Pizza Cup Bracket B Taste-Off Preview: The International Club

The Beijingers | Nov 23, 2021 5:33 pm | Add a comment | 154 reads

Our 2021 Pizza Cup moves onward this Saturday, Nov 27, into the Bracket B Taste-Off at Georgia’s Feast – and this bout is looking to be a decidedly international contest.

Forno, purveyors of markedly classic Roman-style pizzas, square off against the Italian yet unconventional pies of Pizza Saporita, those of Gung Ho! – who’ll be taking voters’ taste buds to New Zealand – and American-based international brand Papa John’s.

Without further ado, here’s a look at the four contestants and the pizzas they’ll be bringing out this Saturday, 11.30am-2.30pm:

First there’s the aforementioned Forno, who will be showcasing one of their new Roman-style flatbread pizzas, La Regina, which sees a rustic focaccia flat bread topped with sauce, mozzarella, arugula, tomatoes and Italian ham.

Forno made its debut last year in the Cup and made it all the way to #10.

Pizza Saporita will be presenting their Forest pizza, a pie topped with walnuts, mushrooms, sausage and a drizzle of truffle oil.

Saporita, which was born in Beijing as Pizza Plus and one of the first-ever capital pizzerias to sell pizza by the slice, came away with the top slot in 2019 and was last year’s runner-up.

Gung Ho! is going out on a limb (lamb?) with their Lord of the Lambs pie – a thin crust pizza topped with the usual suspects of red sauce and mozzarella but with the added twang of goats cheese, arugula, and New Zealand lamb.

Gung Ho! traces its storied history to its founding by New Zealanders in 2010 and has won the Pizza Cup an astounding three times: 2014, 2015 and 2018.

Last but not least is Papa John’s — this year’s dark horse, an international chain pizza that has snuck its way into the Sweet 16 after placing 24th in last year’s poll. They're bringing their PAPA Supreme, a classic supreme pizza, decked out with salami, ham, pepperoni, sausage, peppers and olives. Doesn’t get more decadent than this.

Scan the QR Code Below to Buy Tickets Now!

The best of these four will be decided this Saturday, which leaves only two more Bracket Taste-Offs to go:

Bracket C Final – Saturday, Dec 4
Annie's安妮意大利餐厅
Q Mex Bar & Grill库迈墨西哥餐吧
La Pizza那匹萨
The Local

Bracket D Final – Saturday, Dec 11
Great Leap Brewing大跃啤酒
Jing-A Brewing Co.京A
Pizza Show披萨秀
Pyro Pizza火鬼餐吧

All of this will of course decide who moves on to the Pizza Cup Grand Final on Dec 18!

“But Editor, you wisecracking wordsmith”, you might say, “Why should I go to these tedious Taste-Offs, when I could just skip them and go to the Grand Final?”

To that, dear reader, I say this – these Taste-Offs offer you the chance to eat MORE pizza than if you just went to the Final, and you get to vote for your favorite one to be in it to win it.

Plus, tickets for the final are gonna sell fast, and we’ll give priority to those who have been to the Bracket Taste-Offs first, so better to go – or you risk not getting into the final at all.

Each of these is like a different pizza party every week leading up to Dec 18. Four different pies and different official Pizza Cup swag to take home every time, a welcome beer from Brooklyn Brewery, and – lest we forget – the Pizza Pentathlon!

Expect games like Tabletop Air Hockey, a whole new Pizza Trivia, Mini Curling and more, all with the chances for teams to win gold, silver, and bronze medals.

Individual seats are not available, but tables of two, four, and eight can be purchased for RMB 150 per person (or RMB 250 per person if you'd like to add the free-flow cocktails option: all-you-can-drink mojitos, Aperol spritzes, rose margaritas, Cuba Libres, and gin & tonics for the duration of the event).

Currently, we're not selling tickets to the Grand Final, however, tickets to all three preliminary taste-offs can be booked right now – and purchasers of preliminaries will get the first shot at tickets for the finals.