Grilled: Cafe Flatwhite’s 100 Percent New Zealand Beef Burger

As part of the Beijinger's month-long Burger Cup (which kicked off May 16 with  around town), we take a closer look at some of this year's participants. Today we're grilling Michael Hongfu, the owner of , who were not only slinging burgers at our , but also vying for the title of Burger Cup champion (voting for which is  into the Round of 32).

China-born New Zealand citizen Michael Hongfu says he opened the first Cafe Flatwhite in 2006 at the Silk Street market because he was inspired by New Zealand's food and cafe culture, and because "It was hard to find nice coffee in Beijing at that time." Now, Cafe Flatwhite is known for carefully selecting their coffee beans, before roasting them, grinding them up, and serving that java steaming fresh. Their cups of signature flatwhite have been an institution for a decade, and customers continually come back to fill up on it and the restaurant's grub, especially their tasty New Zealand beef burgers. Currently, Cafe Flatwhite has 13 branches around Beijing including 798, the three DRCs, Sanlitun Soho, FFC, 751 and Wangjing. We talked to Hongfu about his burger.

Tell us about your signature burger. What makes it the best burger in Beijing?
Our signature burger is the 100 percent New Zealand Beef Burger (RMB 68) which, as indicated in the name, is made of New Zealand beef, cheddar cheese, red onion jam, lettuce, tomato, fried egg, and is topped off with bacon and avocado. The buns are baked by ourselves, of course, and the portion is big enough that people can share with their friends.

What does the burger come with, and what drink do you suggest to order alongside it?
Fries and a freshly-made salad. We are currently using local vegetables, and will soon be using organic produce hailing from Shunyi farms. As for the drink, we recommend imported New Zealand Phoenix organic juice alongside our burger.

What other burgers do you have on the menu?
We also have a chicken burger and a vegetarian tofu burger, but our beef burger is definitely the most popular. We also sometimes have specials. For example last Christmas we had a special Christmas burger.

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