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Today I had a Habit Charburger. It has good reviews online. My experience, sadly, was as disappointing as a year ago. No taste of char, even nibbling on the patty itself (without condiments and a small salad's worth of lettuce.) Not juicy. Probably grilled at a non-high temperature but if you told me it was steamed I wouldn't doubt you. Not something I would make a habit of, yuk yuk.
In the interest of an experiment, hardly blind or controlled but at least against fresh sensory memory, I then went to McDonald's and had a quarter pounder with cheese, plus onions and nothing else, with an idea of letting the burger's qualities shine through more. Verdict: better. _Also_ not juicy on its own, it does benefit from cheese and condiments, but actually had a noticeable char/smoky flavor to it. Also salt. (The order kiosk lets you control the salt level, I was surprised to find, though I didn't touch it.) While it's not great, and as I said it would benefit from the full works, and would probably be a bit grim with no cheese, it was still a more interesting burger patty and I'd be more likely to repeat it. (Was also cheaper and faster.)
(And now I'm _stuffed_.)
In the interest of an experiment, hardly blind or controlled but at least against fresh sensory memory, I then went to McDonald's and had a quarter pounder with cheese, plus onions and nothing else, with an idea of letting the burger's qualities shine through more. Verdict: better. _Also_ not juicy on its own, it does benefit from cheese and condiments, but actually had a noticeable char/smoky flavor to it. Also salt. (The order kiosk lets you control the salt level, I was surprised to find, though I didn't touch it.) While it's not great, and as I said it would benefit from the full works, and would probably be a bit grim with no cheese, it was still a more interesting burger patty and I'd be more likely to repeat it. (Was also cheaper and faster.)
(And now I'm _stuffed_.)