Let me preface this review with a disclaimer. I am not, nor will I ever be, an expert on food. In fact, I would go as far as to say that I could never be an expert because of the minimal amount of food that I consume.
I digress. When I first heard about the IMPOSSIBLE WHOPPER, I was skeptical but hopeful. Earlier this year, I found out that I have a slight reaction when I eat any kind of beef, so I was excited for another beef-free option for burgers. See, ever since my first year of college when I had my first veggie burger (thank you Mesquite, RIP), they have been my first choice when going to a burger restaurant, so because of this, I think that I have a slight understanding on how veggie burgers should function.
From my experience, the key to a good veggie burger comes from the spices that they include in it. There is no way that they will be able to get all the flavor of BEEF in the burger itself, so most rely on the impact of spices upon the first bite of the sandwich. Another key aspect to a burger is the moisture. By their nature, veggie burgers are lacking in any kind of moisture and rely on condiments to provide that function. However, they cannot have to much condiments as those flavors can overpower the flavor of the burger itself.
What surprised me about Burger King’s claim with the IMPOSSIBLE WHOPPER was that it was stressing the juiciness of the burger. In fact, in the official press release it claims that “The IMPOSSIBLE WHOPPER is ‘All WHOPPER, no beef.’ It’s as juicy, cravable and delicious as the original WHOPPER.”
So when I decided to the IMPOSSIBLE WHOPPER, I was cautious but excited.
In terms of presentation, it looked like a regular veggie burger (they all have this strange tendency to look like a somewhat charred hockey puck) and smelled... Strange to say the least. Overall, my first impressions of the burger was that it was too dry, which wasn’t surprising to me at all. However, toppings (lettuce, tomato, onions) that they put on the burger beforehand did help with the lack of “juiciness” and I also suspect that the condiments that they put on there was meant to help with that as well.
One thing that I thought was strange was the lack of flavor from the burger itself. Maybe it’s because I haven’t had a WHOPPER in a long time, but this replication didn’t have much flavor besides the toppings and condiments. It just felt like it was lacking something that most veggie burgers accomplish. However, what it does do is bring the same mouth feel as a beef burger. If you take away the lack of JUICE FACTOR (a measure of how juicy a burger is), it does deliver the same texture of a beef burger, so you can at least pretend that you are eating a beef burger.
Overall, I was left with an overall dissatisfaction with the product, but it did achieve one aspect that it was trying to create, so I will give it points in that department. Honestly, if you aren’t beef sensitive (like I am), I would suggest just getting a regular WHOPPER. Even just looking at the nutritional information, the differences between the two are so minimal that it would not matter if you got a regular WHOPPER or not.
Anyways, I’m still waiting on the TRUE beef free burger, Burger King!
TL;DR: Only get the IMPOSSIBLE WHOPPER if you are a vegetarian (although there are better veggie burgers out there) or if you are beef sensitive. 4/10
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