Shake Shack Has a New Burger, but Is It All You Avo Wanted?
Summer has just barely started and we’ve already been through two rounds of business closures. Oh boy! Finding out what’s open (and for how long!) is a joy I partook of recently when I was in search of a…
…Shake Shack! It can’t all be fine dining here, folks. Funnily enough, I am actually not that familiar with the brand. For a long time, Shake Shack was the stuff of Buzzfeed fast food personality tests for this Spaniard. I hate phone calls and I prefer big cities to mountain cabins, so clearly I’m some fries from a burger joint I’d never set foot in, you know?
I know, they’ve been in Beijing for a while. But, they had massive queues, and then people said it was actually not that amazing, so…yeah.
Fast forward to last week! I went to Indigo Mall in order to sample Shake Shack’s newest addition to their menu — the Avocado Bacon Burger! However, dear reader, it won’t be around forever; only until Aug 13. Now, vegetarians might be baffled that a burger touting fresh, ripe avocado as the star guest ingredient does not have a meat free option, but alas this is the case.
For the rest of us, bacon will be getting chummy with a choice of either beef (enhanced by their signature Shack sauce) or fried chicken, amped up with cucumber and cilantro mayonnaise. Both run for RMB 69 sans fries. Per our managing editor’s suggestion, I rounded up my order with their equally brand new Strawberry Yuzu Lemonade (RMB 24). This is also a limited edition item, only available until Jul 11. Grab ‘em while you can! But read this here review first if you’d like.
First things first, kudos to Shake Shack staff at the Indigo shop. They went out of their way to hand me over an English menu, just in case I’d have needed one, informed me of the limited edition status of my meal and asked if I wanted to take a pic with their themed photoshoot props they had for the promotion (no!).
Also, here’s a fun story: I am actually not a huge fan of pork products. Yup, that would include bacon. In case you’re wondering, yes I was there mostly for the avocado side of the experience. The staff were happy to accommodate my despicable picky eater quirks and then included the bacon on the side, on a separate paper baggie, “because the burger kinda really goes better with it”. Aw. I still don’t like bacon but that’s super sweet.
Certainly, my Avocado Beef Bacon Burger wasn’t the pits. The Shack sauce definitely belonged in there, and the beef patty was cooked just right. Surely the cheese was just your good ole American melty stuff, but anyway, the star here was the avocado, and a generous, ripe slice at that. I did munch some bacon with a bite of my burger and I will admit it did balance it all while adding some crunchiness. Because here’s the thing — all in all, the Avocado Burger was allripe but did not guac my world.
As I ate it and listened to Harry Styles’ music in the background, I couldn’t help but think of some food writer’s diss on Shake Shack that I’d coincidentally seen online days ago: “It’s just all so soft!” It truly was. From the milk bread reminiscent bun to just the overall texture, there are just better, local options out there for you to chomp on, particularly for this price tag, and they’ll maybe even add a side of fries.
I like finishing on a positive note, and it’s certainly not difficult with Shake Shack’s delicious Strawberry Yuzu Lemonade. I feel as though this citrus fruit has become one of the most recent darlings of the food trend world, and here it’s paired with strawberry purée and “Shack-made lemonade” for a pleasantly refreshing beverage.
Do I want to know just how much sugar it packs? No, because I’d go back to the shack for another cup. Slurp on, my sweet summer childe.
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Images by Ana Padilla Fornieles
