The world through its burgers

For many travellers, a visit to the Hard Rock Cafe in any new city is a thing to definitely tick off their list. Have a drink, feel the vibe and buy a T shirt: that’s me. Despite the fact that HRC runs as a family-friendly cafe / restaurant in many places, I have never paid much attention to the food there.

Till recently, when I was invited for a burger tasting event at my friendly neighbourhood Hard Rock Cafe. The occasion was a preview of their World Burger Tour (from June 1 – July 31), which, as you have guessed right, is an offering of the most delectable tastes from all over the world, enfolded in a bun.

The late afternoon session started with a dazzling array of special cocktails (a bad idea for me, given that I had eaten nothing since breakfast and it was already past 3 pm then).And oh, every one of them had a surprise twist – they were all topped with beer, in keeping with the mood of the festival.

We started with an El Matador (luckily, the serving sizes were small shot glasses), with fresh strawberry, basil leaves, Bacardi rum and fresh lime juice topped with beer. And in rapid succession, we went through others with whiskey, rum, gin, liqueur and much more. At the end of this tasting session, it was all I could do to wait for the burgers.

And then they arrived at the table – and what an array! Chef Niranjan came to our table to talk about each of these burgers and the inspiration behind them.

The burger options did live up to its promise of world food – with tastes ranging from Mediterranean to Mexican, Lebanese, Italian and even Indian. And to my pleasant surprise, four of the eight burger options were vegetarian, a nod to the eating culture of this country. The chef also explained how each of the burgers had been designed keeping in mind local tastes and expectations.

I did try a bite (or more) of the vegetarian burgers – and my favourite was the Mexican Quesedilla Veg Burger – with the flavours of polenta, sweet corns, beans and vegetables, avocado and nacho straws, all flavoured with a tangy enchilada salsa. You tell me, what is not to like?!

At the end of this burger marathon, there was one more waiting for us – the Burgerthon organised by the HRC guys. And as the sole woman in the group, I was batting (eating) for all womankind as I competed with guys who clearly knew their burgers and beer. To my credit, I finished half the burger and got rewarded with a huge Jagerbomb for my efforts!

The World Burger Tour is on at all Hard Rock Cafes in India till July 31st – go bite into that juicy burger now and come back to tell me about it here!