MALAYSIANS have earned a reputation for their adventurous culinary experiments, but some creations push the boundaries of cultural fusion a bit too far.
Recently, a TikTok video captured the comical yet horrified reactions of Italian content creators Matteo Salvatori and Emiliano Santoro from @lionfieldmusic as they stumbled upon a peculiar dish: the ‘apam balik pizza.’
In the 24-second clip, Matteo exclaims in disbelief, “Apam balik pizza?!” while Emiliano questions the use of the word “pizza.”
The duo’s shock escalates as they watch shredded cheese piled onto the traditional Malaysian dessert, followed by tomato sauce—deemed by Matteo as “pizza sauce... except that it wasn’t on a pizza.”
The final straw comes when slices of pepperoni are added to the mix, prompting Emiliano to declare, “I quit,” as he dramatically walks off-screen.
The video has since gone viral, racking up 2.6 million views and thousands of amused comments.
Many netizens sympathised with the Italians’ plight.
One user called Irvan Febrian457 wrote: “Bro just insulted two countries at the same time!”
Some Malaysians and Indonesians debated over the dish, with Indonesians claiming it was martabak manis rather than apam balik.
Some Malaysians cheekily advised the Italians to search for ‘laksa Johor’ if they thought the ‘apam balik pizza’ was bad.
