Fast Food Watch, World Cup Edition: Samba Burgers Go Head-to-Head

The FIFA World Cup kicks off in fewer than 24 hours. But there's another competition going on, almost as intense. There's no draw for this tournament. Only two teams qualify. This is the 2014 World Cup Samba Burger smackdown.

The battle between McDonald's and KFC is constant, even when there's not an all-consuming global sporting event taking place. But for seemingly the first time, both fast-food giants have produced the exact same product line for a limited period: one themed beef burger and one themed chicken burger, both called Samba Burgers, and both released for the World Cup. The only major difference is that McDonald's is an official sponsor of the FIFA World Cup, and KFC is not.

There are four items in this bracket. We tried all four. Here's how we called it.

All four sandwiches use the same idea: whether the choices for Brazil-themed burgers were so limited, so obvious, or the teams creating them so devoid of creativity, we may never know, but all the products feature rolls embossed with the classic soccer ball pattern. It may be cute to look at, but it makes all of the buns taste stale, or at least unpleasantly hard. A yellow card to both sides on product design.

McDonald's: These two entries are called the Brazilian Passion Beef Burger and the Rio Glory Chicken Burger. For the beef burger, unlike McDonald's beef-only entry for 2010, which was a four-patty, four-slice of cheese monstrosity, McDonald's believe sufficient passion is expressed with four patties and a single slice of cheese, a spicy special sauce, lettuce, and a tiny bit of tomato. Even though the slogan is "Open Wide, Let One In," it was not particularly difficult to eat, certainly no more so than a normal Big Mac. The biggest surprise is the level of spice in the sauce – it's hot enough that people not keen on spicy food might recoil slightly. Not a bad entry. Score: 1-0, McDonald's.

The glory of the chicken burger is two fried chicken patties, and the shredded cabbage/cucumber/lettuce and hoisin sauce combo that we've seen used previously on the curry chicken wrap, which we liked quite a bit. As such, it's also a solid entry. It's crunchy, the sauce is nice, but of course the bun is crap. A tap-in. Score: McDonald's, 2-0 at the half.

KFC: KFC is going with fewer patties but a special formation: cheese and bacon feature on both of its World Cup burgers, called the Samba Pepper Beef Football Burger and the Samba Roast Chicken Football Burger, respectively. Unlike McDonald's, which has always been primarily beef but always had a few chicken items on its menu for decades, KFC is still almost exclusively chicken, with beef making an occasional cameo. 

The beef burger shows us why KFC should stick to chicken. The bacon and cheese combo is nice, but the sauce isn't sufficiently peppery, it's too sweet. Also, this isn't a beef patty: it's six or seven slices of some kind of processed beef, served together with lettuce. It's an ok shot from close in, but over the bar. Score: McDonald's, still 2-0. 

Bacon and cheese go well with almost everything, but not chicken. That's a real disadvantage for the roast chicken burger, which is a large slice of roast chicken, also served with bacon and cheese and lettuce. However, there's some kind of revolting, mayonnaise-like but not as good as mayonnaise sauce on this sandwich that made me put it down after two bites. I finished the beef. I gave the Samba Roast Chicken Football Burger a red card. 

At the whistle: McDonald's raises the cup, 2-0. 

Other notes: the KFC items are RMB 19 for the beef burger and RMB 16.5 for the chicken, ordered individually, respectively. McDonald's prices are RMB 18.5 for the chicken and RMB 23.5 for the beef. Check out McDonald's World Cup fry boxes, they're cool. KFC will sell you a commemorative World Cup Pepsi glass (made from plastic) for an extra RMB 6 if you buy a meal with any of the World Cup burgers.

Photos: Steven Schwankert/the Beijinger