Multinational Rockers One Hung Low Feast on The Den, Pizza Plus, Annie's, and La Pizza

We're down to a mere 16 contenders in the 2015 Pizza Cup and continue to query Beijingers from all walks of life on their pizza preferences with our Pizza My Mind series.

In this edition, we talk to the Beijing-based band One Hung Low, whose members hail from France, Australia, the US, and China.

"We all come from very different backgrounds, we like rock and roll, pizza, and bourbon," says bandmember Toni Picot, who recalls 10 years of pizza-eating experience here in Beijing.

"It all started with The Den, still one of the good pizzas in town, super thin crust and tasty ingredients, though its often a fairly drunken experience," he recalls. "Annie's was helping for a while, and then came La Pizza, and as we're all fans of the real Italian experience over the USA style it was a blast.

"Hutong Pizza then became our favorite since we hangout around Houhai a lot and they're about the only ones to deliver deep into the hutong maze.

The last couple of years was easily dominated by Pizza Plus, good prices, awesome ingredients, great selection, super fast delivery and good frequent customer rewards. About the best deal if you balance quality, price, and convenience."

Here's a lineup of some of the band's current favorites, circa 2015:

For a pint out with the gang (aka when drinking is as important to the evening as eating):
The Den. Good choice of pizza with extra thin crust, not too much topping but just enough to deliver a ton of flavor. And then obviously it's a drinking place, not necessarily the "pint out" type, more the "we're drunk out of our minds and it's 4am, where can we get food while we keep on pounding beer?" Service is average at best, especially if you go there late, and you might end up being accosted by girls who want to try your credit card. So yeah, a little seedy, but good for drunken times and very correct pizza. Not much to say about the feel of the place, it feels like a dive bar to me, but why would you trust a drunk with his taste for decoration?

When you are introducing friends who have never tried pizza before:
Pizza Plus. The locations are super tiny but some of them have outside areas with comfortable seating. The good thing for people who don't really know pizza is that they sell it by the slice, so you can try plenty of different ones without stuffing yourself too much. I don't have enough words to describe the quality of the crust and the ingredients used, as well as the quantity of toppings. We ordered from there for our Chinese band member as he had only had USA or Chinese style pizza before, and I'm pretty sure he won't come back to those any time soon. Every time we have a late gig or practice he's the first one to mention pizza plus delivery for dinner!

For an important business meeting where money is no object:
La Pizza. Great location, classy looking place, outstanding menu, including drinks. We once had to take the Hengda Guangzhou Football club management to dinner, when Marcello Lippi was still their coach. (A band mamber's friend was his personal translator so two of us ended up in charge of their Beijing experience). Most of them were from Napoli, the birthplace of the pizza, and they were absolutely delighted. We kept ordering and had a great time. As we were about 20 people the staff had organized the room for us and were extremely friendly, even tho orders could have been processed faster or with more accuracy. The calzone pizza was most successful, generous cheese and tasty ham, and the crust just like it should be.

When you need to make the kids happy:
"Annie's, definitely. They have a kid's menu and a fairly large selection, so everybody can eat what they want, or we can put everything at the center of the table and share the food, Chinese style. The staff is friendly to the kids too so that's a plus. Pizza is ... right on par. The crust could maybe use a little more crusty-ness, and the ingredients are ok, but not exceptional. what's good is quantity, as they really put a lot of stuff on them. Four cheese is my favorite – hey, I'm French. As we've been to that place a number of time the manager is always sure to have a nice word for the kids and maybe a small glass of liquor for me at the end of the meal, which is a nice touch.

Hungry for more? Read more from the foodies of Beijing in our Pizza My Mind profiles here; and don't forget to mosey along over to our Pizza Profiles series to get a closer look at some of the best pies in town. Got some favorites of your own? Share them with us by filling out our Pizza My Mind questionnaire here.

Image courtesy of One Hung Low