Burger King Fondue Burger Review – Spain
Fondue Burger:
*** GUEST REVIEW ***
What they say:
Tasty grilled meat is mixed with the authentic Swiss cheese and our incredible cheese sauce (yes, the same as always!!) in an exquisite cheese bread. Whether you’re a cheese fan or not, it’s to melt. (via Google Translate).
€9.10 for a large meal (approx. £7.90).
Sometimes I like to think I’d have something better to do while on holiday than eating burgers in the same old chain restaurants. Given I’m writing this I apparently do not.
I was in fact quite excited about the opportunity, particularly given there seemed to be some interesting menu items differing from what is currently available in the UK.
The King Huevo which seems to be a mainstay – a double cheeseburger topped with an egg. Gluten-free burgers and cheese burgers were also available.
The Grand Whiskey BBQ featured Goat’s Cheese which is something I’m yet to see in any of the big chains on this side of The Channel and one I was eager to try.
Unfortunately, the promotional burger changed the day before my Burger King visit to the one which I’ll be reviewing today, the Fondue Burger.
Despite always being a fan of BK, I wouldn’t be the first on this website to notice that many of their restaurants in the UK look tired in comparison to McDonald’s these days.
Burger King in the UK seems to be the same as it has always been – in atmosphere, service and menu.
The BK I visited in Spain, in the quite-nice-but-a-bit-industrial town of Torrevieja, seemed not to have received the ‘early 2000s’ memo.
This restaurant was clean, modern and downright nicer than those in the UK, featuring a paper crown or two on some of the tables.
It also had one glorious feature I haven’t personally seen here – computerised ordering – a godsend when trying to get food in a non-native language.
This touchscreen was virtually identical to those found in McDonald’s – easy to use, effective, and always preferable to the terrible challenge which is dealing with actual humans (we are all terrible).
The Fondue Burger was available in three options, beef, double beef, and chicken. I went for double beef, because that is the type of man I am, which is a nice way of saying I lack self-control.
While ordering may be simple, getting the food proved less so.
The promo side ‘Golden Cheese Fingers’ turned out to be unavailable meaning my food sat on the counter while they cooked a replacement.
It gave me time to enjoy a specific Spanish beverage that is available on fast food menus in Spain known as ‘Cerveza’, which I highly recommend.
Finally, the food arrived.
I can confirm cold Burger King fries and cold Burger King onion rings in Spain taste the same as their UK equivalents, assuming they sit on the side for ten minutes first.
The burger came in a promo box, but was also still plastic wrapped for some reason.
The Fondue Burger itself didn’t look disappointing.
The cheese topped bun contained the double meat, along with lettuce and tomato and plenty of visible cheese and sauce.
Biting in, my instant thought (aside from the fact it’s a bit cold), is of the Big Tasty.
The beef, plentiful sauce, similar cheese, lettuce and tomato all scream ‘Big Tasty’.
Yes, the cheese sauce is different, but still has that savoury hit of Tasty sauce. The only thing missing was onion.
The cheese topped bun added a look, but not much in the way of flavour, with only a mild cheese taste even when eating the bun on its own.
Lettuce added crunch, which was needed on what was otherwise a soft burger in need of an element of texture.
Personally, I’d have liked some onion as well and think that would have added a further dimension.
The sauce did have a definitive cheesiness about it.
It was reminiscent of nacho cheese sauce – lurid 90s yellow and as artificial as the lighting.
There was a generous portion of sauce, which did create an inevitable bun slippage towards the end. Tomato added further moisture, making it a fairly wet experience.
The best element, as is often the case at Burger King, remained the ‘100% Spanish Beef’.
The patties were of the size you’d find on a Whopper or XL, creating a substantial burger unlikely to leave even a gutsy appetite like mine in need of more.
Despite this, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed.
This burger was fine, even leaning towards good. However, it was simply a double cheese burger with a cheese sauce, something common at both McDonald’s and Burger King in the UK (think Quattro Cheese Whopper).
The addition of a cheese topped bun, along with Swiss cheese, didn’t add enough to elevate this to anything that felt special.
Maybe it would have been different if I’d have had that Grand Whiskey BBQ…
Matt
Website: http://www.burgerking.es/
*** GUEST REVIEW ***