Formula One driver Lewis Hamilton went vegan a year back or so due to what he felt were health benefits, animal rights concerns and other reasons. Good for him. But he also enjoys a good burger, so he’s backing the opening of a vegan burger chain called Neat Burger alongside UNICEF ambassadors and entrepreneur Tommaso Chiabra. And I need to know what it’s like.
The first store has opened on 4 Princes Street in London, with the intention of opening 14 stores in the next few years, ESPN reports. That means it’ll be a little bit difficult for those of us who live literally anywhere else to get a taste.
But apparently the chain has been a hit. The chain offered 1,500 free Beyond Meat burgers on its opening day on September 2, and it ran out of them within two hours. Whether that’s because they were good, or free, or associated with an F1 world champion, it’s hard to say.
There isn’t currently anything listed on the chain’s website, aside from a sign-up for an email list along with the opportunity to sign up for a job there. The photos on its Facebook page look like the kind of over-staged images set up by Instagram ambassadors. The photos on Instagram... look pretty much the same.
What I need is for someone to go out and find a menu, take some real live pictures that aren’t just here for the #aesthetic, and tell me what it’s like. Is it good? Is it expensive? Does it compare to other vegan burgers, or even to other regular burger chains?
I need answers, which you can email to me at ewerth [at] jalopnik [dot] com.
I’m not kidding. I spent about six months fully vegan in 2017 but unfortunately had to quit due to some health issues that were unrelated to my diet, but required a pretty strict meal plan for about a year. I still haven’t received full doctor clearance to go fully vegan, but I’ve kept an eye on the rapidly growing plant-based meat industry since then. Whether you go that road with food or not, it is frankly pretty damn cool that you can find vegan options in plenty of general fast food restaurants nowadays.
This is a very strange alignment of two seemingly unrelated interests. I have a much wider plan in mind here, but unfortunately I don’t have the means to simply hop over to the UK just to eat a burger. Which is why I need those of you based over in the good ol’ UK to conduct a taste test for me.
Or I’ll go over and do it myself. Wash it down with a nice, cold can of Rich Energy. Make it a whole F1-themed meal.