Voting in the 2018 Beijing Burger Cup Now Open!
Burgers are big business in Beijing, and the time has come to grill ’em all over again – with your votes.
Now that you’ve spent the weekend cramming burgers at our rock ‘n’ roll-themed Beijing Burger Festival, you’ll need tonight to recover from your beef-and-buns coma. But an even more important duty awaits: voting for your favorites.
READ: How You Will Select Beijing’s Best Burger for 2018
The competition is now officially open for our sixth Burger Cup throwdown, and it’s up to you to help determine which burger brand claims the ultimate bragging rights. This year, our greasy tourney finds a tumultuous change in brackets. The demise of 21 of last year’s Top 100 burger-flingers (mostly due to The Great Brickening) has laid the way for over 40 new contenders in 2018, filling out our beef bracket to an all-time high of 120 competitors.
About 20 percent of last year’s Top 100 have since shut down, including contenders like The Big Smoke (#12), North Capital (#16), High Town (#27), Kenny’s Burgers (#30), and 8-Bit (#35). But in their place comes a sizzling stack of newcomers stepping up to the plate this year, including Hulu, Side Street, De Refter, The Cheesecake Factory, Wolfgang’s Steakhouse, and Bodensee Kitchen.
Scan here to vote for your favorite burger!
Here’s why the new guys pose a potential threat: Many have reopened and/or rebranded in 2018, and thus have plenty to prove in the burger department. De Refter reopened earlier this month at Sanlitun’s Courtyard 4 and is already causing a stir with their twists on southern gua bao; Side Street launched in Ron Mexico's Jiaodaokou digs several months ago but has already garnered a strong following thanks to their Indian-inflected menu and strong veggie options; and TRB's first foray in Chaoyang has seen their sister restaurant Hulu build burger buzz for their gourmet take on sliders and casual rooftop dining.
With these newbies in mind, it's your mission to get out there and vote, and it couldn't be easier: We serve you with a ballot split into four brackets (See below for the full divisions), and you order up which burgers advance through the rounds until only one sandwich stands. For an in-depth look at how exactly we count the votes and tackle ballot stuffing (the shame!), click here.
The voting schedule (Jun 18-Jul 9):
- Burger Cup opening round: Jun 18-22
- Burger Cup round of 32: Jun 22-25
- Burger Cup Sweet 16: Jun 25-28
- Burger Cup Elite Eight: Jun 28-July 3
- Burger Cup Final Four: Jul 3-6
- Championship Round: Jul 6-9
2018 Beijing Burger Cup Opening Brackets
- Number in parentheses is venue's final ranking in last year's poll
- (New) indicates new to the poll this year
- Asterisk (*) indicates participant in this year's Burger Festival
Bracket A
*Q Mex (1)
*Home Plate BBQ (5)
Blue Frog (9)
Biteapitta (14)
Tim's Texas Bar-B-Q (19)
*East Hotel (23)
Ramo (28)
*Common Burger (33)
Dirty Duck (39)
*Regain Element (43)
Waspark (48)
Village Cafe, Opposite House (52)
He Kitchen (57)
*NBeer Pub (62)
Park Side Bar & Grill (68)
Buddy Bar (74)
Bunny Drop (79)
MustGuette (88)
Windy City (96)
Arrow Factory (New)
*Flora Steak and Bar (New)
CHAR Bar & Grill (New)
*Pop Up Kitchen (New)
*Picture My Cup at Kimo Kids Cafe (New)
*The Butchers Club (New)
Cafe Flo (New)
BLT American Restaurant Salad & Grill (New)
Three Guys Burger House (New)
Balmain Gourmet (New)
iB Craft Beer (New)
Bracket B
Cannon's Burgers (2)
The Local (6)
Jing-A (10)
Let's Burger (15)
Burger Break (20)
Grandma's Kitchen (24)
Morton's of Chicago (29)
Luga's Villa (34)
Bistrot B (40)
Molly Malone's (44)
Blue Marlin (49)
Irish Volunteer (53)
Eudora Station (58)
Dongli Brewery (63)
*Four Ace (70)
The Kitchen Table, W Beijing Chang'an (75)
Nasca Café (81)
Paulaner Maximilian (89)
Angel Burger (98)
*Legend Beer (New)
*Peiping Machine (New)
Wiggly Jiggly’s (New)
*Fatburger (New)
*QS (New)
*Joe's Bar and Kitchen (New)
Yummy Box Pizza (New)
Meat by Ernest (New)
*The Bell (New)
Hudson (New)
Mojito Mojar Restaurant & Bar (New)
Bracket C
*Great Leap (3)
Fatboy's (7)
Katchup (11)
Stuff'd (17)
Paddy O'Shea's (21)
Lush (25)
1F (31)
*3 Little Pigs by Andy's Craft Sausages (36)
*Laker's (41)
Beer Mania (45)
Veggie Table (50)
Burger Counter (55)
The Bookworm (59)
The Rug Café (Former Chat Room) (64)
Beersmith Gastropub (71)
Root Pop (76)
Landmark Café (86)
Rolling Rolling Craft Brewing (91)
Craft, Crowne Plaza Lido (99)
The Roots (New)
*The Great Outdoors (New)
*de Refter (New)
*Tough Tongue Craft BBQ (New)
*Side Street (New)
Migas Mercado (New)
Peking Garden (New)
Spacelab (New)
Living Room (New)
C'est la Vie (New)
O’Leary’s (New)
Bracket D
*Slow Boat (4)
Plan B (8)
Lily's American Diner (13)
4corners (18)
*Caravan (22)
XL Bar (26)
*VSports Bar and Restaurant (32)
*Panda Brew (37)
*Punjabi (42)
Grinders (46)
Frost Coffee, Cocktails and Dining (51)
Café Flatwhite (56)
Tiger Pancake House (60)
Steamrhino Brewery Restaurant (65)
The Cut, Fairmont Beijing (72)
Fella's (78)
Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing Hotel Food Studio (87)
Park Square (92)
Steak Exchange, InterContinental Hotel (100)
Wolfgang’s Steakhouse (New)
*Bodensee Kitchen (New)
Naughty Beer (New)
*Mr. Eel's Love (New)
*Hulu (New)
The Cheesecake Factory (New)
Algorithm (New)
TGB Tribeca Grill & Bar (New)
Alpha Omega Club (New)
Aurora (New)
Cafe Ruhe (New)
If you're already drowning in burgers, a good place to start is to begin at the top via 2017's Top 10, all of who are battling it out once more for the Beijing's Best Burger crown:
- Q Mex’s Double Burger
- Cannon’s Burger Cannonnator
- Great Leap Brewing’s Cheeseburger
- Slow Boat Brewery’s Fryburger
- Home Plate BBQ’s Ba-Donk Burger
- The Local’s Dry Rub Avocado Burger
- Fatboy’s The Burger Bar’s Fat Basterd
- Plan B’s Bronco Burger
- Blue Frog’s Montana
- Jing-A’s Slider Trio
So belly up, chow down, vote early, and remember to follow all of our burger related content via our 2018 Burger Cup tab here.
Images: the Beijinger