2020 Pizza Cup Recap: Beijing's 12 Best Pizzas, as Voted by You

So, without further ado, below are the cut-out-and-keep, bookmark-in-your-browser, favorite-in-WeChat list of the top 12 pizza purveyors in Beijing.

La Pizza has maintained a strong and steady fanbase throughout its dozen years in Beijing through the use of imported ingredients, wood-fired pies, and authentic Italian toppings. Everything at La Pizza comes from Napoli: the owner, the oven, the chef, and the ingredients, including the flour, the peeled tomatoes, the mozzarella, and even the salt. This process is expedited by the fact that they have their own supply network, the "only way to guarantee 100 percent of our ingredients are strictly monitored."

10. Forno

Doing as the Romans do, the pizzas are pre-prepared on the day of and fired up in the oven upon ordering, yet the slices stay perfectly fresh. Don’t worry too much about the carbs, because you can burn them off at the late-night DJ parties held on Wednesdays at their Sanlitun location.

9. Tube Station

At Tube Station, bigger is better, their largest pizza stretching an incredible 36 inches. With this motto alone, the chain has become a Beijing staple, serving their oversized and indulgent pizzas throughout the city. Tube Station remains one of Beijing's oldest and most popular locally-owned pizzerias and that long-running history has earned them a reputation that now translates into nostalgia.

8. Jing-A Taproom Longfusi

Jing-A's new Longfusi Taproom made a clear impression on the Pizza scene when it opened last year, and that momentum seems to have carried onto the next. The Taproom serves sourdough pizzas, created by executive chef Simone Thompson. The passion for fermentation that has made Jing-A’s beers so accomplished is apparent here too, with a dough that is left to rise slowly overnight before being tossed into the high-temperature brick oven. That slow rise gives the dough a complex flavor and a bubbly texture akin to Neapolitan-style pizza.

While the basic Margherita (RMB 75) is undoubtedly tasty, the best pizzas see the kitchen flexing their creative muscles. The Yunnan wild mushroom (RMB 90) is as good a white pizza as we have had in Beijing, topped with a generous and fragrant scattering of mushrooms and black truffle shavings. And if you think that pineapple has no place on a pizza, then you might change your mind after trying the Lao Gan Ma’s Luau (RMB 100), which features char siu pork, spicy Lao Gan Ma barbecue sauce, and roasted fermented pineapple.

7. Annie's

That delivery service brings hot-out-of-the-oven pizzas to your door in what sometimes seems like mere minutes. Their pizzas tend towards simple, classic combinations such as ham and mushrooms or four cheese, although we also rate their more creative options, such as the pizza leggera (S: RMB 65, L: RMB 75), which eschews mozzarella cheese in favor of rucola, marinated cherry tomatoes, Parma ham, and Parmesan cheese. Annie's is also constantly changing and improving what they do so as to introduce customers to Italian culture and its many flavors, so expect to see regular specials on their menu for both dine-in and delivery.

Opened by the brains behind Wudaokou stalwarts Lush and Pyro, Gung Ho started delivering pies with their eye-catching pink and black-bedecked drivers in 2010. Ten years on, they have slipped a bit in the rankings after their third-time victory in 2018 but nevertheless remain one of Beijing's most popular pizza purveyors for their pies that balance traditional and modern flavors, with healthy twists.

5. Pie Squared

Those that are lucky enough to live close to Pie Squared praise owner Asher Gillespie's warm demeanor and his "taste of home" authentic Detroit-style pizzas. That pizza in itself is noteworthy for its square shape, a byproduct of spare industrial parts trays being used to bake the pizzas back in 1940s Detroit, according to the city's lore. First-timers may want to grab a Motown Meatball (S: RMB 55, XL: RMB 148) and then branch out to Pie Squared's specialty pizzas or experiment by creating their own topping combinations when you come back for more (which you most certainly will).

Images courtesy of the venues