Honestly there's nothing like it. I've never had a European hamburger with the same taste and texture as a classic American burger--which I say totally independent of/not about quality. Euro burgers use a totally different grind that changes the density and flavor of the patty,, and then of course the toppings and bun tend to be a bit different. Sort of like NYC pizza being relatively simple, but apparently impossible to 100% recreate in any other city, there's nothing immediately notable about an American burger that you couldn't do somewhere else, but it does still come out differently. I hope you get your chance to try one!
It's way better than it used to be - 10 years ago I would have agreed with you wholeheartedly but finally places like Five Guys are making their mark on the big European cities and people have a better understanding of what a hamburger should taste like.
It's still like 75/25 bad to good but it used to be 95/5 or worse.
Texan here. I've had some damn good hamburgers in my life, and I've been to numerous states. But the one of the best burgers I've ever had was in Luleå, Sweden at a place called Bastard Burgers. Specifically, you have to ask for them to add 3 pieces of Västerbottensoft crispy bites to the burger. It brought tears to my eyes just knowing I can't get anything like that in Texas.
bastard used to be great when it was just one restaurant. went there a lot in uni. then they got popular, and while i haven't been to the original place in like five years all their new locations are just... expensive and average.
American cheese does that. Kraft Singles are not cheese, but American cheese is actual cheese, and it does the melt all over thing that you're looking for. This is about the one thing it's good for.
It was a tongue in cheek comment haha. Yeah I've had lots of tasty burgers at home, but if I visited the states I would definitely be checking out the best restaurants in whatever place I happened to be visiting. Maybe eventually! :)
As an American, do it. Seriously I don’t eat meat anymore but when you said this I started craving a giant fucking black bean burger with all my preferred fixings and enough fries to concern a cardiologist. Ooh and maybe a glass of my preferred bourbon to go with it.
I may be some metric using socialist pescatarian but there are parts of this country that I feel deep in my soul and my cardiac tissue.