2020 Pizza Cup Recap: Beijing's 12 Best Pizzas, as Voted by You
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So, without further ado, below are the cut-out-and-keep, bookmark-in-your-browser, favorite-in-WeChat list of the top 12 pizza purveyors in Beijing.
12. The Pizza Show
11. La Pizza
La Pizza has maintained a strong and steady fanbase throughout its dozen years in Beijing through the use of imported ingredients, wood-fired pies, and authentic Italian toppings. Everything at La Pizza comes from Napoli: the owner, the oven, the chef, and the ingredients, including the flour, the peeled tomatoes, the mozzarella, and even the salt. This process is expedited by the fact that they have their own supply network, the "only way to guarantee 100 percent of our ingredients are strictly monitored."
Try their specialty baci, which means "kiss" in Italian, and are sort of like little pizza rolls filled with a variety of fillings, such as ham (baci Sorrento, RMB 88) or bacon and mushrooms (baci Ischia, RMB 88). With three venues in Solana, Shangdu Soho, and Wangjing, their pizzas are easily accessible wherever you live.10. Forno
From the people who brought you Bottega, Forno is Roman-style pie – in case you couldn’t tell from the busts that evoke the ancient style of that city in both of their locations. That’s right, both, because Forno has managed to open two stores in Sanlitun and Sanyuanqiao in their first year, serving up square pie by the slice as well as pasta, focaccia, and other Roman delicacies. The must-try is the Tartufo (RMB 38), with fennel pork sausage, porcini mushrooms, mozzarella, and truffle paste.
Doing as the Romans do, the pizzas are pre-prepared on the day of and fired up in the oven upon ordering, yet the slices stay perfectly fresh. Don’t worry too much about the carbs, because you can burn them off at the late-night DJ parties held on Wednesdays at their Sanlitun location.
9. Tube Station
At Tube Station, bigger is better, their largest pizza stretching an incredible 36 inches. With this motto alone, the chain has become a Beijing staple, serving their oversized and indulgent pizzas throughout the city. Tube Station remains one of Beijing's oldest and most popular locally-owned pizzerias and that long-running history has earned them a reputation that now translates into nostalgia.
If you have not yet looked on in amazement at a Tube Station delivery man trying to fit one of these mammoth pizzas through your door, well, winter has arrived and there's no better time to do so (pro tip: these make great pizzas for a party). We recommend you do it right and order one of their astounding Garbage Pail (RMB 185/19-inch, RMB 228/24-inch) pizzas topped with pepperoni, beef, ground pork, salami, ham, mushrooms, onions, peppers, feta cheese... basically any topping you can imagine.8. Jing-A Taproom Longfusi
Jing-A's new Longfusi Taproom made a clear impression on the Pizza scene when it opened last year, and that momentum seems to have carried onto the next. The Taproom serves sourdough pizzas, created by executive chef Simone Thompson. The passion for fermentation that has made Jing-A’s beers so accomplished is apparent here too, with a dough that is left to rise slowly overnight before being tossed into the high-temperature brick oven. That slow rise gives the dough a complex flavor and a bubbly texture akin to Neapolitan-style pizza.
While the basic Margherita (RMB 75) is undoubtedly tasty, the best pizzas see the kitchen flexing their creative muscles. The Yunnan wild mushroom (RMB 90) is as good a white pizza as we have had in Beijing, topped with a generous and fragrant scattering of mushrooms and black truffle shavings. And if you think that pineapple has no place on a pizza, then you might change your mind after trying the Lao Gan Ma’s Luau (RMB 100), which features char siu pork, spicy Lao Gan Ma barbecue sauce, and roasted fermented pineapple.
7. Annie's
With two decades of practice under their belt, Annie's are tried and true Italian experts, serving pizza and pasta from a dozen locations scattered across the city. It doesn't hurt that Annie Lee and her team have built one of the most reliable food delivery services in the whole of China, making Annie's an easy go-to when hunger calls.
That delivery service brings hot-out-of-the-oven pizzas to your door in what sometimes seems like mere minutes. Their pizzas tend towards simple, classic combinations such as ham and mushrooms or four cheese, although we also rate their more creative options, such as the pizza leggera (S: RMB 65, L: RMB 75), which eschews mozzarella cheese in favor of rucola, marinated cherry tomatoes, Parma ham, and Parmesan cheese. Annie's is also constantly changing and improving what they do so as to introduce customers to Italian culture and its many flavors, so expect to see regular specials on their menu for both dine-in and delivery.
Opened by the brains behind Wudaokou stalwarts Lush and Pyro, Gung Ho started delivering pies with their eye-catching pink and black-bedecked drivers in 2010. Ten years on, they have slipped a bit in the rankings after their third-time victory in 2018 but nevertheless remain one of Beijing's most popular pizza purveyors for their pies that balance traditional and modern flavors, with healthy twists.
In recent years, their menu has scored big with vegans and adherents of keto, paleo, and gluten-free diets, after releasing a few of the city's only pizzas to align with these strict dietary requirements and demonstrating that the team isn't shy when it comes to experimenting in the kitchen. Meat eaters, however, have long espoused their Lord of the Lambs pizza (RMB 109/11 inch) with slow-baked lamb, grilled veggies, mint tzatziki, and arugula, made with lamb from the founders' native New Zealand (in fact, New Zealand products feature heavily across the whole menu).5. Pie Squared
Another former champion, Pie Squared remains a favorite among in-the-know foodies. Since its founding just outside of Shunyi in 2013, the restaurant has been quietly building a dedicated following among nearby residents as well as others closer to the center of town who have followed the shop, which recently moved house to a slightly more central location in Wangjing.
Those that are lucky enough to live close to Pie Squared praise owner Asher Gillespie's warm demeanor and his "taste of home" authentic Detroit-style pizzas. That pizza in itself is noteworthy for its square shape, a byproduct of spare industrial parts trays being used to bake the pizzas back in 1940s Detroit, according to the city's lore. First-timers may want to grab a Motown Meatball (S: RMB 55, XL: RMB 148) and then branch out to Pie Squared's specialty pizzas or experiment by creating their own topping combinations when you come back for more (which you most certainly will).
4. Great Leap Brewing:
Grabbing the fourth-place slot for the second year in a row, Great Leap Brewing is not only renowned for its delicious craft brews, but also for its 16-inch New York-style pizzas (or slices from 18-inch pizzas). Made using a specially imported US oven that provides them a crunchy sourdough crust, these moreish slices boast a rich three-cheese melted blend that gives a great color.
Great Leap's best-selling pizza is a classic pepperoni (RMB 120/16-inch), which they brought along for this year’s tasting, but we're also fans of their excellent vegetarian pizzas such as The Shroom (with mushrooms, garlic, parmesan, arugula, thyme, and lemon-ricotta honey) and The Green Machine (with zucchini, red peppers, garlic, kale, shallots, red chili flakes, and black pepper ricotta) (both RMB 120). Originally only available at Great Leap Brewing #45 in Xinyuanli, diners can now get pizzas at their taproom in Lido, too.3. Q Mex
Q Mex might not seem like an obvious place for pizza but just like their consistent high-ranking in the Burger Cup, their tasty pizzas are also winning over Beijing hearts and stomachs. Their climb up the rankings has certainly not been without controversy but ultimately the effort that goes into their pizzas speaks for itself.
Q Mex offers a range of pizzas on a choice of thin tortilla-style crust or thick New York-style crust that range from the ordinary – Margherita – to the creative – chicken and chorizo jambalaya. Our editors are big fans of the Mexican-inspired pizzas, such as the spicy nacho pizza (RMB 80), which comes topped with guacamole, salsa, ground beef, and crispy tortilla strips, and the spicy chorizo pizza with jalapeno and cilantro (RMB 75), with homemade chorizo. At the tasting, they offered up their barbecue chicken pizza with sliced onions and bacon. Coupled with a wide-ranging menu of strong drinks and regular promotions and events, Q Mex has earned a rightful place among Beijing's most popular pizza spots.2. Pizza Saporita
Last year’s champion, Pizza Saporita (Formerly known as Pizza+) has always been a formidable challenger and never dropping too far away from the top of the pile. In the taste-off, they cut it close with their Forest pizza (RMB 36 per slice) topped with mushroom, sausage, walnuts, and truffle cream.
Pizza Saporita is one of the few places in Beijing to sell pizza by the slice (or "al taglio" as the Italians say) – although their pizzas are also available whole. An Italian team oversees a menu that really does offer something for everyone, whether you like your pizza cheese-free, extra cheesy, topped with seafood, or completely veggie (and that's just a selection of the combos on offer).1. Bottega
Since opening in 2014, Bottega has proven itself a missing link in Beijing's burgeoning pizza scene, which it proved with its first Pizza Cup victory in 2016. The Salvo brothers' Neapolitan-style pizzas have quickly accrued a loyal fanbase thanks to a refined mix of family-tested favorites and a wood-fired pizza base made with flour imported from Italy. With two venues in Sanlitun's Nali Patio and further north in Xinyuanli, Bottega remains one of Beijing's best-loved pizzerias and it looks as if that recognition will only grow in the coming years.
Bottega's constantly evolving pizza menu offers a lot of choices but you can't go wrong with the eponymous Bottega pizza (RMB 138), topped with cherry tomatoes and a great big sphere of organic burrata, and if you really want something different, opt for the Calzone Frito (RMB 98), a deep-fried calzone that is a specialty of Napoli. But their best-seller is the diavola spicy Italian salami (RMB 88), which Bottega took to the taste-off and effectively took the championship with.READ: Bottega Claims Victory in a Historic Pizza Cup Championship
Images courtesy of the venues
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