A Cristiano Ronaldo burger? Restaurants cook up World Cup burgers.
McDonald's isn't the only restaurant with World Cup-themed menus – burger joints across the world are cooking up burgers for the 2014 World Cup. Bread Meats Bread in Scotland made a burger in honor of Cristiano Ronaldo.
Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo reacts to a play during the World Cup soccer match between the United States and Portugal at the Arena da Amazonia in Manaus, Brazil, Sunday, June 22, 2014. Restaurants are using the World Cup to create special meals – Bread Meats Bread in Scotland made a burger in honor of Ronaldo.
Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP
While much has been made of McDonald’s World Cup-themed menus in Brazil, Japan and Australia, it isn’t the only restaurant scoring big with burgers tied to the event.
In terms of ambition at least, the championship is, appropriately, a draw between two English restaurants, The Barn Pub & Restaurant in Royal Tunbridge Wells and The Diner is Islington. While McDonald’s devised burgers representing four countries in Australia and seven in Brazil, both these restaurants have created burgers for each of the 32 World Cup participants.
What tops The Barn’s Ivory Coast Burger? Alloco, an Ivorian condiment of banana fried in chili peppers. Its home-team England Burger has Stilton cheese. The Diner’s England Burger has roast beef, gravy, horseradish and cheese. Its Brasilian Burger is topped with feijoada, the Brazilian stew of beef and pork. The Barn’s World Cup burgers are £6.95 (with chips, onion rings and salad). The Diner’s burger, served with fries, are £10.
London’s BRGR.Co. in London pays homage to Diego Maradona’s controversial goal in the 1986 World Cup with its “Hand of God Burger.” The burger is topped with slices of Argentine chorizo and is “served on a bed of astroturf.”
At Bread Meats Bread in Glasgow, Scotland, “The Lean Machine” burger borrows the nickname of Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo. The build is two beef patties, two slices of low-fat Swiss cheese, spicy peri-peri chili mayo and tomatoes inside a lettuce bun. The joint offered to put it on a brioche bun if Portugal was eliminated. So close.
Earlier this month, Bread Meats Bread honored legendary Ronaldo with “The Phenomenon” burger. Three beef patties, triple, roast beef, bacon, slow-cooked onions and house-made gravy.
Another Scottish joint, Wannaburger in Edinburgh, created The Samba Burger to celebrate Cup mania. That’s 100% good Scottish beef plus guacamole, pineapple, chorizo, cheese and fresh tomato salsa for £5.29.
Heroes Premium Burgers in Frankfurt, Germany, calls its World Cup burger the Mundial. It has beef, tomatoes, lettuce, mozzarella, sweet chili sauce and mango slices.
While the World Cup runs, draft beers are just $3.50 at Toronto’s Toma-BurgerAddiction and the World Pride Burger is $8.95. That build starts with Angus beef and then adds tomato-and-pesto chutney, spinach, Swiss cheese and caramelized onion on a house-made brioche bun.
For France’s match with Switzerland, Blend in Paris created a Switz Burger with marinated beef, a croquette of Gruyère cheese and blue-veined mushrooms, iceberg and Thousand Island dressing.
England was eliminated before Gourmet Burger Kitchen could even dream up a burger. But the night England was eliminated GBK threw in a free San Miguel beer for anyone who ordered its special X Burger. “It’s all to soothe the damage that infernal Suarez did to the English football team,” said the chain. Burger and beer: comfort food.