It’s official: your 2014 Pizza Cup Champion is and favorite pizza in Beijing is Gung Ho! Gourmet Pizza Kitchen.
After a grueling month-long battle against 64 Beijing pizza parlors, Gung Ho! was elected the ‘Jing’s Best Pizza in the Beijinger’s 2014 Pizza Cup, with a narrow victory over boozy pizza slinger The Tree, which had a respectable showing and ends the cup as the runner-up.
In the battle for third place, also decided in the last round of voting, Eatalia overcame a challenge from The Rug to secure the bronze.
All in all over 4,000 votes were cast, with nearly 25 percent of them tossed due to ineligibility or because they were ruled to be lame attempts at ballot stuffing.
This year’s contest was our first to utilize weighted balloting, our attempt to level the playing field in matches that featured competitors of different sizes. In tabulating the winners, restaurants with multiple locations had to have won with a larger margin of victory if they faced off against smaller competitors.
It’s been a long wait for their chance in the top slot for Gung Ho!, who was the runner-up in our only previous Pizza Cup, held three years ago. In that match Gung Ho! was in the finals but placed second to Kro’s Nest.
Gung Ho! kicked off the Pizza Cup with participation in our first-ever Pizza Festival (photos here and here), impressing the crowd with their on-site acumen in serving up slices without delay to the hungry crowd.
They then went on to best some of the top names in Beijing’s pizza scene on their way to the top: Domino’s, Hutong Pizza, Pizza+, La Pizza, The Rug, and finally The Tree. Along the way they proved that their smooth decor, excellent delivery, and Chinese takes on the classics are a winning formula.
We hope you had a great time during the 2014 Pizza Cup, and that you didn’t put on too many extra pounds, given the vast majority of you claim to have eaten more pizza and drank more beer than usual over the past month.
Stay tuned to our blog over the next few days as we bring details of any celebrations that may be planned by our new champions.
Finally, a salute to everyone plying the pizza trade in Beijing. We’re spoiled for choice here, and what with the bad traffic, shitty air, inhospitably cruel winters and roasting hot summers, we owe a real debt of gratitude to those that deliver.
And if you just can’t get enough, catch up with all our Pizza Cup content here, ranging from how to make your perfect Chinese-style pizza to where to get your next cheesy hit.
Our Final Rankings in the 2014 Pizza Cup:
Overall Champion: Gung Ho! Pizza
Champion, Bar/Café Pizza: The Tree
Champion, Mid-Range Restaurant Pizza: Eatalia
Champion, Fine Dining Pizza: The Rug
Champion, Pizza Specialists: Gung Ho! Pizza
2014 Rankings:
1. Gung Ho! Pizza
2. The Tree
3. Eatalia
4. The Rug
5. La Pizza
6. Alio Olio
7. Sugar Shack
8. Kitchen Igosso
9. Pizza Plus
10. Mao Mao Chong
11. Vineyard Café
12. La Dolce Vita
13. Annie’s
14. Tube Station
15. Bang! Bang! Pizza
16. Mio, Four Seasons Hotel
17. The Kro’s Nest
18. Pizza Express
19. Hutong Pizza
20. Sureño, The Opposite House
21. Tavola
22. Pie Squared
23. The Irish Volunteer
24. Stuff’d
25. Scott’s Family Ristorante Italiano
26. Isola
27. Peter Pan
28. 1st Floor
29. Lily’s American Diner
30. LMPlus
31. Luga’s Little Italy
32. The Local
33. Papa John’s Pizza
34. New York Pizza
35. Xian Bar
36. Domino’s
37. The Den
38. Frost
39. Pizza Buona
40. Pizza Hut
41. The Veggie Table
42. Ramo
43. Twilight
44. Mrs. Shanen’s
45. Yummy Box
46. Lakers
47. Charlie’s
48. Grandma’s Kitchen
49. Nanjie
50. Loft Eatalicious
51. Matta
52. Peter’s Tex-Mex
53. FA Cafe
54. Time Cafe
55. Fratelli Fresh
56. Agrilandia
57. Flypizza & Hoodadak Chicken
58. Via Roma
59. Elisa’s
60. Passby Bar
61. Abella
62. Bene
63. Prego
64. WhaleWell Pizzeria
65. Red House
66. (tie) Hercules
66. (tie) M+ Café
66. (tie) Nasca Cafe
67. Paddy O’Shea’s
68. PBD Pizza Bar
69. Pizza Maru
70. Bella Vista
71. (tie) Alba
71. (tie) Parkside Bar & Grill
71. (tie) Windy City
71. (tie) The Yard
72. Amigo Pizza
73. Paro
74. Sarpino’s Pizzeria
75. Fuel
This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on November 24, 2014.
Photo: The Beijinger
