Whopper versus Super Star

Yea, Liverpool drew. With Chelsea. At Stamford Bridge. We could've won, stopping Chelsea's insane unbeaten home run in the Premiership; Crouch had a few good chances but he did not convert them. But Chelsea fans could argue that Ballack had an equally good chance, and Joe Cole could've won a penalty.

At least ManU lost.

OK to the topic.

In mid-2007, Carl's Jr.® opened their first branch in Malaysia at One Utama (since their last branch was closed in 1998).

It did not bother me much (yea, I did have a tiny desire to try it out¹, but I won't really care if I didn't) until my friend (who do know that Whopper is my favourite burger) SMSed me and said that Carl's Jr.® is better than Burger King®.

Figure 1: Burger King®'s Whopper - ¼-pound flame-broiled beef, ripe tomatoes, crisp lettuce, creamy mayo, ketchup, crunchy pickles and onions on a toasted sesame seed bun that has been satisfying since 1957. (Description taken from official Burger King® site.)

Well, I don't know about that. I'm not going to compare Carl's Jr.® with Burger King®. I can't, because I've never tasted all Burger King®'s burgers. But I do know Burger King® sells the best affordable burger in the world², and that is all I care about Burger King®, nothing else.

So here's my task: To identify the best burger from Carl's Jr.®, and see if it is better than Whopper (thus replacing Whopper as the best burger in the world). I tried Chili Burger and Western Bacon Cheeseburger. Neither was better than Whopper. Two days later I came back ro try out Super Star because I noticed it has incredible resemblance with Whopper.

Figure 2: Carl's Jr.®'s Super Star With Cheese - Two charbroiled all-beef patties, two slices of American cheese, lettuce, two slices of tomato, sliced onions, dill pickles, special sauce and mayonnaise on a toasted sesame seed bun. (Description taken from official Carl's Jr.® site.)

It turned out that Super Star is almost an exact copy of Whopper. These are the only differences:
1. Super Star has two patties, Whopper has one (but Famous Star has one patty, the same as Whopper).
2. The default for Super Star is with cheese (probably you can order Super Star without cheese, but I believe the price would be the same as the one with cheese) while for Whopper, cheese is an optional addition (with additional price of course).
3. The fillings for Super Star are under the patties, for Whopper it is on the patty.
4. Super Star's patty is charbroiled, Whopper's flame-broiled (which, I don't know what is the difference actually).
5. One Super Star is RM 14.00 while Whopper is RM 7.50.

Others are startlingly similar, most importantly the diameter (though I did not precisely measure, but I do think it is about the same).

So, the conclusion? Super Star is definitely bigger, eating Super Star will make you more kenyang, but also more muak. The taste is the same, and this is the major criterion to be evaluated. Since both taste the same, other criteria need to be considered. Here, Super Star loses, because it is not worth paying twice the money just to get an extra patty (and two slices of cheese). Carl's Jr.® does offer a fresh alternative of fast food in Malaysia (Kuala Lumpur specifically), but their burgers still fell short to oust Whopper at the throne of fast food burgers². Do check out Carl's Jr.® though, because I enjoy the setting. You can refill your drinks (like Burger King®) but additional to that, they have salt and pepper (and chili sauce if I'm not mistaken) on the table, and they even have lemon slices if you would like to make your own lemon tea!

¹ I've checked Midvalley Megamall's Carl's Jr.® outlet, and they have a halal certificate (although it is not issued by Malaysia, but it means somebody has guaranteed us that the food served is halal).

² Whopper might not be the best burger in the world, because somewhere else, in luxurious restaurants maybe, they serve burgers with 6-inch tall juicy patties with price tags of up to $100+, I may never know. So I can only compare Whopper with other burgers of it's level (sekufu).