Hong Kong burger showdown: Beyond Meat’s vegan version vs Australian beef patty
Two burgers cooked in the same sauce, topped with sweet potato tempura and regular or vegan cheese, kimchi and mayonnaise – which one wins?
A showdown was happening at The Butchers Club Burger in Wong Chuk Hang. Two burgers looked exactly the same, but the key ingredients were vastly different. One featured a regular Australian beef patty cooked in Sriracha sauce, topped with cheddar cheese, kimchi, a sweet potato tempura slice and Kewpie mayonnaise.
The other had a vegan patty made from peas and other plants that was also fried in Sriracha sauce, but with dairy-free cheese, vegan kimchi (minus the fish sauce), the slice of sweet potato tempura, and egg-free mayonnaise. The buns for both burgers were vegan.
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Both were satisfying in different ways. The first had the meat taste in terms of richness and fattiness, while the other, a patty from Beyond Meat, had the texture of a meat patty, but was less filling and not as greasy.
The vegan burger in the taste test, Beyond Wu Tang-style, will be available at The Butchers Club Burger outlets from March 1 to April 30, and the chain’s founder, Jonathan Glover, is keen to add another plant-based option to his mostly meaty menu.
Sales of Beyond Classic, which features the same vegan burger patty with non-dairy cheddar, pickled beetroot chips, tomato, caramelised onions and vegan mayo, make up 10 per cent of the chain’s total sales. That echoes the experience of the Epic Burger chain in Chicago that started serving Beyond Meat’s patties last July.
