Our burger expert becomes a fan of veggie patties, and nobody is more shocked about it than him.

Our Japanese-language reporter Seiji Nakazawa has tried a lot of burgers in his time, and whenever there’s a new release, he always prides himself on being one of the first in line on opening day.

So when 11 December rolled around, an alert popped up on Seiji’s phone to remind him of the arrival of another new burger: the Plant-Based Whopper from Burger King. Despite being a meat-eater, Seiji always keeps an open mind when it comes to burgers, and he found himself feeling an extra tingle of excitement at the prospect of tasting a plant-based patty.

▼ Seiji takes his taste tests seriously, so he picked up a regular Whopper to compare plant versus meat.

When he opened the wrapper around the Plant-Based Whopper, it looked no different to a regular Whopper, with its flame-grilled 100-percent vegetable patty looking surprisingly like meat. On top of the patty sat layers of pickles, onion, tomato, lettuce, ketchup and creamy mayonnaise.

To compare, he lined the two Whoppers up side by side for a closer look. Both patties had Burger King’s signature seared grill marks on the surface, but the non-meat one (pictured left, below) seemed a little more crisp on the surface compared to  the meat one, which was oozing juices.

So what about the taste? Seiji opened his jaws and took a big bite of the Plant-Based Whopper, and was immediately blown away to find…the texture and flavour really made it seem like meat. However, it was made with 100-percent soybeans.

After taking another bite, he thoroughly searched his taste buds for more information. Hmmm, if he had to find something negative to say about it, it might be that the aftertaste was a little lacking in something…maybe.

After thinking about it, he thought that ordinary Whoppers might have a slightly more meaty aftertaste, so he tried eating the 100-percent beef patty Whopper next to compare.

▼ It was…almost the same!

After eating them one after the other to compare, Seiji noticed that the flavour of the non-meat version was lighter and more refreshing. If people were to eat the two in a blind taste-test, though, Seiji thinks they’d have a hard time picking which one was plant and which was meat.

▼ While they both have the same smoky taste, the veggie patty (left), is wholly derived from soybeans.

Seiji was incredibly surprised by how meat-like the Pant-Based Whopper tasted, summing it up in one word: amazing. In fact, he said he actually preferred the plant-based version as it felt lighter and fresher, with no greasy aftertaste. He highly recommends everyone give it a try — vegetarians and meat-eaters alike will be pleasantly surprised at how far plant-based meat has come.

The new Plant-Based Whopper will only be available for a limited time from 11 December. Priced at 590 yen (US$5.65) for the burger and 890 yen for a set with medium-sized fries and a drink, the new menu offering is only being made in limited numbers.

Vegetarian options are steadily growing in Japan, though, so once the veggie Whopper disappears, you’ll still be able to check out Muji’s soy “meat”, meatless yakiniku, the vegan convenience store, and Tokyo’s newest plant-based cafe, Komeda Is.

Photos © SoraNews24
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