Burger Wars Round Five: Frost vs. Home Plate

Kipp Whittaker | Aug 4, 2014 1:00 pm | Add a comment | 1552 reads

Put on your loosest pants, the Beijinger Burger Cup is back! In the lead up to the Burger Cook-Off Launch Party on August 23 and the start of voting on August 25, we are kicking off with Burger Wars: a series of face-offs pitting Beijing's 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.

Come back often for more Burger Wars, information about the upcoming Burger Festival and news on how to vote.

Well, it's high noon in Sanlitun for the "All American" burger battle. On the left we have Frost, the new burger boys in Xingfucun, and on the right the reigning Beijing champ of meaty patties, Home Plate Bar-B-Que. Why, do you ask, would we place these two contenders on the same field? Well, they both are very respectable homestyle burgers. No frills, with a straight off the Weber Grill kind of style. There's no pretension among these two competitors, just good taste and proper execution. Let the burger battle begin!

Contestant one: Frost
2013 ranking: N/A
First up is the Frost Burger. The bun is the first thing I noticed, which made this fella very different from others I've found in Beijing. It appears to be an English muffin type of bread. This was intriguing, but wasn't really tasty enough to compete with last year's champion. The meat was juicy and flavorful, and the cheese was of the classic American-style, but the burger was lacking a little bit of creativity. It came with dressed in tomatoes, pickles and onions, with a healthy portion of salad on the side.

Contestant two: Home Plate Bar-B-Que
2013 ranking: 1
Home Plate cheeseburger. The price is pretty cheap (RMB 30) considering it's a nice size and nicely prepared, with the meat being that desired amount of pinkness. Truly reminds me of the backyard barbecues of my youth: American dads dressed in "kiss the cook" aprons surrounded by the younguns dancing crazy around the sprinklers. The homemade bun was nice and buttery like Texas toast leaving your lips glistening like a Hawaiian Tropics bikini model.

Verdict:
My main critique for burgers found around Beijing is the size. Some are just way too big. I like the perfectly sized burger because they're easy to get your mouth around and enjoy the combination of ingredients. Also sometimes people put too much lettuce. The Home Plate burger had a nice small crispy bed of chopped lettuce that added a flavorless texture without suffocating the meat. The Frost burger also wasn't loaded with lettuce, but I preferred Home Plate's method of it being chopped instead of just laid out on top of the meat.

I would have to say the meat and cheese of both burgers were generally the same quality and taste. So it ended up being a bun battle. English Muffin vs. Texas Toast. I would have to give Home Plate the nod because the homemade bread was glazed with butter, giving me those deliciously shiny lips. Awesome! It is also RMB 18 cheaper, which doesn't hurt.

Check back on Thursday for the next installment of Burger Wars.

Images: Kipp Whittaker