2013 Burger Cup: Vineyard Cafe vs. Stuff'd

The Beijinger Burger Cup is back for another year and this your chance to vote for your favorite burgers before we arrange a face-to-face cook-off in August to determine the winner.

This year, we begin with Burger Battles: a series of face-offs pitting Beijing beef patties against each other. These will not necessarily reflect the ultimate match-ups in our Burger Cup bracket, but give burger fans and burger chefs an idea as to how the product may fare in the final competition.

Visit our website often for Burger Battles, updates on the Cup, and more on how you can participate in voting and other burger activities.

For Round Five, we take the fight westward to the hutongs, pitting Will Yorke against Will Yorke: Vineyard Cafe vs Stuff'd.

Burger Battle Five: Vineyard Cafe vs. Stuff'd

Vineyard Cafe
Well-known for its brunch and European fare, the Vineyard Cafe is a bit of a Wudaoying Hutong institution, around since before the area really took off. Their burgers are all served in a toasted ciabatta roll with lettuce and tomato. Orders include the choice of a fries or a small mixed salad. Extras of pickles, mayo, or raw onion slices are on the the house and there are a range of other fixings (egg, mushrooms, cheese, bacon) available to add for RMB 5-10. The menu lists only two options for doneness: medium-well or well-done. Weirdly, another option listed on the page is the choice to have your burger cut in half or into quarters. This seems counter to the real point of a burger to me (the weight of it in your hand, the satisfaction of biting into a massive lump of meat), but it's a harmless enough option that must have an audience.

The Burger:
The Vineyard offers four burger options: a beef burger (RMB 67), a cheeseburger (RMB 72), a bacon cheeseburger (RMB 78) and The "Bur"fect (RMB 83). The "Bur"fect appears to be their signature and also has the best name, and thus was the obvious choice. A bacon cheeseburger with the standard leaf of romaine lettuce and a slice of tomato, it also comes with pickles, mushrooms and a blue cheese sauce.

It's a good-looking burger with a thick patty and a heap of toppings. The meat was decent and classically blended with chopped onion before patty formation. But though the appearance got our hopes up, the texture and flavor were fairly satisfying but didn't quite reach the high heights we expected. The patty was a bit overcooked for our liking and the flavor was passable but not stunning. While the ciabatta bun was quite excellent on its own, as a meat holding device, it is perhaps not the best option. A bit like shoving a round peg in a square hole, the round patty didn't mesh well with the square roll, leaving excessive extra bread without meat. The accompanying crinkly fries were nothing to write home about, bland and somewhat soggy.

Price: RMB 83.

Stuff'd
Just around the corner from the Vineyard Cafe, this is the second venture of Will Yorke. Originally established as The Vine Leaf, this spring Thomas Gaedstadius (of Haze) teamed up with Yorke to transform the space into a new concept centered on the idea of "stuffed" food. While the menu consists predominately of housemade sausages and housebrewed beers, they do have one beef burger on offer.

The Burger:
The name is deceiving in its simplicity. The "Beef Burger" at Stuff'd comes, naturally, stuffed. Yes, the patty is beef, but inside is a oozing blend of three cheeses and crispy bacon. It's not the most handsome, a bit grey and oddly smooth, but it is gigantic and you're certainly getting your money's worth. The meat is reminiscent of the inside of sausage or perhaps, meatloaf, and I mean this all in the best of ways. Although purely beef (no onion filler), it is extremely flavorful. Plus the pleasure of hitting a center of cheese and bacon in the midst of a bunch of beef is undeniable.

The bun is an unconventional choice of a toasted housemade pita. The fixings are your standard lettuce, tomato and onion. The kitchen dresses the whole thing in a "special sauce" which I wasn't able to get further details on, but it's delicious. The fries were good, medium thickness and crispy on the outside.

Price: RMB 78.

The Decision
Stuff'd

While it was a close call, as you might hope with two ventures run by the same man, this was the case of the ugly duckling prevailing. While the Vineyard Cafe's burger was perfectly serviceable and on its own, there's not a terrible lot to complain about, it didn't stand up to the overabundance and excess found in the burger at Stuff'd, especially with the 5 kuai higher price point on an already expensive item.

I appreciate the unconventional bread choices of both establishments, though Stuff'd pushes it slightly further and it worked. The amount of meat that Stuff'd serves borders on absurd, so any more bread around it would have been too much. Ultimately, it came down to the flavor of the patty, and Stuff'd managed to pull ahead on the taste tip.

Photos: Cat Nelson