The restaurant- The Tree; the tree is located down a dark side alley just off Sanlitun bar street in downtown Beijing. It is one of the oldest western owned places in Beijing. Originally it was called The Hidden Tree. Now it is just called The Tree but it is definitely hidden. I finally found it after wandering into an aparment complex and being pointed in the right direction by the security guards.
Ambience- It has its charms,but really is just a run down looking bar with red candles on all of the tables. A wood burning oven stands in the middle of the restaurant where you can watch the pizzas being made.
Service- Like most Beijing restaurants, service is adequate. As is the custom in China, no one comes to take your order until you get the server's attention. Apparently here the custom is to yell fuwuyuan (waiter) at the top of your lungs. That is what people were doing. The servers seemed more interested in showing off their new purses to each other than waiting tables. Once I had their attention, service was quick and efficient. Food was brought quickly and used dishes were cleared as needed.
Food- I can get over less than stellar service if the food is good. The Tree is supposedly the best pizza in Beijing. It is also known for its wide selection of imported Belgium beers. Being a pizza lover, I had to know if it would live up to the hype. I started with the cream of mushroom soup, a popular Beijing soup. It was very creamy and hot with just enough pieces of mushrooms. Much better than all the canned mushroom soups that so many other places serve, this was obviously homemade. After that I went for a pepporoni pizza. This comes with thick sliced pepperoni, green pepper and onion. The pizza arrived just minutes after ordering. They are cooked for just a few minutes in the wood burning oven. It reminded me of homemade pizza, the thin crust was not soggy, but just crispy enough, although a little hard to pick up. The sauce reminded me of Ragu, not necessarily a bad thing for me as I like Ragu; it is what I use when I make homemade pizza. This was all washed down with a cold glass of Hoegaarden. Is it the best in Beijng- certainly one of the best I have had.
The Tree Pizza, plenty left for lunch tomorrow!
The Price- My total bill came out to 130 yuan- about 17 dollars. This is a bit lower than most pizza places in town, albeit the pizza is a bit smaller too. I hear they have a great low priced lunch special- I will have to try it out next.
Total Sweet Potatos- 3 (The service does leave something to be desired.)
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