Hopefully Not My Last Meal…
I was traveling to Bagan, Myanmar via the Yangon, Myanmar to take a Hot Air Balloon Ride through the Valley of Pagodas and was concerned about food. Sometimes domestic flights in undeveloped countries lead to limited food options and food poisoning when I land. Ports of entry in developing countries are sometimes the last chance to get major supplies. I try to fill up my stomach when I can to minimize the chance of being stranded on empty. I always have to consider the destination and the time of day I’m traveling. It’s kind of like driving cross country in the US and wondering how far away the next gas station is at two in the morning in Kansas. I prepared for the unknown with a Whopper from the Burger King at the Yangon Airport.
Bagan, Myanmar has a lot of potential to be one of those places with limited food options. I was very happy when I saw the Burger King at the Yangon, Airport and had another Whopper from around the world, before my domestic flight deep into the country.
What’s The Purpose?
You might be reading this wondering where I’m going with a post dedicated to Whoppers so let me help you out. Throughout my travels, I have learned that buying the same item in different countries, Whoppers in this case, can tell me a lot. It tells me about the supply chain and the vegetables as well as the quality control. With a Whopper being such a universal item, vendors demonstrate innovation in both how they localize the burger and how they overcome issues when there are local limitations. At the end of the day, presentation, freshness, flavor, and cost are all indicators that I think I can use to baseline how the rest of the trip is going to be.
I stick with the same order (for the most part) when I’m eating Whoppers from around the world. I always get some form of Whopper, typically the basic version. Sometimes I will try a localized version if I’ve never seen it before or if I think I’ll never see it again. How could I pass up something unique? Many times I get the Whopper with cheese or with bacon so I can see what the local bacon is like. I’m sure the bacon things sounds weird also but I never know when I’m going to end up with beef bacon or some other variation because of local limitations.
You might think I’m nuking this but I have gleaned some insight from eating Whoppers around the world and that’s why I continue to do so.
My Order
I scanned the menu and saw nothing unique so I ordered the typical Whopper with cheese.
The Price
My Whopper meal in Yangon, Myanmar, which included a bottle of water (gotta get the water), onion rings, and two barbecue sauces cost me 12,500 Kyats which is $9.14 USD at the time of this writing. That’s pretty pricey but the alternative is to have an empty stomach at my destination which I’m not doing!
The Whopper was packaged in typical fashion. The wrapper was folded nicely. The establishment wasn’t very busy. Based on the local economy, the locals aren’t buying $9.14/Whopper meals. BK is clearly here for tourists.
Once unwrapped, the burger looked really good.
Let’s See What We Got
A sneak peak under the hood shows some over ripe tomatoes and some possibly under ripe lettuce. There was a lot of ketchup as you can see on the wrapper. This is before I added BBQ sauce.
I added a shot of BBQ sauce and re wrapped the burger in the paper because I knew it was going to be messy. The bread on the bottom was a little soggy but it was acceptable.
The beef was cooked all the way through which is always my main concern. Under cooked patties can be a problem for all international chains.
Overall Review
The Whopper was just about what I expected from Myanmar. The vegetables varied from a typical Whopper. The bread was a little soggy on the bottom. However, it was still a Whopper and gave me about 90% of the Whopper experience in San Diego, CA. The price tag was pretty steep given the cost of other things in general in Myanmar so that told me any creature comforts I want as a tourist are going to priced at a premium on this trip. All in all, I would have another Whopper in Myanmar without hesitation. The Whopper’s main purpose, other than to get local insight and a baseline for local prices, is to avoid having no food in my stomach by putting some food in my stomach on my terms that I WON’T REGRET later.
