The Okonomiyaki Pizza You Can Find At Costco In China

Peeking at the different items available at food courts in Costco locations around the world is fascinating. Grabbing lunch while running errands in your local Costco is this relatable experience that bonds shoppers across the globe, but we can learn about various preferences through the ways some of these lunches differ. We know the singular Costco in Iceland has some unique dishes, for example, and that some of the ways the Costco food courts in Japan and the United States differ include bulgogi bakes and Hokkaido soft ice cream. Lately, the Costco item that has our interest piqued — and mouths watering — is okonomiyaki pizza in China and Taiwan.

Okonomiyaki is a Japanese dish, but it's also popular in China and other Asian countries — some even think its history might extend back to China, but as with many food items that have been around in some form for centuries, the exact origins are murky. It is a savory pancake with some flexibility on ingredients — the name literally implies this, as "okonomi" means "whatever you like" and "yaki" is "grill" in Japanese." It varies a bit depending on where you are in Japan, but it's always a flour pancake with toppings that tend to include green onions, cabbage, a meat or seafood item or both, and mayonnaise. There might be additional sauces, tempura flakes, bonito flakes, seaweed, and eggs. You get a crisp yet fluffy pancake with umami, salty brine, bright greens, and creamy mayo.

If you're thinking that a crust holding this mix of salty, creamy, earthy, herby toppings sounds like a pretty close relative to pizza, you're probably thinking like the people behind the China and Taiwan Costco food courts. They've basically updated okonomiyaki to be a pizza. On top of the crisped, doughy crust is octopus, green peppers, corn, mayonnaise, and bonito flakes, a common Japanese topping that is taken from cured tuna. Costco shoppers who think the food court's cheese pizza is a less-than-stellar item may appreciate okonomiyaki pizza more, as it has very little cheese, presumably just enough to help hold the ingredients together on the crust. The element of fatty richness we'd get from cheese on a traditional pizza is replaced by that mayo.

Carby and creamy, spicy from the peppers, sweet from the corn, and savory and briney from the octopus and bonito, the okonomiyaki pizza sounds like a dream item to find on a Costco shopping trip. The Taiwan locations once had a seafood pizza they have more recently removed from their menu, according to Reddit users, so this octopus-topped version may be a welcome addition for fans missing that dish. Between the free pastries Chinese Costcos offer customers and the crispy chicken bucket on the Taiwanese Costco menu, this okonomiyaki pizza is enough to seal the deal and make us want to plan a trip to visit the company's Asian locations.