Takeaway Truth is an occasional Lifehacker feature where we compare marketing images to what you actually get served. On today’s menu: The Red Rooster Big Aussie Burger.
Fast food restaurants have been known to gild the lily when it comes to accurate depictions of their menu items. Far too often, the mouth-watering feast on the poster turns out to be a limp and oily morsel. In a bid to keep the fry-jockey overlords honest, we’ve decided to document the reality of fast food — it was either that, or go postal like Michael Douglas in Falling Down.
The Big Aussie Burger is essentially Red Rooster’s answer to the McDonald McOz, with beetroot being the “hero” ingredient.
“Bite into sizzling bacon, juicy beetroot and crispy chicken, finished with our classic BBQ sauce and creamy mayo,” the marketing blurb demands. “The real Aussie Burger from a real Aussie restaurant – Red Rooster.”
We must have missed the memo where beetroot became synonymous with Australia. Personally I think it’s vile stuff. But as readers of Takeaway Truth well know, we’re not here to judge the taste.
So just how well does the Big Aussie Burger compare to its marketing counterpart? Here’s a side-by-side comparison:
And here they are cropped together:
As you can see, the real Big Aussie isn’t a patch on the promotional image. This usually comes down crap burger assembly, but on this occasion there certainly seems to be markedly fewer ingredients.
The lettuce, bacon and beetroot are barely visible and the whole thing has been haphazardly drenched in oily looking mayo. Also note the bottom of each bun — either the real thing uses thicker bread, or the chicken patty is smaller. Either way, this is a pretty disappointing effort.
Truth Rating: 6/10
Which fast food franchise or menu item would you like us to tackle next? Let us know in the comments section below.
Comments
11 responses to “Takeaway Truth: Red Rooster Big Aussie Burger”
Dammit, now Im Hungry.
You gave it a 6? Wow. Very generous. You must have unknowingly been influenced by the good taste.
McDonalds started it a long time ago when they first introduced their “Aussie Burger”, or “McOz” or whatever they called it. It was still a McDonalds (read: American style) burger, but somehow it made it magically Australian by adding beetroot.
Felt like saying “I’ll take you down to the local corner shop and I’ll show you what a real Aussie burger is”.
On topic, this looks pretty bad. I’m usually a fan of Red Rooster’s stuff, but I usually only get a Rippa Sub or Wrap, or one of their healthier meals (the ones with vegies) and rarely eat the burgers.
Do your local burgers contain Beetroot? Typically when I get “with the lot” burgers I end up with beetroot. Hell, I typically order them with no lettuce or tomato and just beetroot 🙂
If you want it, yeah. I tend to avoid beetroot personally…not because I don’t like it but because it tends to make the bun soggy and makes a mess when you eat it.
My plain burger came with beetroot the other day.
Hungry Jack’s also has an Aussie burger, came a bit earlier than McDonald’s. Its practically a whopper with beetroot, bacon and barbecue sauce.
The complete burger build is:
5 inch bun crown
Beetroot
Lettuce
Tomato
White Onion
Ketchup
Egg
Bacon
Cheese
5 inch Beef Patty
5 inch Bun Heel.
🙂
It takes more than a single, paper thin, anemic burger with beetroot on it to make a hamburger “Aussie” …
If you want a real Australian hamburger, you gotta go down the street to a little Greek cafe or your corner shop.
You get the big, greasy, fatty flour rolls. You get the giant, dripping, fatty oily meat patty. And you get the lot – all the ingredients, fresh and plentiful.
– paraphrased from Rodney Rude
Can you please do a review of the new KFC Nacho Box.
It………….it…………..looks like someone whacked off into your burger!?