If you live in Hougang, you’re one of the lucky ones: because there’s a new home-based pizzeria in Hougang that serves authentic Neapolitan-style pizzas from a HDB window! There’s plenty of HDB spots serving up drinks or desserts, but you hardly see one that specialises in handmade-to-order pizzas baked in a stone oven.
JR Pizzeria is run by Joachim, a young 24-year old chef, and he makes hand-stretched pizzas from his home set-up. There’s even a dedicated “pizza room” where he kneads his dough, bakes the pizzas and assembles with toppings, before serving them to customers for takeaways through his HDB window. Joachim even has a special stone oven that’s designed just for baking pizzas. Each pizza is made-to-order: hand stretched and oven-baked fresh on the spot.
Prices here are also kept affordable, starting from just $13.90 for each 10-inch pizza. The flavours here are pretty classic: Classic Margarita ($13.90), Spicy Salami ($16), Parma Ham ($23), “Hawaiian” ($16.50) and Mortadella & Pistachio Pesto ($23.50). The toppings are also quite premium, natural mozzarella cheese, housemade pesto, pistachio crumbles, whole Aussie-imported burrata, San Manzano tomatoes, pistachio mortadella ham and more.
“Hawaiian” Pizza ($16.50)
Mortadella & Pistachio Pesto Pizza ($23.50)
Say what you want about pineapples on pizzas, but JR Pizzeria’s version of “Hawaiian” Pizza ($16.50) is one of our top picks. The pizza has uber-sweet homemade pineapple rings and smoked Swiss ham, before being finished with generous shavings of parmesan cheese. We liked how the sweetness of the pineapples contrasted nicely with the subtle savouriness of the ham, and it’s definitely one of the better Hawaiian pizza renditions out there. The Mortadella & Pistachio Pesto Pizza ($23.50) is also very well balanced: from the vegetal umami flavour of the house-made pesto combined with the saltiness of the mortadella and creaminess from the soft burrata cheese.
Spicy Salami Pizza ($16)
If you prefer your pizza toppings to be more classic, you can go for the Spicy Salami Pizza ($16) instead. This one’s only got San Manzano tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, Casalingo spicy salami slices and shaved grana padano cheese on top. We appreciated that the salami is also lightly baked in the oven for a subtle crisp; however, no it wasn’t our favourite, and the flavour was a little on the salty side for us.
What we really like about JR Pizzeria’s pizzas is the dough: he uses only artisanal 00 flour to make his sourdough-esque pizza dough for a more fine texture. The pizza is also intentionally kneaded just barely, so it doesn’t get too chewy and remains light and fluffy after it’s been proofed. The result: a crusty pizza dough that’s crunchy on the outside and perfectly airy inside. The dough itself is so addictive that we could’ve eaten it on its own.
All things considered, we think JR Pizzeria is one for the books: offering both incredible value and flavour for pizza lovers. Even though it’s a home-based business without a full-fledged restaurant set-up, JR Pizzeria still manages to churn out pizzas—nearly 40 pizzas a day—that could even rival some pizza specialty restaurants in Singapore. If you live in the Hougang area, you can place a pre-order via this Instagram link from Wednesdays to Sundays, 12pm to 9pm. Walk-ins during this time are also accepted, but pizzas will be subject to availability. If you’re looking to try JR Pizzeria for yourself, we highly suggest making a pre-order to avoid disappointment—we know we’ll definitely be craving for these pizzas from time to time.
JR Pizzeria
Address: Hougang Ave 8, #02-1514 Block 467, Singapore 530467
Opening Hours: Wednesday-Sunday, 12pm-9pm
