Side Street Claims 2024 Juicy Burger Cup Victory

Katie Coy, Managing Editor | Jun 13, 2024 4:55 pm | Add a comment | 181 reads

After crunching the rankings from our panel of burger experts from all walks of life, Side Street -- the 2020 champion of the cup -- has retaken the crown as Beijing's Best Burger for 2024.

Coming in a close second was relative newcomer Dosh Gastropub, followed by multi-year champion Slowboat to round out the city's best three.

Wild Kite (last year's #8) came in fourth, while last year’s Juicy Burger Cup Champion Q Mex, came in at a respectable fifth place.

This year, we conducted our annual Juicy Burger Cup a little differently: First, the masses voted to determine who would enter the Sweet 16, and this list was then passed on to a panel of experts for ranking from 1 to 16.

Our panel was distilled from a list of over 120 people from all walks of Beijing life who applied to be a panelist. Each applicant was screened to ensure they were unbiased and also had tried enough Beijing burgers to be considered an expert. We also strived to choose a balance of nationalities on the panel, selecting half from China and half from overseas.

The one area in which our panel was not very representative of the population as a whole was in sex: three out of four burger-lovers who applied to choose the champion were male; and in the end a disproportionately small number of women ended up responding to the call on the expert panel.

In the end, 26 qualified experts ranked their favorites from 1-16 (leaving off any burger places they have not been to).

A weighted average was calculated for each contestant, with proportional extra weight given to establishments that were ranked #1, #2, or #3 by each expert.

Apparent in the votes was the massive spread of tastes amongst our panel. Ten out of the top 16 received first-place votes; and only two -- Side Street and runner-up Dosh -- had five or more first-place ballots.

Clearly, our burger expert panel were big fans of Side Street, and some elements they highlighted were Side Street’s culinary creativity and sheer volume of variety as well as the high quality of their signature burgers such as The K.O., which was mentioned multiple times. Here are a few quotes from the experts themselves:

“Side Street is to high-quality specialty burgers what Great Leap is to the classic. If Great Leap is Beethoven then Side Street is Miles Davis. They are the free-spirited jazz musicians, the disc scratchers, the burger-bastardizers who leave the classics indelibly changed and leave us eagerly awaiting whatever they come up with next.” -- Lukas

“Side Street goes above and beyond what most of these other contestants offer: variety. Not only are Side Street’s burgers consistently delicious, but they also have such a wide variety of tastes and flavors that anyone, in my opinion, could find accessible. Side Street is the type of venue you should bring friends to.” -- Tim C.

“Sidestreet’s K.O. Burger is a top-notch classic with ample meat and a perfect balance of flavors.” -- Strucky

This is Side Street’s second time winning the cup after a surprise victory back in 2020 which saw them beat out burger stalwart Slowboat to claim their first title. Over the years they’ve become one of the city’s burger heavyweights, with numerous creative offerings, with a whopping 16 burgers on menu. Some fan favorites to watch out for are The K.O., the Squatter, the Headless Chicken and their vegan burger The Hutong Hipster.

They constantly push envelope flavor-wise, with their exclusive burger for the recent Juicy Burger Fest being a prime example. Named the Hanoi Heat, it was inspired by Vietnamese cuisine and featured an Angus beef patty, grilled pineapple, fresh bell peppers, sweet-and-sour pickled carrots and daikon, peanut sauce, coriander and sriracha for a spicy kick.

Congratulations to Side Street on their second victory, may their buns be ever toasted and patties perfectly seasoned!

Tomorrow we’ll have a full rundown of the Top 16 for 2024 as well as a look at our panel of experts but for now you can see the ranking of the Top 16 below:

#1 Side Street 街旁
#2 DOSH GASTROPUB 到时精酿餐吧
#3 SLOWBOAT 悠航
#4 Wild Kite Brewing 野风筝
#5 Q MEX 库迈
#6 Burge's Bistro & Bar 小伯格酒馆
#7 Great Leap Brewing 大跃啤酒
#8 Jing-A 京A
#9 Home Plate BBQ
#10 Beersmith Gastropub 鲜啤吧
#11 Slider Nation 小堡邦
#12 Shake Shack
#13 blue frog 蓝蛙
#14 Goose Island Taproom 鹅岛精酿啤酒餐厅
#15 Circle Urban 圆场
#16 Ye Brewing 野鹅微醺

And here’s a refresher of previous Juicy Burger Cup winners:

2011: Blue Frog蓝蛙
2012: Home Plate BBQ本垒烤肉
2013: Home Plate BBQ本垒烤肉
2014: Home Plate BBQ本垒烤肉
2015: Slowboat 悠航鲜啤
2016: Slowboat 悠航鲜啤
2017: Q MEX 库迈
2018: Slowboat 悠航鲜啤
2019: Slowboat 悠航鲜啤
2020: Side Street 街旁
2021: Slowboat 悠航鲜啤
2022: Slowboat 悠航鲜啤
2023: Q MEX 库迈
2024: Side Street 街旁

Our Sponsor

This year’s Juicy Burger Cup is brought to you by Heinz Selection and here are a few words from them:

"Heinz Selection was created as an initiative to connect the best local and independent burger houses to consumers worldwide. As of 2023, it has spread to 22 countries around the world, enabling burger restaurants to tempt more fans through their doors.

Since entering the Chinese market in 2022, it has cooperated with many well-known burger restaurants like Fat Cow, Johnny Moo, Mr. Rocky and others, launching several limited-time-offered burgers like the Christmas Tree Burger, Rainbow Burger or Western Legend Beef Burger.

As an official brand, Heinz Selection works to benefit a multitude of burger restaurants while also exposing people to the world’s favorite burger sauce. By collaborating with burger restaurants to bring novel and special Western food experiences to them, it also enables customers to learn more about Heinz’s portfolio and their capacity for innovation."

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