Forget pineapple, Pizza Hut Taiwan just mixed mango with cheese
Pizza Hut Taiwan's latest menu item, the Durian Mango Cheese Pizza, has divided the internet. A special dish that pairs the durian and mango fruits with cheese, netizens feel that it has gone beyond the "monstrosity" of a pineapple pizza. The item was added to Taiwan's Pizza Hut menu on June 28 and has triggered the age-old debate about fruits as pizza toppings.
Durian is a South-Asian fruit infamous for its unusual smell and has often been maligned as the "world's smelliest fruit." The Durian Water Gold Pizza pairs chunks of Golden Pillow durian with a sweet and sour Taiwanese mango sauce and durian cheese in an attempt to woo durian lovers. To enhance tropical flavors, the pizza also has coconut dust sprinkled on the crust.
With durian being a divisive fruit, the curious combination of flavors in the pizza has left the internet feeling too many emotions. "Why would anyone do this to a perfectly good mango," a Twitter user wrote, while another said, "That's a mighty fine looking pizza." Some users on Twitter also jokingly apologized to their Italian friends for the supposed "anomaly."
"When I got the pizza delivered, it tasted like sweet fruits rotting in the wind," a food blogger for SoraNews24 said, adding that it is often durian's prickly appearance and off-putting smell that keeps one away from its sweet and earthy flavors. Suggesting that the pizza was tropically refreshing, they said, "Pizza Hut flirted with disaster and emerged a winner."
The Durian Mango Cheese Pizza is the latest in Pizza Hut Taiwan's long list of experiments. In 2019, the chain introduced its first Durian Pizza, following up with a Durian Coffee Pizza in 2020. The chain has also introduced Oreo Cheese Pizza and Ramen Pizza in Taiwan while also serving coriander, century egg, and tempura as extra toppings.
