Pizza My Mind: Renmin U. Senior Pines for Sugar Shack, Hutong Pizza, and Gung Ho

In the run-up to the 2015 Beijinger Pizza Cup (mark your calendars for the launch party on Oct 17-18), we've asked Beijingers to tell us about their favorite pizza places. Today we talk to Scarlett Lee, 21, a senior at Renmin University, who has by her own admission spent most of the last three years lolling around and blowing most of her money on coffee and pizza.

“I grew up in a city where my best access to pizza was Pizza Hut,” the Zhejiang native recalls. “That first taste didn't hurt my impression of pizza though -- I stayed curious. After settling down in Beijing, I started off with Papa John's and then, gradually, local pizza places hidden to passers-by.”

In her three years in Beijing she has made it her mission to try as many pizza places as possible.

“For now, my record includes Pyro (now called Sugar Shack), Eatalia, La Pizza, Gung Ho, Hutong Pizza, Laker's, PBD, Pizza Express, Tube Station … that's all I can recall now,” she says. “Each of these places serves as a reminder of the friends that come and go, and the good times we share together."

“Now I'm a regular at Sugar Shack (but I still persistently call it Pyro).

"Every time I bring friends to La Pizza in Sanlitun, I tell the story of the Italian waiter who happens to be a friend of a friend, we met on a drunk night out. My friend and I went there one time and he was serving, but I wasn't sure if it was him. While we were halfway through our meal, he asked me if I'm the friend of someone, I said yes, and we were like 'OH IT'S YOU!' After the meal, he offered us a free espresso.

“Speaking of friends, most of my pizza buddies are back home or pursuing their dreams right now, I stay here alone, eat alone. Sometimes I feel that only the city of Beijing stays unchanged.”

Here are Scarlett’s recommendations:

For the end of the month when you are worried about the budget
“Sugar Shack offers a combo called ‘lunch buffet’ with four kinds of pizza slices plus drinks, from noon to 2pm every day. Normally it offers pepperoni, Margherita, and two other flavors that change every week, like four cheese and curry chicken. I love everything they offer, all slices have a saucy topping, the flavor differs but all so tasty. It costs RMB 55 or RMB 60 if you want to upgrade your unlimited soft drinks to unlimited draft beer."

For a date with a significant other
“I would recommend Hutong Pizza. First of all, it's in a dark hutong. Hard to find, making it free from Houhai tourists or aimless foodies. Secondly, the decor is fun, very Chinese (as one of my foreign friends put it, 'this is exactly how we imagined China!'), and there's also a little pond with red fish. I would sit on the second floor, order a Tuna Pizza and barley tea, talk and refill. We’ll talk untill we're the only guests left, in a tranquil hutong pizza house.”

When you want a pizza but your dining companion wants something else (or vice-versa)
“Gung Ho is my most recent discovery, and I would take my friend there if he/she's not a pizza fan because their sides are so good! The last time I was there, my friend and I ate the following: one pizza, four egg tarts, six Buffalo wings, an order of French fries, an order of cheese bread balls, two brownies, and two Cokes. We're two girls! We were filled to the brim, we devoured everything.”

Would you like to be profiled as part of the Pizza My Mind series? Fill out our online questionnaire here. Prefer to respond to these questions orally? Send us an email at info@thebeijinger.com with your phone number and a good time to reach you and we will call you back to interview you over the phone.

Photo: Scarlett Lee