto, so I knew the name of the restaurant, but I didn’t know exactly where it was located and didn’t pay much attention to it. But when I saw the weekday lunch special on the signboard in the storefront, I thought to myself, “This is a great deal!”. I was so elated that I entered the restaurant immediately. Please continue reading this article to learn more about this special lunch…

Pizzeria da Nagino has achieved the feat of winning the Michelin Bib Gourmand award for four consecutive years…

Pizzeria da Nagino is a pizzeria opened in August 2017 by two Italian-trained pizza chefs who joined forces. While many pizzerias these days use local ingredients for local production for local consumption, Da Nagino‘s policy seems to be to thoroughly pursue the authentic taste of Naples, using a custom-made stone oven imported all the way from Italy, as well as cooking methods, and using more than 80% Italian ingredients. Perhaps in recognition of this thoroughness, the restaurant was awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand just two years after its establishment, and has since achieved the feat of being listed for four consecutive years until 2022…

Now, Pizzeria Da Nagino offers such authentic Neapolitan pizza, but the atmosphere of the restaurant is not quite like that of a traditional Italian restaurant, but the food is very good and the staff is very friendly. The atmosphere at Pizzeria Da Nagino is very homey. The restaurant has a cheerful Mediterranean atmosphere and seats a total of 20 customers. It is nice to be able to see the stone kiln, the symbol of the restaurant, from anywhere in the restaurant. There are also counter seats for lone customers like me, and I think this is a restaurant where anyone can feel free to spend time.

There are 10 choices in total… How was the weekday-only pizza lunch at Pizzeria da Nagino, when I actually tried it?

Let me introduce you to the weekday pizza lunch I ordered at Pizzeria da Nagino. This Pizza Lunch offers a total of 10 kinds of pizza, and at 1,400 yen plus tax, you can enjoy authentic Neapolitan pizza for the same price as ramen noodles, if you’re not careful. Isn’t that a great deal?

This time I chose a pizza called Romana, which is made with tomato sauce, mozzarella, anchovies, and oregano. If you order this a la carte, the price is 1850 yen plus tax per piece, which is almost 500 yen less than a regular meal. The pizza is not smaller, but rather, at a glance, it is about 30 cm in diameter. And if looking at the white mozzarella cheese melting on top of the tomato sauce, you can see that they are not stingy with the mozzarella at all…in fact, I think you can tell that they use a lot of it.

Now, one of the characteristics of Neapolitan pizza is that the dough is thin, but this pizza has a thicker dough than other Neapolitan pizzas I have eaten. That makes it firm and chewy like a Roman-style pizza, and the wheat flavor is rich. The tomato sauce that is poured over the pizza is juicy, and the mozzarella cheese that is used in abundance is melted, giving it a very cheesy texture. The saltiness of the anchovies adds a nice salty flavor, and the oregano adds a coolness… I can only think of one word to describe this dish, and I am too short on vocabulary to come up with anything else. The pizza is quite hearty, but I devoured it in a matter of minutes.

I left the restaurant very satisfied with the weekday-only pizza lunch at Pizzeria da Nagino. A feat that has won the Michelin Bib Gourmand for four consecutive years, I was fully satisfied. To be able to eat Neapolitan pizza from such a restaurant for about the price of ramen with all the toppings is, to put it mildly, nothing short of divine. The quality of the food is worthy of repeating not only for lunch on weekdays, but also at regular prices.

Pizzeria da Nagino’s weekday pizza lunch offerings (base price 1400 yen + tax)

• Margherita (tomato sole, mozzarella, basil)
• Romana (tomato sauce, mozzarella, anchovies, oregano)
• Cicinieri (tomato sauce, oregano, garlic, kettle-fried baby sardines)
• Al Fillette (mozzarella, mini tomatoes, basil)
• Nduja (tomato sauce, basil, mozzarella, onions, dry salami (pesto)
• Melanzane (tomato sauce, eggplant, mozzarella, basil)
• Tunno (mozzarella, basil, tomato sauce, tuna, onions)
• Cotto e Mais (mozzarella, ham, basil, corn)
• Quattro Formaggi (+300 yen, mozzarella, gorgonzola, taleggio, parmigiana)
• Bismarck Bianca (+300 yen, mozzarella, ham, poached egg, mushrooms, pepper)

Lunch salad + above 300 yen, 3 kinds of appetizers +450 yen, dessert +200 yen, soft drink +150 yen

Pizzeria da Nagino is also available for take-out…Access to Pizzeria da Nagino is a 3-minute walk from the nearest station, Higashiyama Station on the Kyoto Municipal Subway Tozai Line.

Pizzeria da Nagino is also available for pizza take-out. All of the restaurant’s nearly 30 different types of pizza menu are available for take-out, and if you call in advance, they will bake them according to your pick-up time. If there is such a restaurant near your house, there is no need for pizza delivery anymore. Whether you eat in or take out, please give it a try.

Here are the details of the restaurant…