Japanese pizza chain releases gold leaf pizza for 40,000 yen

What started as an April Fools’ Day joke is now a reality.

Fast food chains have long been known to prank their customers on April Fools’ Day, creating images of meals that seem too good to be true. Sometimes, though, the company ends up delighting fans by actually releasing the product, and that’s what’s happened over at Aoki’s, a pizza chain founded in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture, which has stores in Aichi, Gifu, Mie and Shizuoka prefectures.

Aoki’s shared an image of a golden pizza on 1 April, with the hashtag “AprilFools'”, and the message: “[New release] The most luxurious and gorgeous pizza ever, ‘Golden Super Combo’ is now available! The popular ‘Super Combo’ menu item is entirely covered in gold leaf, perfect for Nagoya’s personality and perfect for engagement ceremonies.“

While most people brushed this announcement off as an April Fools’ Day joke, later that day, the chain shared another tweet, which confirmed that they would actually be selling the pizza.

The tweet above reads:

“[Sales confirmed] It’s not a lie, we’re really selling it! If you’d like to purchase one, please send a DM to this account (until 3 April). Since it takes a lot of time to make, we will limit it to one. Our proud pizza chefs will make it with great care. ※ If there are multiple people who want to purchase it, we will hold a lottery.”

Aoki’s says it decided to release the pizza in response to the recent high price of gold and the Nikkei average stock price exceeding 40,000 yen (US$263.37). As a result, the pizza will be covered entirely in gold leaf and sold for 40,000 yen.

▼ This golden meal is only available in a medium size, with a diameter of 25 centimetres (9.8 inches).

The pizza is called the Golden Super Combo, with Super Combo being the chain’s popular “ultimate mixed pizza”, a longstanding menu item that contains pepperoni, bacon, Italian sausage, onions, green pepper, fresh mushrooms, mozzarella cheese, and extra cheese.

The Super Combo has the most toppings out of all the pizzas at the chain, so covering it in gold leaf makes it even more luxurious. Aoki’s says the glitzy, extravagant pizza is a perfect fit for the “ostentatious personality” that its home city of Nagoya is known for, especially as the colour gold has traditionally been considered a lucky charm in the region, largely due to the famous pair of kinshachi atop Nagoya Castle, which are plated in 18 karat gold.

▼ Kinshachi literally translates as “golden killer whale”, but refers to a mythical beast with a carp-like body and a dragon-like head.

Though they look small on the roof of the castle, a ground-level exhibition in 2021 revealed just how enormous they really are, with one weighing 1,215 kilograms(2,679 pounds) and the other 1,272 kilograms (2,804 pounds).

The new pizza may not weigh as much, but it’s equally glistening in gold, and if you’d like to get a taste of it, you’ll have to be able to pick it up from a branch or be within the chain’s delivery radius. If that sounds like you, then be sure to DM Aoki’s on its official Twitter account with your name, desired purchase method (delivery or take-out), your reason for wanting to purchase it, and your delivery address if choosing delivery (just the city, town or village name is sufficient).

The Golden Super Combo is said to be the perfect product to mark a turning point in life, such as a betrothal or the commencement of a new school year or job position, the latter two of which tend to happen now, at the start of a new fiscal year in April. Applications are only being accepted from 1-3 April, and the chain says the lucky purchaser should be aware that the pizza may be cold, due to it being covered in gold.

So if you’re near an Aoki’s branch in Japan and would like to pay hundreds of dollars for a (possibly) cold gold pizza, now’s your chance! Like the chain’s whopping meat mountain pizzas, a menu item like this might not be available again, so it’s worth putting your hat in the ring. Otherwise we’ll have to settle for Aoki’s horrifying pizzas come Halloween.

Related: Aoki’s Pizza branches
Source, images: Value Press
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at 21:13

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