Sweet Cheeses! Here Are Beijing’s Top 12 Pizzas

Another pizza season has come and gone, and with it, the capital’s foodies have spoken: Over the course of the last six weeks, Beijingers took advantage of city-wide discount deals, indulged in a two-day pizza binge, and cast votes for their favorite pies and pizza spinoffs.

RELATED: Burger Cup Recapped: Beijing’s Top 12 Burgers

The pièce de résistance is our list of the Top 12 Pizzas in Beijing. Considering we started with over 160 pizza makers, these exceptional pizzerias are a rare breed indeed. Anyone who wants to call themselves a foodie must try all 12! So next time the urge for a slice strikes (and you know it will), understand that you can’t go wrong by heading to any of the following restaurants.

12: PizzaView
Helmed by Chef Marino D’Antonio, PizzaView specializes in Roman-style deli pizza in the chic backdrop of Parkview Green. Available by the slice, PizzaView ferments its imported dough – the same used at neighboring Opera Bombana – for roughly 30 hours. The end result: a divine crust, dabbed with liberal amounts of olive oil, that’s both thick and crispy.

11: Pie Squared
This Shunyi favorite serves Detroit-style pies hallmarked by a crusty thickness and worth-fighting-over edges. Pie Squared owner, Asher Gillespie, says: “We spread cheese all the way to the edges of the pans. As the pizzas bake, cheese slowly melts down the sides and forms a deliciously caramelized upper rim of crust.” Available in various rectangular pan-sized servings, their must-try pies include the pepperoni-topped The Grand and their signature Motown Meatball.

10: The Tree
A Sanlitun stalwart, The Tree has been plying pizza in our fair city for more than a decade longer than many others on this list. The ultimate pub pizza, The Tree’s contributions are cheese-covered, thin-crust masterpieces that go perfectly with a Belgian beer.

9: Pizza+
When it comes to pizza by the slice, also known as pizza al taglio, Pizza+ is a cut above. Overseen by master chef Fabrizio Montori, and with four locations scattered across Chaoyang district, their rectangular-shaped wares are both varied and reasonably-priced. Their specialty, the Forest Pizza (RMB 20 per slice), topped with sausage, mushrooms, walnuts and truffle cream, won Montori first place in the 2011 World Pizza Games.

8: Eatalia
Balancing affordability with quality ingredients, Eatalia is by no means pretentious when it comes to their Roman-style fare, espousing instead the simplicity of family-style Italian recipes. If you’re a fan of margherita pizzas, Eatalia does a gourmet version, aptly named the Eatalia Margherita. Their premium take on perhaps the most recognized of pizzas includes slices of fresh tomato, buffalo mozzarella, dried oregano, basil leaves, and a generous touch of extra virgin olive oil from Tuscany.

7: Great Leap #45
Specializing in New York-style pizzas, Great Leap #45 doesn’t disappoint when it comes to the most heavenly of food pairings: pizza and craft beer. GLB #45 also happens to be a favorite of our dining contributing editor, Robynne Tindall, who states: “I pretty much always coerce my dining companions into choosing the Little Nunzio, to be washed down with a pint or two of Honey Ma Gold.”

6: Tube Station
Though they proudly serve Beiijng’s largest pizza – a whopping 32 inches – Tube Station offers a lot more than just size. Grounded on the tenets of taste and affordability, their mozzarella-based lineup includes everything from the standard Old School Cheesy to the notorious Garbage Pail (which piles on, amazingly, every single one of their classic toppings).

5: La Pizza
As a perennial contender for Beijing’s best, La Pizza is very much a restaurant that specializes in indulgence. With their roots in the ancestral home of pizza, their hedonistic offerings include the Diavola Pie with its coating of grated Italian salami; the Salsiccia Piccante – spicy sausage pizza – which is sprinkled with fiery red peppers; and the Margherita pon Prosciutto Parma Prudo, topped with bundles of Parma ham.

4: Kro’s Nest
This former Pizza Cup champ (winning the coveted title back in 2011) is once again gaining traction among Beijing’s pizza lovers. Blending oversized American-style pizzas with a relaxed environment reminiscent of a student hangout, Kro’s Nest makes for the perfect setting to kick back with large group of friends. Additionally, their Chicken Alfredo Pizza is perhaps one of the city’s most underrated, as it blissfully incorporates roasted garlic and herb baked chicken with fresh basil, mozzarella and Parmesan cheese.

3: Gung Ho!
As a two-time top winner of the Pizza Cup (2014, 2015), this Kiwi-infused pizza parlor has already cemented itself – amongst both locals and foreigners alike – as a bona fide favorite. With a socially conscious operating procedure, and an ever evolving menu (their new autumn menu includes offerings such as the New Zealand Venison Pizza), innovation seems second nature to these foodie pioneers. Furthermore, their RMB 59 all-you-can-eat lunch buffet is arguably one of the best deals in town.

2: Annie’s
Annie’s second-place showing – for the second year in a row – is a clear testament to their reasonable prices, great service, and unbelievably quick and reliable delivery service. Their bestselling pizza is the eponymous Annie's Pizza, topped with sausage, bacon, and oh-so-slightly spicy salami. However, if you’re looking to indulge, try the Truffle Pizza, which includes black truffle paste topped with parma ham, fresh mozzarella, and freshly shaved black truffles.

1: Bottega
Serving rustic Italian fare in a contemporary environment, Bottega’s generationally-honed recipes have won it a place in the hearts and palates of many of our readership. What exactly makes its pizza the city’s best? One word: crust. Bottega’s custom-built, wood-fired oven helps create a sublimely textured contrast in the crust – thin in places, thick in others, lightly crispy, and insatiably chewy.

Their most creative and namesake pizza, the Bottega (12 inches, RMB 118), doesn’t skimp on quality ingredients. Layered with tomatoes grown in the volcanic soils at the base of Mount Vesuvio, the Bottega is topped with Fior di latte Mozzarella and a huge Burrata cheese, positioned smack-dab in the middle of the pie.

Images courtesy of the venues