After one huge party and over 20 days of cut-throat voting between 64 of the capital’s top patty slingers, here we have it, the Final Four masters of meat in our 2015 Burger Cup competition. Based on the frequency at which we often find ourselves at these four establishments it may come as no surprise that they’ve worked their way to the top, testament to the consistently mouthwatering grub that they make and an atmosphere that we yearn for after a grueling day at the office, dreaming of nothing more than belly-shaped bun (and an ice-cold brew).

In the end it was Home Plate BBQ that flipped Let’s Burger, whereas Slow Boat Brewery shunned Union Bar and Grille, and Great Leap Brewing took Big Smoke Bistro by storm, securing the place of three of the same competitors that entered last year’s final. The big difference this year is that The Local squeezed by Blue Frog, compared to 2014 when they were eked out Big Smoke Bistro. We’ll put that down to them putting extra creamy avocados on their dry rub burgers over the past 12 months.

Now the big question is, can Home Plate make it a whopping four years in a row? If you haven’t voted yet, this would be the time to show your allegiance to one of these four Beijing heavyweights by voting at www.thebeijinger.com/2015burgercup – you have until noon on Monday (Sep 14) to cast your vote before we move into the The Finals on the same day at 4pm. The ultimate winner will be announced shortly after The Finals polls have closed at noon on Wednesday (Sep 16).

Check here for the updated brackets to see exactly where each of the top 64 seeds fell.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on September 10, 2015

And down go eight more: After a series of vicious face-offs in the closing hours of the Sweet 16, eight Beijing restaurants have survived to make it into the next round – send them through to the Final Four by voting here now:

In the two closest contests of the match, Blue Frog narrowly avoided defeat at the hands of Tim’s Texas Bar-B-Q, and The Local squeezed by Courtyard 4 neighbor Q Mex by a mere handful of votes. Top seeds reigned in most other matches, with seven of eight of the top two seeds in each division making it to the next round.

The underdog The Garage, which made it farther than expected for a 12th-seeded venue, was knocked out by Great Leap Brewing.

Eight of Beijing’s best burgers remain in competition from the original 64, and now the choices get really tough, given what remains is 80 percent of Beijing’s Top 10 burgers.

Can Let’s Burger knock off perennial champion Home Plate? Can The Local fend off the behemoth that is Blue Frog? Can Union shoot past Slow Boat? And will The Big Smoke hold out over Great Leap? No matter how you slice it, these matches are tough to call:

Bracket A
Home Plate BBQ (#1) vs Let’s Burger (#2) 

Bracket B
Blue Frog (#1) vs The Local (#2) 

Bracket C
Slow Boat Brewery (#1) vs Union Bar and Grille (#3)

Bracket D
Great Leap Brewing (#1) vs The Big Smoke (#2) 

Keep your favorite burger place’s winning streak alive by casting your ballot in the Elite Eight here now: thebeijinger.com/2015burgercup – you have until Thursday (Sep 10) at noon to vote in this round.

A summary of all of last round’s blow-by-blow action can be found here.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on September 6, 2015.

First blood has been drawn in the 2015 Burger Cup as the first round of voting closed this afternoon, knocking 32 out of contention and leaving 32 to fight on another day. 

Keep your favorite burger place’s winning streak alive by casting your ballot in the Round of 32 here now: http://www.thebeijinger.com/2015Burgercup

All four top seeds in each bracket made it through the first round, while upsets ruled the day in other matches.  

Several places making their debut this year rode the buzz created by their appearance at the Burger Cup launch party to upset higher-ranked competitors.

In Bracket C, 11th seeded Loft Eatalicious, known more for its Italian fare, nevertheless floated by No. 6 The Irish Volunteer, after impressing at the launch party.

In the same bracket, Burger Cup newcomer Yuppie and Yummy (#10) narrowly outpaced the 7th-ranked Windy City on buzz created by The Yupster’s launch party appearance.

In Bracket D, 10th-ranked Paulaner Maximilian, whose variety at the launch party was sampled by many a party-goer, outlasted Paddy O’Shea’s (#7).

Two other newcomers managed to upset higher-ranked competitors by way of disqualification: Fly Pizza (#11) defeated Migas (#6) and Groovy Schiller’s (#11) ousted Kro’s Nest (#6) as both Migas and Kro have stopped serving burgers.

It was a bad year for 8th seeds, all four of whom were knocked out by 9th seeds in their respective brackets.

The one other unexpected upset was from 12th seeded The Garage, which triumphed over Morton’s of Chicago (#5).

Competition in the Round of 32 gets more intense, and contains two newcomers in epic battles: Kenny’s Burgers and Jing-A both take on No. 1 seeds in this round of their respective brackets.

Can Kenny’s knock off Blue Frog? Can Jing-A overtake 2014 Final Four finalist Great Leap Brewing? You tell us in this round of voting, which is open till Thursday.

In the mean time, take a gander at how the full bracket is progressing below (click for a larger version):

Below you’ll find the full results from the First Round:

Bracket A
Home Plate (1) sliced up The Cut (16)
Village Café (9) sent Grandma’s Kitchen (8) into retirement
Flamme (5) broiled Grinders (12)
Lush (4) fought off a serious challenge from Bistrot B (13)
Groovy Schillers (11) flew by Kro’s Nest (6)*
Lily’s (3) left Eudora Station (14) on the platform
1F (7) slam-dunked Laker’s (10)
Let’s Burger (2) flipped Waspark (15)

Bracket B
Blue Frog (1) croaked Park Side (16)
Kenny’s Burgers (9) blew by Beer Mania (8)
Tim’s Texas Bar-B-Q (5) outlasted Burger Me (12)
Temple Bar (4) sent Peter’s Tex-Mex (13) south of the border
Q Mex (3) outdistanced Pinotage (14)
Fly Pizza (11) soared on by Migas (6)*
Café Flatwhite (7) eked by Ramo (10)
The Local (2) slammed The Bookworm (15) shut

Bracket C
Slow Boat (1) cruised past The Smokeyard (16)
Nola (9) sent The Den (8) into hibernation
4corners (5) bolted past Jamaica Blue (12)
Stuff’d (4) 404’d Domain (13)
Union (3) busted Rumi (14)
Loft Eatalicious (11) floated by The Irish Volunteer (6)
Yuppie & Yummy (10) blew by Windy City (7)
Plan B (2) skied Twilight (15)

Bracket D
Great Leap (1) corralled Hungry Horse (16)
Jing-A (9) chomped on Biteapitta (8)
The Garage (12) sneaked by Morton’s of Chicago (5)
Luga’s Villa (4) outdistanced Frank’s Place (13)
Frost (3) narrowly froze out The Filling Station (14)
Katchup (6) squeezed out Sunbake and Brew (11)
Paulaner Maximilian (10) whacked Paddy O’Shea’s (7)
The Big Smoke (2) pedaled past The Old Bike Café (15)

As is our habit, we also asked you to rank the competitors that did not make it into the bracket of 64 this year, to serve as initial seedings for next year. Due to the two disqualifications, our list begins at #63:

63. Burger Break
64. Helen’s Café
65. Park Square
66. Burger Counter
67. XL Bar
68. Angry Burger
69. Craft, Crowne Plaza Lido
70. Pebbles Courtyard
71. Food Studio, Renaissance Beijing Wangfujing Hotel
72. The Corner
73. One East
74. The Kitchen Table, W Beijing Chang’an
75. The Golden Era 50’s Diner
76. Nasca Café
77. Uncle Sam’s
78. Must Guette
79. Little Britain
80. Steak Exchange, InterContinental Hotel
81. Fuel, Langham Place
82. MRL
83. Pentalounge, Penta Hotel

* these two matches were decided by disqualification as both Migas and Kro’s Nest have removed burgers from their menus.

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on August 30, 2015

As the final pickles are pulled from their jars, the last kick is added to the aioli, and the vendors scramble around for those remaining necessities, we thought we’d best remind all you hungry folk out there about how to get to the venue for the Beijinger 2015 Burger Cup.

The burgers will be patiently waiting at Universal Creative Park, just opposite the north gate of 798, tomorrow, August 15. This family friendly event features two kids zones with fun activities to usher families back from summer holidays.

If you’re heading over via subway, take Line 14 to Wangjing Nan (望京南), exit at exit A, and then take a relaxing stroll along the airport expressway as masterfully indicated on the map below.

If you’re taking a taxi, head straight to 9 Jiuxianqiao Beilu, Chaoyang Park 朝阳区酒仙桥北路9号

To see the full list of over 20 vendors and start planning as to which burger you’ll be stuffing into your face first, click here. Entry to the park is RMB 5, and the celebrations will run from 11am to 8pm. We look forward to seeing you all there!

This post first appeared on thebeijinger.com on August 14, 2015 and has been slightly modified.

Photo: the Beijinger