Wow...the Korea Herald gave me the entire page for the story. Here is the article with more pictures.
Dan
Today is the day that my diet begins. Finding and ranking the best hamburgers in Seoul has been a joy and a curse. Luckily, the restaurants have gotten better but there are more of them as well. Suffice it to say, hamburgers are not just a fad in Seoul; you'll find burger restaurants dotted all over the city.
The first review that I did a year ago was received with an equal amount of praise and scrutiny. I found people are passionate about their burgers. For this review, I went to over 20 restaurants - a few more than once. This year I decided to not include franchise burgers to this list. Also, I decided to look at the signature burgers of each restaurant. My criteria for ranking were on the quality of meat, bun, toppings, service, and overall enjoyment.
Slyders 10. "Slyders" from Julio in Gangnam. This Mexican joint serves up some tasty mini burgers. Does this mean that they will be the new trend? I can see it happening. They use all Austrian beef and they have three different options: classic cheese, chili, and teriyaki (not recommended).
Price: Three slyders for 7,000 won
Phone: (02) 568-5324
Where: Gangnam
Jack Sauce Burger 9. "Jack Sauce Burger" from Bistro Corner in Itaewon. The sauce was a bit too sweet for my liking, but the hickory char-grilled hamburger patty is excellent.
Price: 7,500 won
Phone: (02) 792-9282
Where: Itaewon
Bacon and Egg Burger8. "The Bacon and Egg Burger" from Tony's Aussie Bar and Bistro in Itaewon. It's breakfast on top of a burger. You get a cooked egg, bacon, and cheese on top of Australian beef. The burger is great with their hand-cut fries.
Price: 7,500 won
Phone: (02) 790-0793
Where: Itaewon
Sliders from Yaletown7. "Sliders" from Yaletown in Sinchon. Yaletown is the youngest restaurant in the group, but they are making waves with their delicious cuisine and attention to quality. Their char grilled sliders (mini hamburgers) come on homemade bread with a dollop of mayonnaise and a single leaf of lettuce.
Price: Three mini burgers come for 8,900 won
Phone: (02) 333-1604
Where: Sinchon
The Webby 6. "The Webby" from Beer O'Clock in Sincheon. By the way, char-grilled= delicious. Here you get a char-grilled handmade patty topped with cheese, jalapenos, onions, mushrooms, lettuce, ham and BBQ sauce. Sure, it might sound like a train wreck of toppings, but it works damn well.
Price: 9,000 won
Phone: (02) 333-9733
Where: Sinchon
Paddy Mac's Big Beef5. "Paddy Mac's Big Beef Burger" from Wolfhound Pub in Itaewon. Weighing in at over a half a pound (240 grams), you get a fist full of meat topped with two slices of cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion and 2 strips of bacon. The paddy is made from savory wagyu beef and it is well seasoned. You also get an option of fries, mash potatoes (recommended), or salad with your side of cow.
Price: 12,800won
Phone: (02) 749-7971
Where: Itaewon
The Hamburger 4. "The Hamburger" from Sam Ryan's Sports Bar and Grill in Itaewon. If you want a classic bacon cheeseburger that's the size of a baby's head, then this is the place. The burgers at Sam Ryan's are massive. They are manly burgers that should be enjoyed with a beer and football.
Price: 13,500 won
Phone: (02) 749-7933
Where: Itaewon
Mushroom Burger3. "Mushroom Burger" from Banana Grill in Hannam (near the U.N. Village). Sauteed onions and mushrooms with a hint of balsamic vinegar and mayonnaise is a great combination. Banana Grill is all about flavor and they don't ruin the burger by adding unnecessary ingredients such as lettuce, tomato, and onion when they are not needed. The meat is plush and well seasoned, the buns are toasty, and they serve great fries.
Price: 7,000 won
Phone: (02) 792-3088
Where: Hannam
The Chili Burger2. "The Chili Burger" from Chili King in Itaewon. You need a fork to get started with this burger because you have to get through the generous heaps of chili on top of the beef patty topped with real cheddar cheese (we are not talking about the plasticy individually wrapped stuff). The chili is excellent on it's own (what else would you expect from the Chili King) but magical on the beef patty and between the rolls. The jalapenos on this dish are an added bonus.
Price: 8,900 won
Phone: (02) 795-1303
Where: Itaewon
1. "The Fresco Burger" from Jacoby's Burger in Haebangchon. This is the Eiffel tower of hamburgers in Seoul. You have a moist and richly favored hamburger patty topped with mozzarella cheese, bacon, tomato sauce and a tower of onion rings. It is a beautiful thing to behold and a tad difficult to eat. The crunchy onion rings with the tar tar sauce, plush garlic beef patty, and mozzarella cheese fuses beautifully. After your burger you will be smiling with a halo of shiny beef grease around your mouth. Oh, and you can customize your burger just the way you want.
Price: 10,000 won
Phone: (02) 3785-0433
Where: Haebangchon
The Best Burger Franchise in Korea: "W-burger." Woah, they have excellent meat that's a little pink in the middle just like I like it.
Price: 4,700 won
Where: Throughout Seoul
Honorable Mention: "The USO Hamburger" at the USO near Samgaki Station. Get the military burger with fries for only $2.
Phone: (02) 795-3063
Open: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Weekdays
Where: USO
In a Class of their Own: The W-hotel Hamburger. Now I'm not talking about the X-burger (150,000 won) but its little brother. It's a classic hamburger on an oat-wheat bun speckled with pumpkin seeds and topped with melted cheese. The meat is a mix of lean sirloin and marbled wagyu beef. The meat is so good that I'm sure that Buddha change his religion just to have it.
Price: 25,000 won
Phone: (02) 465-2222
Where: W-hotel
The opinions expressed here are the authors only and do not necessarily represent those of The Korea Herald. Daniel Gray works for O'ngo Food Communications. You can follow his food adventures at www.seouleats.com - Ed.
By Daniel Gray
must be nice sampling all these burgers - good post
ReplyDeleteNice and tempting indeed^^
ReplyDeleteSORRY- THE USO has Closed. DAMN
ReplyDeletewhen I was living in Seoul A couple of years ago, I thought nothing could top the KRAZE Burgers in the COEX mall: all home made!
ReplyDeleteThank you for this blog! Reminds me of the special awesome tastes in Korea and totally different from Japanese (right now living in Japan).
There's an obscure little joint that makes some of the best burgers I've had in Seoul, and for a solid price. For under 5,000 won, you can have a homemade burger... with fixings slight more.
ReplyDeleteLines 2 and 3, Seoul National Univ. Station (교대), exit 4. Seocho Big Burger. 02 593 1230
The Corner Bistro; went there over a year ago, after they opened, and ordered their standard burger and fries, which were decent. Nothing particularly special in the realm of burgers, and I thought they could've chosen a different oil for frying their fries, something tasted off.
ReplyDeleteThe second time I went, a few months ago, I ordered the same thing, but was served the most revolting burger I've ever had in my life - they had drenched the lettuce and fixings in a sweet Korean-style Italian vinaigrette. Absolutely vomit-inducing.
I know it's not easy to make the city's best burger, but it is pretty easy to fk up the simple things.
Jacoby's onion rings were trash when I had them, the batter wouldn't stay on, and the were limp, flavorless garbage.
I like a good hamburger. I won't even begin on American burgers, or even Japanese burgers, but Korea is definitely struggling here. I've probably had 8 of the 10 burgers on this list, and frankly they aren't worth talking about again, once consumed.
The buns are Korean bread - ie terrible, the patties are always too big, too flavorless, too dry, the cheese is always fake, Korean mayonnaise made from rice vinegar has the wrong flavor profile, Korean tomatoes are not suitable for sandwiches nor do they have any particular flavor, and pickles here, well, everyone knows what a sorry state of affairs those are...
It's pretty embarrassing, but I'd rather eat at Burger King here, than buy into any of these attempts at homemade burgers, disappointment just keeps adding up.
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ReplyDeletewhere's richard copycat's all-american diner? i can't believe they're not on the list! they are top-seller in entire korea while their location is not good. i don't say their burgers are better than those in the states but i can definitely say you can have the real cheeseburger only at richard copycat's in korea. can't trust this post.
ReplyDeleteJames,
ReplyDeleteThe reason Richard Copycats is not on the list is that service is sooo horrible, that I can't recommend that people check it out. On three separate occasions I've had issues. Twice, with a group of friends, they have forgotten orders of food so everyone else at the table was forced to wait until they made that person's food. I've gone there for brunch and I have gotten cold hash browns. Yes, their burgers are good; but with service that bad, I can't recommend the place. When I went there to do the burger review a table next to me was complaining about their food and my burger took a long time to come to the table. Until they resolve these issues, I can't, in good conscience, recommend it. If you know the owners, please let them know.
Everyone else, This list is of the speciality burgers in Seoul and I purposely left franchise burger places off the top 10 list. I'm not saying that the franchise burgers are bad, I just decided to focus on boutique places and speciality burgers for this story.
ReplyDeleteYou have to bee kidding me? Where is Smokey's Saloon? The ambulance is the best burger in Seoul, hands down.
ReplyDeleteChili King was AWESOME! Thanks for the delicious recommendation! I'll definitely be suggesting it to others and going back. ^^
ReplyDeleteAmbulance burger from Smokey's Saloon is soooo good! But I guess you considered Smokey's to be a franchise, huh?
ReplyDeleteI did not like Jacoby's... and they are wayyyy overpriced! Fries are no good and the burger wasn't that tasty.
Have you tried Platter's in Daehanro? They are pretty good too.
This list is bullshit. All American Diner Jalapeno Ranch Burger is the best i've had anywhere, let alone Korea.
ReplyDeleteP.S. their burgers are worth the wait.
ReplyDeleteWhat a nice list!
ReplyDeleteTry Burger Project in the food court of Hyundai Department Store Samseong-dong brach (Next to the COEX. It is run by famous star chef Choi, Hyun Seok and its burger selections are quite interesting. Besides the basic burgers such as BLT, char-grilled beef burger with pine mushrooms, burger with chili pepper + cream paste/jelly, grilled monk fish burger with oriental cream sauce & cucumber, etc. Quite amusing.
I'm going to have to try a few of these, as I love burgers way too much. In fact, I'm dreaming of the day I can return to Mr. Big and give that giant burger another run for the money.
ReplyDeleteAnother vote for Smokey's Saloon. Don't know how you left that one off.
ReplyDeleteBrooklyn Burgers in the French enclave of Banpo 4 dong (Seorae Maeul). This place is the place to be for the best burger in Seoul and should be on the top ten list. Their burgers are very juicy and moist on perfect buns accompanied with crispy French Fries. To top it all they have ice cold beer on tap. Come close to Five Guys burger.Just perfect said my American husband but a bit pricey though.
ReplyDeleteDiner Pub in Sinsa-dong Garosu-gil has a pretty tight burger for a decent price. The portions are a little small but the seasoning and the burger to bun ratio is money. Plus Jalapeno ketchup, can it get any better?
ReplyDeleteEverything looks delicious! Your post definitely inspired our search for the perfect burger in Seoul: http://lainstilettos.com/2011/12/13/seoul-searching-for-the-perfect-burger/
ReplyDeleteDan,
ReplyDeleteHow about the burger at Dillinger's in Itaewon? Also Brooklyn in Seora mao-er?? I hear that they are both good