My Quest for the Best Hamburgers in the World

Anyone who knows me well, or even spends a week around me, knows that once a week I indulge in a decadent meal where calories, portion size and nutrition are not consideration. In the USA we call this a “splurge meal” or “cheat meal.” My non-diet food of choice for my splurge meal is a hamburger, fries and a soda, all of which I only eat on one day a week. Given I love to travel, one a week I’m usually in a new city of some foreign country seeking the best burger I can find. Below is a list of some of the best burgers I’ve discovered in my travels:

1. Smile Burger (Kyoto, Japan)

I will admit, I have never, in all my travels, seen a burger quite like what I saw at Smile Burger in Kyoto. The most famous burger served in the small restaurant is the “Q Burger” which is a stack of four thick patties and the extra toppings for each. You really need four big guys to eat it. I ordered a standard “Smile Burger” while the table next to me had a group of three and ordered the “Q Burger”. This burger really is absolutely huge and the photo doesn’t really do it justice. Watching someone try to eat it is quite entertaining in and of itself.

 

 

 

2. Fuego Burgers & BBQ (Cusco, Peru)

I ordered “The Stroke” burger from the menu of the small second story restaurant in Cusco thinking it would be like most Peruvian restaurants which served hamburger sliced like baloney. I was in absolute shock when my burger arrived and it towered about as tall as my coke. Wow! Over the next 20 minutes I tried, and did my best, to devour the burger. Alas I was only about to eat around 3/4 of the burger before I was forced to stop, unable to eat even one more bite. It was absolutely wonderful, but way too much for me to eat!