Where to Eat a Burger Today? Each Brand's Own Starting Point for a First Order

McDonald's offers a wide range, from beef options like the Big Mac and the 1955 Burger to chicken options like the McSpicy Shanghai and the McCrispy. If it's your first time, the Big Mac, with its special sauce and two patties, is a good way to meet the brand's most familiar combination. If you're curious about the cut of chicken, you can also compare the chicken breast of the Shanghai with the chicken thigh of the McCrispy. Rather than asking what's more famous, decide whether sauce, patty or cheese is what you want to eat first today, and ordering gets faster.

When choosing Burger King for the first time, look at the Whopper and the Cheese Whopper side by side. On the official menu it's easy to tell the basic version of the Whopper line from the one with cheese added. If you want a burger with vegetables, start from the Whopper; if you want to add a richer note in the same direction, the Cheese Whopper is a good way in. There are chicken and shrimp options as well, so it's convenient for ordering different kinds with the people you're with. Rather than chasing every limited-time new item, we recommend starting with the Whopper as your reference point and building your own taste from there.

Lotteria is a brand where choosing gets easier once you decide on the ingredient first. The Hanwoo Bulgogi Burger leads with a Korean Hanwoo beef patty and a brioche bun, while the Mozzarella in the Burger Bacon leads with natural mozzarella and bacon. There are shrimp options and the Hot Crispy Chicken Burger too, so you don't have to settle on one kind of meat. Start by asking whether you feel like a sweet sauce today or need cheese to take center stage. When ordering together, you can also change the character of your sides with Seasoned Fries or a Long Cheese Stick.

As a first menu at Mom's Touch, the Thigh Burger is a good starting point. The official menu classifies it as a chicken thigh burger and describes the combination of a crispy, spicy patty and lettuce. Put Cajun Fries next to the burger and you'll find this is a brand with a seasoning personality not just in the chicken patty but in its sides too. It's worth a look on days when you want to enjoy fried chicken inside a bun. Rather than starting with a large menu item that stacks many ingredients, you can pick the Thigh Burger first and look for variations on your next order.

At KFC you can explore chicken burgers with the Zinger at the center. The current official menu shows several options separately, such as the Zinger and the Classic Zinger Tongdari (whole leg), so it's easy to compare similarly named products and choose. Among the sides you'll also meet menu items with a different texture from a burger, like Coleslaw and the Egg Tart. Beyond just adding more chicken, you can change things up with a vegetable side or pick a dessert for after the meal. Decide on one burger first, then divide up the roles of what you'll eat with it.

No Brand Burger's Signature combines a flame-grilled meat patty with a smoky char and cheese. You can also tell it apart from the similarly named Cheese Burger. If you want chicken, the Crunch Chicken, with a whole chicken breast patty and coleslaw, is another option. Think about which you feel like today: the meat patty with its flame-grilled flavor or the fried chicken patty. You can widen your interest to sides like the Injeolmi Cheese Balls, a menu item that bundles familiar ingredients in a new way.

Frank Burger is a good place to find variations on a basic lineup, with the Frank Burger, the Cheeseburger and the Double Beef Cheese Burger. The official introduction emphasizes that burgers are grilled to order. To start, look at the Frank Burger, which combines a handmade patty with vegetables, and if cheese matters to you, the Cheeseburger with cheddar added. There's also a separate menu item pairing a Hanwoo patty with demi-glace brown sauce. Rather than lumping all the brand's burgers into one flavor, it's worth choosing by changing one thing at a time: the cheese, the sauce or the number of patties.