Daily Delivery Tour: Pizza Day

The options to take your taste buds for a trip around the world are pretty amazing here in the capital – so we’re taking it upon ourselves to focus on the culinary works of a new country or region each day.

First was Tex-Mex, DIY cocktails and French, now, we’re taking a bite out of pizza.

Neapolitan style from Bottega

There’s a reason this venue was chosen as #1 in Asia in the Top 50 Pizza Awards in 2021: everyone swears by their Neapolitan pies – a style of pizza common in the Italian city of Naples, on the country’s southwestern coast. The dough is crisp yet melts in your mouth, the toppings work together in perfect harmony.

Pies to try include their Bottega pizza (RMB 139), which sees cherry tomatoes surrounding a big ball of burrata cheese, and the Bufalina (RMB 119), which sees buffalo mozzarella atop tomato sauce with basil – a different take on the classic margharita.

Other restaurants to try: The Pizza Show (Meat Lovers, RMB 89) and La Pizza (Farmer's Pizza, RMB 98)

Roman style from Forno and Pizza Saporita

Roman style pizza often comes in more oblong shapes – usually like an odd oval or rectangle. Here in Beijing, two shops offer up very different takes on the style.

Forno, from the folks behind Bottega, offers up pizza alla pala, or pizza of the peel, named for the fact its cooked using an elongated pizza peel. The other Roman pizza purveyor, Pizza Saporita, serves up pizza al taglio, aka pizza by the slice, served in easy to pick up rectangular slices.

At Forno, the crowd favorite is La Regina (RMB 129), which sees a dough base topped with cherry tomatoes, cured ham, arugula and two different cheeses. At Pizza Saporita, my personal favorite is the N’duja (RMB 27), which combines the spicy Italian sausage N’duja with blue cheese, mozzarella and pizza sauce.

Others to try: There's a recent newcomer to the pizza al taglio called SIGMORE.

The take away and delivery only spot can be found in Sanlitun SOHO (or via Eleme) where they sling by the slice offerings like Spicy Beef and Fig with Cured Ham (RMB 29 per slice).

New York style from Great Leap Brewing

Unlike the two aforementioned Italian variations, New York style is big. The dough is cooked to a crisp – traditionally in coal-fired ovens – with the style having given rise to popular toppings like pepperoni, mushrooms, and hot sausage.

Great Leap serves up some of the best New York pies in Beijing, all on a sourdough base, which when cooked to that crispy finish lends a lovely sour bite to the entire pizza. Their pies to try include the Little Nunzio (RMB 138, pictured above), which comes topped with homemade sausage, pickled peppers and red chili flakes; and, of course, the classic pepperoni (RMB 125).

In true New York fashion, they also serve pizza by the slice, limited to two daily specials each around RMB 35 (available for delivery via Meituan).

Detroit style and Stromboli from Pie Squared

Detroit style pizza comes in rectangular form as well, but unlike the thinner Roman style pies, Detroit pizza is characterized by a thick, fluffy base and crisp, nearly burned edges and underside.

The chief purveyor of Detroit style pizza in Beijing is Pie Squared, the winner of our 2021 Pizza Cup, and their victorious offering was the Motown Meatball (RMB 60 for two slices, pictured), which comes with pizza sauce, caramelized red onions, and meatballs.

Pie Squared’s offerings aren’t just limited to pizza, though. They’ve got cheesy bread, Italian subs, and, my personal favorite, stromboli (RMB 55 for full, RMB 45 for sliced). This hot pocket on steroids comes stuffed with cheese and your choice of toppings, plus dipping sauce options.

Calzone from Annie’s

Annie’s also serves pizza, but the thing to go for here is their calzone (RMB 55 for nine inch, RMB 65 for 12 inch). Calzones, which also hail from Naples, are essentially folded pizzas, or turnovers, stuffed with cheese (particularly ricotta) and a variety of fillings.

Annie’s keeps it classic to a T, filled with ricotta, ham, pepperoni, tomatoes and more. Served with marinara sauce for dipping, it’s a refreshing take on pizza for pizza day.

Adjarian Khachapuri from Georgia’s Feast

Ok so this isn’t what you’d normally think of when you think of pizza, but it’s considered by some to be the precursor of pizza as we know it today.

This oblong-shaped pie (RMB ) features cheese topped with egg, all combined for a wholly different take on the cheese pizza.

Mexican pie from Q Mex

This outlier, which can sort of wiggle it's way into the Tex-Mex category, has two options: either New York style crust or a thin tortilla crust.

Opt for the tortilla crust (it's bomb dipped in salsa) and go for the Mexican Supreme (RMB 85 with tortilla base) which crosses classic pie with Mexican elements like beef chorizo.

READ: Daily Delivery Tour: Take a Bite Out of France with These Waimai Options

Images: Alan Hardman (via Unsplash), Vincent R.Vinci, courtesy of the venues