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Plant-based burger battle: Burger King Japan vs. Freshness Burger【Taste test】

Casey Baseel Feb 12, 2021
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The two sandwiches leave very different impressions.

Burger King Japan recently jumped into the plant-based burger business with the launch of its Plant-Based Whopper. It quickly won the heart of our hamburger-loving Japanese-language reporter Seiji Nakawzawa, but now there’s a new meat-substitute sandwich vying for his affection from rival fast food chain Freshness Burger. Freshness Burger’s original soy patty sandwich, The Good Burger, actually went on sale in September, beating the Plant-Based Whopper to market by about two months. But Freshness Burger has decided to dress up the sandwich by adding avocado to it in order to deliver even more filling flavor while still keeping the ingredient list plant kingdom-only.

But wait! This month Burger King Japan introduced its own Avocado Plant-Based Whopper, so seeing an opportunity to try the new The Good Burger Avocado, and also to eat another Plant-Based Whopper, Seiji bought one of each for a side-by-side taste test.

Right off the bat, he could see that the Whopper (shown on the left in the above photo) lives up to its name by being he bigger sandwich. But bigger doesn’t always mean better, especially when you’re talking about the price, and the Avocado Plant-Based Whopper is also a bigger hit to the wallet, costing 790 yen (US$7.60) compared to 550 yen for the Good Burger Avocado. Proportionally, though, they’re pretty similar in terms of how much burger you get per yen.

In the looks department, it’s the Good Burger Avocado that takes the prize, with an artfully arranged swirl of avocado slices and perfectly positioned lettuce contrasting nicely with the bright brown bun.

That classy atmosphere continues when you take a bite, Seiji found. As you might expect from a chain called Freshness Burger, the Good Burger Avocado’s ingredients all tasted fresh and healthy, with a clear finish to the flavor profile.

On the other hand, though the Avocado Plant-Based Whopper doesn’t look bad, it won’t be winning any awards for presentation. The arrangement of the ingredients is a little haphazard, though I guess if you think the point of a pant-based burger is to feel just like an ordinary beef burger, that’s actually a plus.

And sure enough, that “I’m a burger. I just happen to be made out of soy” sensation carries over to the flavor. Compared to Freshness Burger’s sandwich the Avocado Plant-Based Whopper’s patty is moister and has a meatier texture.

So in the end, which is better? That might depend on what you’re in the mood for. The Avocado Plant-Based Whopper fired up more of the junk food-craving pleasure centers in Seiji’s soul, so perhaps you could say it’s the better burger. The Good Burger Avocado, though, with its higher-quality ingredients and more appealing aesthetics, though, is arguably the better sandwich,

So while Seiji can’t pick a winner between the two, the real winner here is his stomach, and he’s now got two tasty options whenever he’s in the mood for a plant-based burger.

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[ Read in Japanese ]