Countdown! Our Biggest Blogs – #1

To celebrate the upcoming anniversary of the Beijinger magazine, we're taking a look back at the 11 most-read posts in the history of TheBeijinger.com. We've been counting down from 11 to one, with a blog every day until the big event on October 18 (that's tonight!). Without further ado ... let's step back in time to November 27, 2009.

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Note: The information contained below was accurate at the time that it was originally published.

"Capital Bites: Pizza Hut Topples Salad Towers" by Tom O'Malley

Pizza Hut is to remove all self-service salad carts from its 440 restaurants in China. Up to now, customers were permitted just one trip to the salad cart, but these restrictions have led to ingenious Scooby snack-style stacking of CCTV Tower proportions. The chain, the first to introduce pizza to China in 1990 and pizza delivery in 2001, claims that the move is part of a general menu expansion, but it's surely down to salad cart abuse.

Salad stacking has become somewhat of an art form, with ingenious engineers exchanging tips online, such as having a base of carrots for a stable foundation. I think the smart move for Pizza Hut would have been to reduce the size of the salad plate to roughly the diameter of tomato slice. Then only the most talented stackers could take any more than their fair share.

Over in Sanlitun, Purple Haze Bistro is upping sticks due to disputes with the neighbors at China View. The Thai restaurant you voted Beijing's best in our 2009 Restaurant Awards is making a surprise move to Dongsi Liutiao, a traditional hutong close to Dongdan subway station, also home to popular Xinjiang restaurant Crescent Moon.

Finally, Joy Luck, a buffet-style restaurant-cum-food court has opened on the 5th floor of 3.3. Mall in Sanlitun. All food is half price until 1st December, so if you're shopping in the area this weekend, pop-in for bargain sushi, pizza, grilled meat and dim sum.