Food Fight: American Food!

Ok foodies, after a marathon 32 pizza reviews submitted to the beijinger website in the inaugural Beijinger Food Fight, we have a winner - and this week's category to announce.

The prize goes to "laoshu" for his review of The Tree:

"Of course as a Belgian I am a regular at The Tree, for its beer. But when opting to go out and have a pizza, my whole family does not argue: The Tree it is. A crsip, fresh pizza with a large choice of toppings. The insiders ask for their home-made hot sauce, making it even better. I've tried others (The Kro's Nest) but once was enough. Nearby The Tree also serves the same pizza but the transport from The Tree takes away its freshness. For all of us - it's the best, not only in Beijing! And ask for a "Bolleke", the typical beer from Antwerp. All is well..."

The runner-up was CapitalVisions, with his amusingly sardonic review of same establishment:

For what is Belgium famous?
a. oil production
b. pizza
c. none of the above
Based on eating The Tree's pizza the answer is (a). Their pizzas are oilier than a mechanic's overalls. Many people will tell you that The Tree has the best pizza in town. Ignore them. In no way is it the worst in Beijing - that honour goes to Origus - but these Belgians should have stuck to peddling the wares of their beer brewing brethren.

Despite taking a hammering in some reader reviews, The Kro’s Nest remains a hot favorite, but lost it's top place according to reader ratings to the new pizza king: Pyro Pizza.

The new five most popular pizza joints, based on places with three or more reader reviews are:

1. Pyros Pizza
2. The Kro's Nest
3. Hutong Pizza
4. Danger Doyle's
5. Agrilandia Pizzeria

Which means Pizza Buona has lost it's place in the top five, replaced by Agrilandia Pizzeria.

If you missed out on the beijinger Food Fight launch, check out the rules here.

This weeks Food Fight is…

AMERICAN FOOD!

Here are the top four places based on those with three or more reader reviews:

1. Union Bar and Grille
2. Peter's Tex-Mex Grill
3. Chef Too
4. Let's Burger
5. Tim's Texas Bar-B-Q

As an Australian, I’m not even sure exactly what constitutes American food – but I’m sure there’s lots of yanks out there willing to tell me.

So fight!

This week’s competition will last a fortnight due to the October National Day holiday. Results will be announced on the beijinger blog on Wednesday, October 14.
Here’s sample of honorable mentions in last week’s pizza Food Fight.

Best pop reference in a review goes to doughboy and his review of The Kro's Nest:
Kro’s Gongti location induces vague nostalgia among Americans because it has the look and feel of Arnold's Diner in Happy Days – Potsie, one feels certain, is about to make a clumsy entrance. Unfortunately, the pizza base is sinfully soggy because it is drenched in a sickly sweet tomato sauce upon which the ingredients slither and slide. With each bite, the super-sized pie becomes increasingly unappetizing – unless, like so many other patrons, you are drunk.

Most amusingly ambivalent review goes to "lodgerly" and his/her review of The Kro's Nest:
As a Chinese person, I'm not a big fan of pizza, most of time I'd be more than happy to stay with my hotpot, chuar and er guo tou. But since one of my friends started working there as a manager, we visited that place a lot, not originally for its pizza, but to support him. Every time, we ended up filling ourselves with their huge pizza and those mei nv beers until no one wanted to even look at the pizza any more. Then we regretted, pissed off, blamed this place and spit in their nice courtyard while burping, and next time came back again and did the same thing. I'm getting fat...and still not sure if I love this place or not.

And props to "Gillian" for the most concise review of the competition, with this assessment of Red House:

It's really good.