Once a standard at Japanese coffeehouses known as kissaten, pizza toast satisfies our collective appetite for simpler times when nothing could beat melted cheese on toast. “It isn’t real pizza,” says chef Tim Anderson of London’s Nanban

Tim proposes two versions: A riff on classic Japanese pizza toast and an homage to Franco Pepe’s Mistaken Margherita, reimagined as a Italo-Japanese flag.

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C (425 degrees F)

For classic Japanese pizza toast:

1 thick slice white bread
1 slice mortadella, cut into 3 strips
1 tablespoon tomato passata
1 slice Dairylea cheese (substitute American cheese single)
30-t0-40 grams (about 1 ounce) mozzarella, torn into strips
4-5 thin strips roasted orange or red pepper
chopped chives for garnish

1. Use a sharp knife to core the top of the bread slice to divide the bread into three roughly equal bands or sections, being care not to cut all the way through the bread. (This will make it easy to break off sections after the pizza toast is ready to eat.)

2. Top each vertical section of a mortadella strip. Top with tomato passata, a slice of Dairylea cheese and the mozzarella. Place on perforated pan or wire rack and cook in oven until toast is crisp but not the cheese is golden but not brown, about 10 minutes.

3. Remove from oven. Garnish with roast pepper strips and chives.

For Mistaken Margherita Pizza Toast

1 thick slice white bread
30-t0-40 grams (about 1 ounce) mozzarella, torn into strips
2 teapoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon pesto
1 tablespoon passato

1. Use a sharp knife to core the top of the bread slice to divide the bread into three roughly equal bands or sections, being care not to cut all the way through the bread. (This will make it easy to break off sections after the pizza toast is ready to eat.)

2. Top the bread with the mozzarella and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Place on perforated pan or wire rack and cook in oven until toast is crisp but not the cheese is lightly golden but not brown, about 10 minutes.

3. Remove from oven. Lay the pesto over the top third of the toast. With the tomato passata, make a circle across that extends across the bottom third section. 

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