Black burger: Black-magic or Black-hole?

For the past almost 2 years the biggest news in burger scene is going black, Japan was the first country who somehow managed to go black with the Burger king’s King-Kuro diamond burger which is all black including the cheese, The quick runner-ups were McDonalds Japan with a black burger called Ikasumi which is a charcoal grey instead. Both rely heavily on squid ink while the Kuro diamond also had bamboo charcoal to ensure the pitch black colour.

USA acting clumsy as usual quickly adopted the black-burger becoming the second country to do that, then followed on France for a short while calling it a Darth Vadar, the fact to notice is by the time France adopted it Japan had already discontinued it due to a bad response, then followed on Hong-Kong and now India with Barcelos (located in Khan market) the chain from South Africa with it’s tall and faulty claims of India being the third country in the world that does a black burger and them being the first ones to do it in India. Well both those claims are not true as more than 2 countries have already tested the black-burger and Barcelo’s being the first one in India?  They aren’t even the first one in Delhi, a small outlet in Delhi by name of Dude food located in Satyaniketan market already holds a Dark-Knight burger.

That’s mostly the story in and around black burger from across the globe but how good it is? Well I was in Barcelos for a pre-launch session of the burger, which they claim has been blackened by the secret mixture of herbs and edible black colour. On the looks it sure is a distinct beauty miles apart from the same golden brown buns that you would have noticed endless times in your life and still there’s no respite. It’s matt black and looks chunky when plated, on trying it, the bread only has a hint of garlic and little oregano and absolutely nothing has changed except for the looks.

The chicken version is slightly a healthier option with a grilled patty swapped for a pan-fried one . On the vegetarian side, they were more generous than usual by placing a patty larger than the diameter of the bun but it worked against them unfortunately as it kept falling apart everytime you try to take it in your hands, all thanks to the minced vegetables inside it.

To me personally food has to strike the balance between the visual appeal and taste to win all corners but just the look is like going to a battle field half prepared where you are bound to fail unless you stumble into someone as Gareth Pugh because he said- “I think in black”.