Pizza My Mind: Our Very Own Dining Editor Picks Great Leap, The Local, Pizza Express, and Bottega

In the run-up to the Beijinger's 2015 Pizza Cup (the Launch Party runs Saturday and Sunday, as if you didn't know), we've been asking Beijingers to tell us about their favorite pizza places. Now, it's my turn. 

You might think that as the Dining Editor I spend my life feasting on foie gras and while you wouldn't be completely off the mark, I do still eat "normal food" every now and then. I don't eat pizza that often, but when I do, I like to get it right. If you look very closely at the picture above, you can tell that I'm staring off into space dreaming of the elusive perfect pizza. Here's my pick of Beijing's best pies:

For a pint out with the gang:
"Great Leap, no contest. As ever, anything the great Kin Hong touches turns to gold, and the pizzas he put together for Great Leap Brewing #45 Brewpub (with the help of some kind of Brooklyn pizza champion, I forget the details) are no exception. I pretty much always coerce my dining companions into choosing the Little Nunzio (Dining Editor knows best, after all), to be washed down with a pint or two of Honey Ma Gold.

But for those midnight munchies that only grease will satisfy, it's got to be The Local. If you don't think of The Local as a pizza place then you're missing out. The large buffalo chicken and blue cheese pizza is the stuff that drunk dreams are made of – 20 solid inches of spicy chicken and piquant blue cheese. Just try not to drop it all down your shirt in your drunken haze (ahem, definitely not speaking from experience ...)." 

For when you want a taste of home:
"I should probably qualify by saying that I am not actually Italian, but as a Brit nothing says "a taste of home" like Pizza Express. The excitement among Beijing's British community was palpable when Pizza Express opened their first store in Taikoo Li last year. It may not be the best pizza in Beijing (although I do like the thin crusts), but the pies are nostalgia-inducingly similar to the ones produced by the branch of Pizza Express five-minutes walk away from my halls at uni. That's globalization for you, I suppose. Of course, any Brit worth their salt knows that the best thing on the menu at Pizza Express isn't the pizza; it's the dough balls with garlic butter for dipping.

A date with a significant other:
"Ah yes, dates, I vaguely remember those. The next time you're planning a date, subtly plant the idea in your date's head that they should take you to Bottega. It's casual, but not too casual, and not so expensive that you feel guilty letting them pick up the tab (and they say romance is dead). The Napoli-style pizzas themselves are pretty darn delicious and the perfect size for sharing. If you're looking for something to keep the conversation flowing, order the fetchingly black-hued activated charcoal crust."

Would you like to be profiled as part of the Pizza My Mind series? Fill out our online questionnaire here. Prefer to respond to these questions orally? Send us an email at info@thebeijinger.com with your phone number and a good time to reach you and we will call you back to interview you over the phone.

Photo: Robynne Tindall