The Hard Rock Cafe is where R&R takes centre stage with the legendary burgers, showing the same spirit and quality from Tennessee to New Delhi. We have just visited the Budapest branch to sample the vegan menu, and test out the guest hamburgers from abroad. In May and June, the adventure continues with four cities taking part in the World Burger Tour each month.
Every Hard Rock Cafe shows its wild side and its craft, which is why we don’t come here for the food alone, but for a feeling, for the drumming beat in the background from your own music channel, for the celebrity iconography, branded badges and T-shirts – sometimes even for the sounds of a live show by an old legend.
Of course, as famous as the souvenirs is the humungous food, burgers included: rich, juicy, made of the finest quality meat and fresh ingredients with delicious sauces, melted cheese, and hand-made and spicy fried potatoes.
Each city has its own local burger but, according to tradition, they go around the globe once a year, the so-called World Burger Tour. What this entails can be easily ascertained by paying a visit to the branch on Vörösmarty tér, where in May and June a total of eight new items have been added to the offering.
It seems that that Budapest has voted for its own favourite New Delhi veggie (home-made scones of potato, chickpea and spinach with chili and coriander) and the Memphis meat-lover’s burger (Memphis dried pork cake with, among others pickle, with pulled pork and tangy barbecue sauce, as these long-established options they are among the guest hamburgers in May.
What’s new, however, is that we can try the burgers from Barcelona and Brussels, the latter comprising the whiskey-packed beef cake, bacon slices, melted cheddar and Monterey Jack cheese, with garlic aioli.
The big return of June will be the Rome hamburger, along with which the New York speciality will also bring Italian flavours, but you can choose a version with melted brie and extra caramelised shallots entitled Hollywood or the Tandoori-spiced chicken from Mumbai.
Burgers (with potatoes and sauce) cost between 3,700 and 4,200 forints, which you can couple with seasonal coolers (such as watermelon lemonade, passion fruit punch or mojitos). If you time your visit right, you might even come across singer Attila Mátyás performing live.
