Pizza Cup Sweet 16: Creative Underdogs Outdo Old-Time Favorites

The Beijingers | Oct 29, 2019 3:00 pm | Add a comment | 291 reads

The big brands have lost out in this round of Pizza Cup 2019.

A series of upsets reflects the changing taste buds of Beijingers, who a decade ago were happy to lay their hands on a decent piece of pepperoni. It seems that nowadays, the classics don't always cut it.

In the biggest surprise of the round, Turkish Feast rode the wave of public support that began at the Pizza Fest, and continued with a fun Game of Thrones-themed get-out-the-vote campaign to unseat Kro’s Nest, who ever since their 2011 victory in our first-ever Pizza Cup has slowly retreated from the hearts of our readers. These aren’t the Turkish delights from the Chronicles of Narnia: pide flatbread with a butter and olive oil glaze holds mozzarella cheese and tomatoes, topped with tenderloin beef in a dish that actually predates Italian pizza. (Don’t worry, vegetarians – there’s a spinach, mushroom, and feta version too). Along with their egg-hearted Georgian Khachapuri, Turkish Feast must be proud that these pizza predecessors have pipped their popular Peking opponents at the post.

In another close bout, Oh Yeah Brewing just managed to overtake 3 Little Pigs, securing themselves a place as the third brewery in the Sweet 16, alongside the new oven-fired pizza of Jing-A Taproom and pizza incumbent Great Leap Brewing. At the Pizza Festival, 3 Little Pigs was slinging French Bread Pizzas, while Oh Yeah was wowing the crowd with their King of Mushrooms Truffle and Oh Yeah! Windmill Pizza.

Quadrilateral battlers Pizza Saporita and Pie Squared have also advanced to the next round, making this the first time in Pizza Cup history that two square pizzas have met head-to-head in the Sweet 16.

All in all, that leaves us with 5 venues who have stepped into the Sweet 16 for the first time – Baozza, MIAM MIAM, Turkish Feast, Jing-A Taproom and Oh Yeah Brewing. The full match breakdown is as follows:

Gung Ho! ousted Lily's American Diner
Annie's axed Pizza Marzano
Great Leap Brewing gained over Pyro Pizza
Baozza bested Domino's Pizza
Pizza Saporita dominated Laker's
La Pizza defeated Saizeriya
MIAM MIAM annihilated Papa John's
Pie Squared won out against The Rug
Bottega beat Green Cow City Cafe
Turkish Feast took out Kro's Nest
Jing-A Taproom jumped ahead of Yummy Box
Eatalia Eatalia flattened TIAGO
Q MEX Bar&Grill destroyed The Cheesecake Factory
Tube Station squeaked by Paddy O'Shea's
The Local trumped Pizza Hut
Oh Yeah! Brewing hurdled ahead of 3 Little Pigs by Andy's Craft Sausages

Sweet 16 battles to look out for

Boazza was a hit with Pizza Festival attendees, but can it outdo reigning champion Gung Ho! Pizza? Who will win in the Italian face-off between Bottega and Eatalia? Can MIAM MAIM’s festival showing take it past La Pizza?

The decision is entirely in your hands: You have until Friday to select which contenders will make it into the Elite Eight.

Scan the QR Code below with WeChat to Vote in 2019's Pizza Cup Sweet 16 Ballot!

Official Sweet 16 matchups

Stats Breakdown

Meanwhile, in other important pizza-related news, in the battle of the crusts, thin crusts (26 percent) are favored in the hearts of our respondents, while thick crust (11 percent) and stuffed crust (10 percent) were a distant second and third, followed by the non-traditional pizza bread like bagels and pita (both at 4 percent).

As for Italian familiarity, respondents are mostly acquainted with large brands of coffee (Illy – 20 percent), pasta (Barilla – 18 percent) and sparkling water (S. Pelligrino – 23 percent) from the Mediterranean peninsula.

In an interesting cultural gap, Chinese language respondents mostly named fruit when asked what came to mind when they thought of a veggie pizza, while English language respondents mostly named vegetables. Many others also responded with the keywords “gross”, “bland” and “soggy”, to which we say: you just haven't had good veggie pizza!

The rankings so far

As always, we also asked you to rank the pizzas that did not make it into the Round of 32. Here's your take, which gives each of these contestants their final rankings in the 2019 Pizza Cup:

33. Plan B
34. Luga's
35. 1st Floor
36. Georgia's Feast
37. Tribe
38. Big Pizza
39. Mao Mao Chong
40. The Veggie Table
41. Pizza Factory
42. Grandma's Kitchen
43. Xian at East, Beijing
44. Mr Pizza
45. Fiume
46. Scott's Family Ristorante Italiano
47. Legend Beer
48. Eudora Station
49. Tavola Italian Dining
50. Lievito Gourmet Pizza and Bar
51. Jazz-Ya
52. NBeer Pub
53. Assaggi
54. Charlie's
55. The Mozza
56. Bocca Della Verita
57. MIO, Four Seasons Hotel
58. Fella's
59. Pizza Now
60. Cafe Ruhe
61. La Cucina
62. Pizza by LMPlus
63. Ponte
64. BUONA BOCCA Italian Bistro
65. Ummm Kitchen
66. Joe's Bar & Kitchen
67. La Mezzaluna
68. QS
69. Peiping Machine
70. Peter Pan
71. Casa Gusto
72. Nine Road Pizzeria
73. Via Roma, Kempinski Hotel
74. Red Rose
75. Unico
76. Dongli Brewery
77. Nasca Cafe
78. Jushi Pizza
79. PIZZA FUOCO
80. CUP ONE
81. MustGuette
82. PBD Pizza Bar
83. Bene
84. Passby Bar
85. Pinvita
86. Flypizza & Hoodadak Chicken
87. Leos Pizza
88. Hisewel Brew-pub
89. Pomona
90. Agrilandi
91. Casalingo
92. Whale's Pizza
93. BLT
94. Byone
95. RADICI
96. Tomcado
97. Atta BJ
98. Four Aces
99. PIZZAgram

Knockout Round Schedule

Round of 32: Voting opens Friday, Oct 25, 3pm
Sweet 16: Tuesday, Oct 29, 3pm
Elite Eight: Friday, Nov 1, 3pm
Final Four: Tuesday, Nov 5, 3pm
Championship Round: Friday, Nov 8, 3pm
Beijing's Best Pizza crowned: Tuesday, Nov 12, 4pm

So what are you waiting for? Get voting!

Sherpa’s, the official sponsor of the 2019 Beijing Pizza Cup, are offering new users RMB 50 off (min. spend RMB 99) food delivery and RMB 10 off any movie ticket purchased through the Sherpa's App. Simply scan the QR below and follow the instructions.