Only the Tastiest Survive as the Burger Cup Reaches the Sweet 16
As the famous saying goes: time, tide, and the Beijinger's Burger Cup wait for no man – and time has now run out for 16 Beijing burger joints as second-round balloting cuts the field in half.
This year’s surprise star performer continues to be Cannon’s Burgers, who exploded past Caravan in their Bracket D match up to enter the Sweet 16 to face off against Jing-A.
Top seeds and perennial favorites Slow Boat, Q Mex, Great Leap, and Home Plate continued their strong showing, making it past Round of 32 matchups and booking their ticket for the next round.
Be prepared for competition to intensify as we head into the next round, voting for which will close at noon on June 5.
And as we have behooved you from the start: Try before you vote! There's plenty of time to scarf some burgers before casting your ballot!
Vote for your favorite Beijing burger now!
Here are the matches going into the next round:
Bracket A
Slow Boat (1) vs Lily’s American Diner (4)
Blue Frog (2) vs The Local (3)
Bracket B
Q Mex (1) vs Katchup (4)
Fatboy’s (2) vs North Capital (3)
Bracket C
Great Leap (1) vs Biteapitta (5)
Let’s Burger (2) vs Plan B (3)
Bracket D
Home Plate (1) vs The Big Smoke (4)
Jing-A (2) vs Cannon’s Burgers (3)
It's perhaps no surprise that old favorites do well in the Burger Cup, given that we have a surprisingly veteran audience casting ballots: the average voter in our last round has resided in Beijing for almost eight years. Not to say we don't have newbie voters too: 30 percent have been here less than three years, and one-in-10 are fresh off the boat.
We know you know your Beijing burgers, but in the last round we also asked you about your familiarity with overseas burger chains. Mickey D's and Burger King, both with multiple locations in Beijing came out on top. Here's the top 10:
- McDonald's
- Burger King
- TGI Fridays
- Wendy's
- In-N-Out Burger
- Outback Steakhouse
- Denny's
- Applebee's Neighborhood Grill & Bar
- Five Guys Burgers and Fries
- Carl's Jr.
Finally, in the Battle of the Burger Sauces that we polled you on last round, mustard turned out to be the big loser, with ketchup reigning supreme and mayonnaise not far behind. Here are your favorites, in order:
- Ketchup
- Mayonnaise
- Barbecue Sauce
- Hot Sauce
- Mustard
Here is a complete wrap-up of how the action went down in the Round of 32:
BRACKET A
Slow Boat (1) steamed past Grandma’s (8)
Lily’s American Diner (4) broke Burger Break (5)
The Local (3) charred 4corners (6)
Blue Frog (2) hopped over Paddy O’Shea’s (7)
BRACKET B
Q Mex (1) stomped VSports Bar and Restaurant (8)
Katchup (4) flipped Lush (5)
North Capital (3) chai’d XL Bar (6)
Fatboy’s (2) bounced High Town (7)
BRACKET C
Great Leap(1) floored 1F (8)
Biteapitta (5) flattened Stuff’d (4)
Plan B (3) outpolled Ramo (6)
Let’s Burger (2) binned Kenny’s Burgers (7)
BRACKET D
Home Plate (1) grand-slammed Morton’s of Chicago (8)
The Big Smoke (4) ate Feast (5)
Cannon’s Burgers (3) blasted Caravan (6)
Jing-A (2) sauced Tim’s Texas Bar-B-Q (7)
Finally, as is our tradition, we asked you to rank the worthy contestants that did not make the cut into the final 32. These rankings now serve as these venues' final standings in the Beijinger 2017 Burger Cup (asterisks indicate venue is currently remodeling, in the process of opening, or in the process of adding burgers served at the 2017 Burger Fest to their menus):
33. *Common Burger
34. Luga's Villa
35. 8-Bit
36. Andy's Craft Sausages
37. *Panda Brew
38. Nola
39. Dirty Duck
40. Bistrot B
41. Laker's
42. *Punjabi
43. Regain Element
44. Molly Malone's
45. Beer Mania
46. Grinders
47. Peter's Tex-Mex
48. Waspark
49. Blue Marlin
50. Veggie Table
51. *Frost Coffee, Cocktails and Dining
52. Village Cafe, Opposite House
53. Irish Volunteer
54. Drunk Craft Beer & Restaurant
55. Burger Counter
56. Café Flatwhite
57. He Kitchen
58. Eudora Station
59. The Bookworm
60. Tiger Pancake House
61. Uburgers
62. NBeer Pub
63. Dongli Brewery
64. Chat Room
65. Steamrhino Brewery Restaurant
66. The Granary Bar & Bistro
67. Hungry Horse
68. Park Side Bar & Grill
69. Old Bike Café
70. Four Ace
71. Beersmith Gastropub
72. The Cut, Fairmont Beijing
73. Ahava Bistro and Cafe
74. Buddy Bar
75. The Kitchen Table, W Beijing Chang'an
76. *Root Pop
77. Balmain Gourmet Meat & Grill
78. Fella's
79. Bunny Drop
80. *Mr. Charcoal
81. Nasca Café
82. City Wall Bistro, Marriott
83. The Garage
84. Nanluo Big Burger
85. O'Leary's
86. Landmark Café
87. Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing Hotel Food Studio
88. MustGuette
89. Paulaner Maximilian
90. Bobo
91. Rolling Rolling Craft Brewing
92. Park Square
93. Yuppie Yummy
94. Galleria
95. Fuel, Langham Place
96. Windy City
97. Hub Kitchen
98. Angel Burger
99. Craft, Crowne Plaza Lido
100. Steak Exchange, InterContinental Hotel
101. Loft Eatalicious
102. Pentalounge, Penta Hotel
Now that your appetite for winning has been piqued, vote in the round of Sweet 16 here, or s tay up to date with all the Burger Cup-related happenings on our blog.
More stories by this author here.
Instagram: @gongbaobeijing
Twitter: @gongbaobeijing
Weibo: @宫保北京
Images: the Beijinger
