Does Beijing Deserve to Be on the List of the World's Greatest Pizza Cities?

The Beijinger | Oct 25, 2018 4:10 pm | Add a comment | 2205 reads

With less than 24 hours to go until the close of the Sweet 16 in this year's Beijing Pizza Cup, shit's about to get real. The big question today is: Does Beijing Deserve to be on the list of the world's greatest pizza cities?

Apparently not, according to Condé Nast Traveler's 2016 round-up of the top 14 cities in the world for pizza. More concerning perhaps is the fact that this writer left Beijing off their list of 15 best pizzas outside of Italy, though saw fit to add such culinary megaliths like Edmonton, Canada; Orlando, Florida; and even Luang Prabang, Laos (we'll assume that one came with mushrooms).

Uproxx has Beijing's east capital of Tokyo on its tally yet still snubs our beloved city. And we don't even get a nod on the world's craziest pizza toppings list, with nary a chunk of durian or a spooning of gongbao jiding in sight (though admittedly we'd take either of those over cicadas).

Finally, a casual glance at TripAdvisor to see what their collected user base thinks of Beijing pizza shows that our 2016 pizza champs Bottega are ranked as Beijing's top pizza shop for their oven-cooked Neapolitan variety, La Pizza Sanlitun is ranked second (also Neapolitan-style), and last year's Pizza Cup winners Pie Squared third for their thick and moreish squares of Detroit pie. The rest of their top 10 list are:

4. Hutong Pizza (closed)
5. Kro's Nest
6. Annie's
7. Eatalia
8. Fratelli Fresh
9. Mao Mao Chong
10. Ramo

But enough about those know-nothings. If you're reading this, it's because you care about Beijing, you care about pizza, and you probably have a favorite venue and want to bring them the global recognition and fame that they deserve. Well, then there's only one thing for it: