Takeaway Truth is an occasional Lifehacker feature where we compare marketing images against what you actually get served. Today: Hungry Jack’s Grill Masters Fiery Angus. (Plus taste test!)
They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that’s true, Hungry Jack’s must be McDonald’s biggest fan. Time and time again, the flame-grilled burger specialist has taken note of what works at Macca’s and then brought out a slightly tweaked version of the same concept. Its latest rip-off/re-imagining is the Angus Grill Masters; premium, plus-size burgers that take their design cues from McDonald’s Create Your Taste range.
Like Create Your Taste, the new burgers feature 100% Angus beef patties cut extra thick, a brioche bun and deluxe ingredients that aren’t available on the regular menu. The similarities don’t end there: the burger comes in an oversized brown cardboard box and is held together with paper wrapping:
There are currently three available options in the Grill Masters range: Angus Classic (beef, Egmont cheese, tomato, lettuce, tomato relish and herb mayonnaise), Fiery Angus (beef, Egmont cheese, tomato, lettuce, onion rings, tomato relish, herb mayonnaise and jalapeños) and Angus BBQ Beef (beef, Egmont Cheese, grilled onions, pickles, BBQ sauce and mustard.)
Each standalone burger costs $8.95 which is slightly cheaper than the majority of Create Your Taste offerings. For a 2016 premium takeaway burger, this is a pretty good price.
For the purposes of this article, we plumped for the Fiery Angus version which packs in 4130 kilojoules. Bear in mind that this is just for the burger. Adding a large fries and Coke to the equation brings the total to 7570kJ. That’s nearly your entire daily recommended kilojoule intake in one hit.
So how does the Grill Masters Fiery Angus compare to the adverts? Curiously, Hungry Jack’s appears to be soft launching the Grill Masters range with as little fanfare as possible. There’s no mention of the new burgers on the company’s website, no Facebook images and no YouTube adverts. Subsequently, we were forced to take a snapshot of the physical poster at a Hungry Hack’s outlet.
Here’s how they compare, side by side:
The most obvious difference here is the physical shape of the burger: the version in the advert is a narrow tower of brick-by-brick layers, whereas the real burger is squashed and spherical.
The latter is obviously a lot more practical, but it fails to show off the ingredients like in the poster. Otherwise, the chief anomalies are the lettuce, which appears to be a different leaf variety, and the cheese, which is more abundant yet unpleasantly oily looking.
We actually think this is a delicious looking burger but it bears little resemblance to the advert. It’s still false advertising, but the real version still looks great. Go figure.
As to the taste… damn. This was hands down the best Hungry Jack’s burger I’ve ever tasted. The brioche bun was divine and the onion rings gave a nice amount of crunch. The meal was also less sloppy than the norm — the paper wrapping really helps to hold everything together and gives you something to hold onto during those first decadent bites.
My only reservation was that there was barely any heat in it despite the peppers: spice addicts may want to substitute the mayo for Angry Whopper sauce. Apart from that one caveat, this is a burger that every Hungry Jack’s fan absolutely needs to try.
Truth Rating: 6/10
Taste Verdict: 9/10
Which fast food franchise or menu item would you like us to tackle next? Let us know in the comments section below.
Comments
5 responses to “Takeaway Truth / Taste Test: Hungry Jack’s Grill Masters Fiery Angus”
Have to agree 100% this is the best burger Hungry Jacks have ever made. The other two burgers are a let down though. The classic one is OK but lacks flavour. The BBQ Beef also lacks flavour and I can’t believe I’m going to say this about a burger but it wasn’t sweet enough. I’m not a fan of sweet on burgers in general but the BBQ sauce and mustard both lack any real sweetness to complement the saltiness which just leaves you feeling let down.
“They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. If that’s true, McDonald’s must be Hungry Jack’s biggest fan. Time and time again, the flame-grilled burger specialist has taken note of what works at Macca’s and then brought out a slightly tweaked version of the same concept”
Surely, you mean Hungry Jack’s is McDonald’s biggest fan?
Thanks for spotting the snafu – fixed now!
I tried the Fiery Angus the other night and I was a little disappointed, maybe I just got a bad one, but the flavour in the burger itself was kinda lacking.
After eating it I was wondering why I didnt just get an Angry Whopper
The Angry Whopper totally does it for me. I might have to try one of these with angry sauce though.
You guys are hacks, how is it that every time you do a fast food truths your burgers are terribly made and look like trash?
They’re angry onions, not onion rings in the Fiery burger
When my partner and I tried each burger in the Grill Masters range they were the worst burgers we had ever tasted from hungry jacks. Although they looked alright despite looking nothing like the advertisements they tasted horrid and were a huge disappointment. The patty and bun were tough and the cheese was rubbery. I’m a big fan of burgers made from fresh ingredients and love to make my own burgers and so I don’t expect much of Hungry Jacks burgers, but I actually prefer their bbq cheeseburgers to their grill masters range.