The Beijinger 2013 Burger Cup Finalist: Great Leap Brewpub

As we head into the home stretch, with the Beijinger 2013 Burger Cup culminating this Saturday (Aug 17) in the Beijinger 2013 Burger Festival at Beijing City International School (BCIS), we are profiling all of our finalists before they cook off, face-to-face, for the title.

Great Leap Brewpub
Having just won seven out of the eight Reader Bar and Club Awards for which it was nominated, Great Leap Brewing is the hot new sheriff in town. With the opening of their new brewpub off of Chunxiu Lu in June, they moved from hutong obscurity to home market mainstream, but have also started to make noise with their food menu, which was designed in cooperation with Kin Hong of the (now-shuttered) Taco Bar, consisting of straight-up pub classics.

The Burger: The Cheeseburger is two beef patties with two slices of cheddar cheese on each, served on a hamburger bun, with housemade pickles, "fancy sauce," and some mayonnaise on the bottom.

Price: RMB 50. Not too bad for that much meat and flavor.

Reader comment: "I really like their cheeseburger, its a good size, the meat tastes excellent, and at RMB50, it's a great price."

Why they could win it all: Great Leap Brewpub has been the 2013 Burger Cup's dark horse. They won all of their match-ups by significant margins. Their burger has had buzz for being a good combination of price and taste. But they're still a newcomer in a field of seasoned pros and will be facing both the 2011 and 2012 champions, along with five other tough competitors. They'll need a strong final push if they want to raise the Cup this weekend.

Photo: Cat Nelson/the Beijinger