I have mentioned, on occasion, that one of the more shameful memories of my first trip to Japan was getting there and realizing that I didn’t know a dang thing about Japanese food, and therefore spending an awful lot of meals in American chain restaurants like TGIFridays and McDonalds.  Since then, my rule is to at least TRY to eat local while abroad.

I do break this rule on occasion, however, particularly when a chain restaurant has a particularly interesting-looking regional specialty.

Take, for example, Burger King’s Korean BBQ Double Pork Burger, which was being heavily pushed during my stay in Shanghai.  It’s a pork and corn burger, for crying out loud, how could I pass that up?

I couldn’t, obviously, and the princely sum of 元21 (About $3.50) was enough to hook me up with a combination meal.

Before we continue to the actual sandwich, I think it’s good to refresh what the thing is supposed to look like.  Let’s call this “The Dream” image:

And now let’s have a look at the reality:

…OK, let’s not go all Falling Down here, what does it taste like?

Well, it’s basically a BK Double with pork and corn patties.  It’s got lettuce, not very much but it is technically there, something that is probably a cheese-based sauce, another black sauce that is likely Korean BBQ sauce, and a white sauce of indeterminate origin that I finally decided was a sort of horseradish mayonnaise.

This is, unsurprisingly, a VERY messy sandwich to eat.  It’s basically a bun trying desperately to hold back against an onslaught of sauces and patties which have very low structural integrity.

It was also spectacularly tasty, and I firmly believe that Burger King should make it available in all regions henceforth.

Two thumbs up, would fly fourteen hours in a coach-class seat to eat again.