At last something different, I hoped, as images of Burger Kings new Black Kuro cheeseburger darkened my desktop screen last week. Predictably, I was left disappointed when I realised this was a gimmicky goth burger the usual beef pattie with a bit of Halloween treatment. Its the same old thing all over. Byron, MeatLiquor, Lucky Chip, Patty&Bun, Honest Burger, Five Guys, Shake Shack, Gourmet Burger Kitchen, Almost Famous none of them seem to be doing anything new. Its all beefy buzzwords grass-fed, dry-aged, specially reared, authentically British, generally served up in a glazed brioche bun. All promise to take me to a state of beef burger nirvana. So why then am I so completely bored by it all?
The burger still remains our most popular choice when it comes to eating out, according to the latest research from Horizons, with the average restaurant price for one now just under a tenner (£9.36). But wheres the creativity? I love to indulge in a juicy medium-rare cheeseburger, but Id also like to see menus which dont give me such a prominent sense of deja vu and, well, cow. Why arent lamb and pork more regularly seen on burger menus? Or even game and ostrich? Why cant anyone give me something new?
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