Top Seeds Enter the Burger Cup Elite Eight

Beijing's battle of the burgers continues to intensify as the field is cut in half once again.

After an intense third round voting, we are down to just eight burgers from an initial list of 102, and choices are getting increasingly difficult to call.

Beijing brewpubs Slow Boat and Great Leap made a strong showing, as usual, while Courtyard 4 brewers Jing-A were unexpectedly ousted by relative newcomer Cannon's Burgers. Cannon's will now face their biggest fight yet, as they go up against past winners Home Plate BBQ.

Speaking of Courtyard 4 stalwarts, one of the biggest upsets this year came as The Local knocked out Blue Frog, who have usually always made it through to the top eight.

Let's get one thing straight: all eight of these survivors are worth you tasting before you vote, and you've got plenty of time to fill out your burger dance card before this round closes at noon this Thursday (Jun 8) – so get eating and come back to vote Thursday morning when you can honestly say your taste buds know the difference.

Here's a full breakdown of how the action went down in the Sweet 16 round:

BRACKET A
Slow Boat sailed past Lily's
The Local squished Blue Frog

BRACKET B
Q Mex grilled Katchup
Fatboy's belly-bounced North Capital

BRACKET C
Great Leap leapt over Biteapitta
Plan B thwarted Let's Burgers

BRACKET D
Home Plate swung past The Big Smoke
Cannon's blasted Jing-A

If you haven't tried any one of these burgers yet now is the time to get out there and do it, as no matter what, you'll be getting your jaws around one of Beijing's top 10.

Voting for the Elite Eight will close at noon on June 8, after which the field will be cut to just four.

Vote for your favorite Beijing burger now by scanning or extracting the QR code below

These are the match-ups going into the next round:
Slow Boat vs The Local
Q Mex vs Fatboy's
Great Leap vs Plan B
Home Plate vs Cannon's

Meanwhile, nothing goes better with a burger than an ice-cold beer and we're certainly spoiled for choice in Beijing, especially when it comes to quality craft beer. Last round we asked you beer lovers which of Beijing's craft brews you have tried, and this was your response:

It seems some of Beijing's homegrown brands still have a way to go when it comes to getting their brew down gullies.

According to the results of our survey, only three craft brews – let's call them the Holy Trinity – have been sampled by about half of the population.

A second tier of brewers – Arrow Factory, Panda Brew, and North Capital – have reached 20 to 30 percent of the population.

But then comes the long tail: no other craft brewer has reached more than 10 percent of Beijing burger-scoffers.

What can you do to help? Get out there and drink! Make it your mission to tick off all of the brewers on this list, starting from the bottom up.

Here is our Burger Bracket so far:

Finally, as is our custom we also asked you to rank the field that did not make it into the Sweet 16. Here they are along their final rankings in the 2017 Burger Cup:

17. Stuff'd
18. 4corners
19. Tim's Texas Bar-B-Q
20. Burger Break
21. Paddy O'Shea's
22. Caravan
23. Feast
24. Grandma's Kitchen
25. Lush
26. XL Bar
27. High Town
28. Ramo
29. Morton's of Chicago
30. Kenny's Burgers
31. 1F
32. VSports Bar and Restaurant

They join the previously ranked burgers from last round, to complete the "best of" list right through to 102 (asterisks indicate venue is currently remodeling, in the process of opening, or in the process of adding burgers served at the 2017 Burger Fest to their menus):

33. *Common Burger
34. Luga's Villa
35. 8-Bit
36. Andy's Craft Sausages
37. *Panda Brew
38. Nola
39. Dirty Duck
40. Bistrot B
41. Laker's
42. *Punjabi
43. Regain Element
44. Molly Malone's
45. Beer Mania
46. Grinders
47. Peter's Tex-Mex
48. Waspark
49. Blue Marlin
50. Veggie Table
51. *Frost Coffee, Cocktails and Dining
52. Village Cafe, Opposite House
53. Irish Volunteer
54. Drunk Craft Beer & Restaurant
55. Burger Counter
56. Café Flatwhite
57. He Kitchen
58. Eudora Station
59. The Bookworm
60. Tiger Pancake House
61. Uburgers
62. NBeer Pub
63. Dongli Brewery
64. Chat Room
65. Steamrhino Brewery Restaurant
66. The Granary Bar & Bistro
67. Hungry Horse
68. Park Side Bar & Grill
69. Old Bike Café
70. Four Ace
71. Beersmith Gastropub
72. The Cut, Fairmont Beijing
73. Ahava Bistro and Cafe
74. Buddy Bar
75. The Kitchen Table, W Beijing Chang'an
76. *Root Pop
77. Balmain Gourmet Meat & Grill
78. Fella's
79. Bunny Drop
80. *Mr. Charcoal
81. Nasca Café
82. City Wall Bistro, Marriott
83. The Garage
84. Nanluo Big Burger
85. O'Leary's
86. Landmark Café
87. Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing Hotel Food Studio
88. MustGuette
89. Paulaner Maximilian
90. Bobo
91. Rolling Rolling Craft Brewing
92. Park Square
93. Yuppie Yummy
94. Galleria
95. Fuel, Langham Place
96. Windy City
97. Hub Kitchen
98. Angel Burger
99. Craft, Crowne Plaza Lido
100. Steak Exchange, InterContinental Hotel
101. Loft Eatalicious
102. Pentalounge, Penta Hotel

Now that your appetite has been piqued, vote in Elite Eight round by scanning/extracting the QR code below, or stay up to date with all the Burger Cup-related happenings on our blog here: thebeijinger.com/2017burgercup.

Images: the Beijinger

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