Photo by Robyn of Serious Eats

(and check out whose bulgogi burger taste test got mentioned ^.^V)

Speaking of Robyn, she has a new post up on her website showing the many, many things she ate while here, justifying the title of her blog:  The Girl Who Ate Everything.

One of the special culinary pleasures of Korea, bulgogi (fire meat) ranks high.  Beloved by everyone from Koreans who have never left the peninsula to gourmands who’ve never made it to these shining shores, it has joined kimchi as one of the most symbolic foods of Korea.  And what else to do with such a deeply loved food but to sandwich it between buns and consume it as a hamburger?

Fatman, along with a small cast of brave taste testers set out to find the best of the bulgogi by taste testing burgers from all the major fast food chains of Korea:  McDonalds, Burger King, and both the regular and hanwoo (all Korean beef) burgers from Lotteria.  We risked life and tongue to discern the truly delicious from the merely adequate and the truly vile.  Our results, from worst to best:

Burger King Bulgogi Whopper

Fatman’s taste testers were shocked by the low finish of this entry, anticipating that flame broiling and a healthy set of condiments would make for a satisfying burger. Instead, the bun and patty were dry, and the raw onion overpowered the less potent condiments, in particular the anemic tomato. It was slathered with mayo, but nothing was strong enough to mask the very unpleasant “faux smoke” BBQ sauce “that’s gone off” flavor of the bulgogi sauce itself.

Average Scores (on a scale of1-5, with five being the best)

Meat: 2

Condiments: 4

Bun:  3

Overall: 3

Judges Comments:  “Fake-y smoked flavor”  “Tasty condiments”  “Looks great, but not enough bulgogi flavor”  “Nice tomato”  “Looked better than it tasted”

Lotteria Bulgogi Burger

This was the least substantial feeling of the burgers, with a very flimsy bun that almost immediately disintegrated under the weight of mayo and sauce. The sauce itself was overpoweringly sweet, but lost under the cloy of the mayo. Some testers preferred the taste of the patty compared to some of the others in the tasting, finding it meatier than the other offering from Lotteria, but were in the minority.

Meat: 3.5

Condiments:  2.5

Bun 2.5

Overall:  3

Comments:  “More bulgogi flavor”  “Lots and lots of mayo”   “Beef is lower quality, but somehow tastier”

McDonald’s Bulgogi Burger

The much maligned mickey d’s proved to be surprisingly inoffensive to the tasters. Comments like “I might be willing to eat this again” peppered the conversation, and the biggest complain related to the lettuce (note to Ronald McDonald: Try to find lettuce that doesn’t look like it’s in an advanced stage of kimjang. Something with a little crunch and some actual green color will go much further than brown-tinged goo.) The bun was no great shakes, and yet again there was too much mayo, but overall the sauces were more balanced than some of the other entries and it didn’t immediately turn to mush in the hand.

Meat: 3

Condiments:  2.5

Bun 2.5

Overall:  3

Comments:  “Bread-y, mayo-y”  “Not bad for a cheap burger”

And the grand winner is . . .

Lotteria’s Hanwoo Bulgogi Burger

It shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Hanwoo Bulgogi Burger won top honors in our test.  The native son may have an instinctive feel for the right balance for the bulgogi sauce, which was sweet but not overly so.  There was also a drizzle of spicy sauce to liven things up where too much mayo weighed down many of the contenders (although this too featured a not-so-healthy serving of the great white condiment).  It also won points for having a goodly number of tomato slices and lettuce to provide some crunch and texture.  Perhaps most importantly, the all-Korean beef patty was substantively thicker and better seasoned than the others.  It was the only burger to have some heft and weight to the meat, making it the beefiest of our entries and the hands down winner among our testers.

Meat:  4.5

Condiments: 3

Bun: 3

Overall: 4

Comments:  “Spicy/zesty”  “Very tender, but overall lack of texture”  “Needed some crunch, but the meat was easily the best”

So, the next time you reach for a bit of bulgogi on the go, Fatman recommends the Lotteria Hanwoo Burger.  Many, many thanks to our brave taste testers, Wanderchomp and Jaim, for putting their tongues on the line to help bring everyone the best possible burger options!

Um . . . Lotteria? Where’s the rest of it? We don’t mean to be ungrateful, but these cheese balls are roughly the diameter of a 100 won coin. Ok, they’re slightly tastier than loose change, but considering this little set costs 2000 won, you think they’d at least be closer in size to the 500 won coin that each tiny little ball of fried industrial-grade mozzarella and batter cost? It’s like Lotteria mozzarella sticks, only with less actual cheese. They don’t even fill up the pathetic little paper tray.

Since they’re so small and pitiful, they don’t stay hot and gooey very long. They’re only about a bite-worth each, so if you misjudge the timing you’re likely to get a mouthful of very painfully hot cheese or rubbery, cold, awful cheese. Take your pick – or better yet, if you absolutely must go with some kind of fast food cheese offering, stick to the sticks.

*we’ve also lamented the lack of alliteration . . .

2,200 won for a hot bag of 12.