My sister loves pizza. I just like eating stuff that I’ve never tried before. So when my aunt and uncle suggested that we order pizza, we both wanted to try the stuff we can’t get in the U.S.—kimchee pizza, bulgogi pizza, and the like. I had already tried the previous two, so we ordered sweet potato pizza and pumpkin-walnut pizza from Sung Shin Je Pizza and also the Mexican spaghetti. The pumpkin and walnut pizza was very interesting. It had pine nuts, pumpkin, walnuts, and bell peppers. It was quite tasty but too bland for my cousins. They prefer their pizza spicier. The sweet potato pizza had pineapple bits, broccoli, and sweet potato on cheddar cheese. That was also very good but too bland for my cousins. The Mexican spaghetti was very spicy. It had red pepper powder mixed into the tomato sauce, and cheese topped the spaghetti. My cousins said the spice level was fine for them, but my sister and I found it almost uncomfortable.
Koreans eat their pizza with banchan (side dishes), so when you order pizza, it usually comes with garlic mayonnaise or garlic butter to dip your crust in, hot sauce (usually Tabasco), extra Parmesan cheese, and sweet pickles. I have no idea why Koreans like sweet pickles so much. It’s a replacement for kimchee, but I don’t really like sweet pickles for anything except relish, so I leave the pickles for my cousins to eat.
Sung Shin Je Pizza was originally a Pizza Hut. Mr. Sung owned a Pizza Hut but as the Pizza Hut fad came and went, Mr. Sung decided to go independent of the Pizza Hut franchise. Therefore he went and created his own pizzas—which are very, very good—and also has a number of other stores that he opened. I actually prefer his pizzas to the chain pizza places that I have tasted. It’s pricier, but the quality is also much better. Kudos to Mr. Shin for going out on his own and creating these pizza gems. I also noticed that his pizzas are more filling because he puts more toppings on them than the others. If you want quality, you should try Sung Shin Je Pizza. He generally sends flyers with coupons for a free spaghetti or bottle of Coke.