Big Beefy Burrito Battle - Burp Killer Burritos vs Zambrero

Last week a colleague of mine bought a small silver torpedo into the office that looked a bit like this...



... I know what you're thinking and no - he doesn't have a boogie board bag full of these and is planning a trip to Bali. This is in fact a burrito from Zambrero. This foil wrapped bundle started a debate about the relative merits of Burp Killer Burritos vs burritos from Zambrero. We didn't form a consensus so I felt I should subject both burrito outlets to a rigorous scientific review to decide this matter once and for all.

To keep the burrito sample pool as constant as possible I ordered beef burritos with whatever fillings came free and some sort of smokey sauce.

Let's start with the Zambrero burrito - slow cooked beef with refried beans, sour cream, rice, corn salsa, tomato salsa, onion & coriander salsa, cheese, jalapenos, smokey tamarindo sauce and a squeeze fresh lime.



I question whether this beef was slow cooked - it was quite chewy and had very little flavour. The various salads, fillings and salsas were fresh and tasty but didn't really add any textural crunch to the burrito. In fact, eating this burrito was like eating a small log of Mexican mush. The smokey sauce didn't come through and jalapenos didn't add any heat. But the squeeze of fresh lime really helped. In fact, that's probably the best way of describing this burrito - fresh.

Now, lets have a look at the Burp Killer Burrito. Keeping the boogie-board-smuggling theme going, for some reason it was wrapped to look like a giant spliff. I should warn you that the lighting in Burp was pretty low so the photos aren't that good. 



The Burp burrito was Mexican beef with guacamole, refried beans, sour cream, corn salsa, tomato salsa, rice, red onion, lettuce, cheese, jalapeños and smokey chipotle sauce.



Tender and falling apart - this beef was definitely slow cooked but once again didn't taste like anything much. The various salads, salsas and fillings stayed more compartmentalised and therefore the burrito had a bit of crunch and texture. Burp was more generous with their fillings - especially the sour cream. The jalapenos had some heat and the chipotle sauce carried through the whole burrito.

The verdict? Let me start by saying that both Zambrero and Burp did a few things badly. I really disliked the wraps they used - it was likely trying eat flattened glue. And the beef from both places didn't taste like anything - but at least Burp's was meltingly tender.

But I think I've come down in the Burp Killer Burrito camp. For one, they didn't try and charge me $2 for guacamole and the burrito was significantly larger. It also had more flavour and texture.

That said, neither were as good the smokey beef mocha mole burritos I made on the weekend.