The 10 Greatest Burger Places Outside America (Slideshow)

There is nothing as glorious as a juicy burger, no matter where you are. (Photo: Flickr/Matt Gibson)

The signature burger at the Royale Eatery in Cape Town is called The Wagyu for a reason. It's a generous helping of meat from Wagyu-Angus cattle. The meat is accompanied by Citizen Beer–soaked pickled onions. Choose from your choice of cheeses (owners Sascha and Hugo Berolsky recommend Swiss). It all sits happily atop a pretzel bun.

Your first look at Trixie might have you thinking of runny eggs and bad coffee. The place is modeled after 1950s American Airstream trailer diners, complete with a pink neon sign, aluminum bar, chrome stools topped with red pleather, and vintage Marilyn Monroe and James Dean pics on the wall. Don't be fooled. While the decor is alluring in a kitschy sort of way, people come here for Trixie's Super Trixie Burger. It's a hand-formed patty stacked almost to the point of tipping over with bacon, ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, egg, onion, and a healthy dousing of BBQ sauce. It comes with fries and onion rings. The only problem is figuring out how to get Super Trixie into your mouth in one piece.

Paris New York isn't the easiest place to find — it's in a non-descript corner of the 10th arrondissement, near the Château d'Eau métro station — but it's worth seeking out. Considered the best burger-centric restaurant in the city by Le Figaro, it offers creative specials like the Napalm Sriracha and the Morning California (with avocado and Cheddar) The real draw here, though, is The Return of the Cowboy — premium beef, aged Cheddar, caramelized onions, bacon, and housemade BBQ sauce on a melt-in-your-mouth brioche bun. If you're feeling extra gluttonous, opt for a "double double" for €3 ($3.80) extra and add an order of loaded fries topped with 18-month-old aged Cheddar.  

Ask anyone in Oz where to get a burger and Chur will top the list every time. Chur's menu features seven burgers, from a pulled pork version with red slaw and fennel mayo to a crispy pork belly burger topped with chile caramel. Purists will love the simplicity of the classic cheeseburger with just the right amount of mayo, mustard, and pickles while vegetarians will love the chickpea burger with raw beets.  (Photo: Flickr/Dushan and Miae)

The menu at Farmer's Original offers ten or so burgers, all big and juicy, all designated with pretty pictures and identified with locale-centric names, like the Texas, served with BBQ sauce, and the Honolulu, with a pineapple balsamic sauce. Sauce is a thing here. Illinois gets mustard teriyaki; New York comes with cream cheese sauce. For whatever reasons, Busan, on South Korea's southeastern coast, has a lot of burger joints; almost everybody agrees that this one is best — and probably the best in the country as a whole. With a drink and fries included with each meal, it's one of the city's best values, too.

If you name your restaurant "Hamburger Factory," chances are you're pretty serious about what you're serving. The opening of this place was the focus of a reality show called "Simmi, Joi and the Hamburger Factory." We don't have to tell you what happens when a restaurant in featured on a reality show. Once the place opened its doors, the public swarmed, and they've been there ever since. Ingredients like Italian Parma ham, Peppadew peppers. spicy Havarti cheese, olive paste, and Japanese seaweed are used to create the square-shaped, oddly named burgers the joint is known for. The Fat Sigurjón, named after a character in a 1982-vintage musical comedy called Með allt á hreinu, said to be Iceland's favorite movie of all time, involves bacon, pepper sauce, brie, mushrooms  grilled with garlic, and caramelized red onions.

If you find yourself across the pond and craving a burger, locals will likely direct you to Lucky Chip. What started as a food truck in Netil Market has evolved into a three-location burger mecca that keeps London carnivores happy. The burger starts with coarsely ground 32-day-aged beef. Patties are cooked on a hot grill and topped with cheese. Then, the patty is transferred to a bun with some shredded lettuce and crinkle cut pickles. Sounds simple enough, but premium ingredients and craftsmanship from the cooks at Lucky Chip come together to create London's best burger. (Photo: Flickr/Matt Gibson)

For the 21 hours a day New Zealand's Fergburger, in this town about 225 miles southwest of Christchurch on New Zealand's South Island, is open, it is packed. What started as a late-night, post-drinking burger joint has evolved into a cult favorite hotspot that has become known for New Zealand's bet burgers. Some diners come for the Little Lamby, made with prime New Zealand lamb and dressed with mint jelly, red onion, aïoli, and tomato relish. Others are eager to take a bite out of the Sweet Bambi, a Wild Firodland deer burger with Thai plum chutney. Visiting Americans love ordering the Chief Wiggum, made of pork belly, not just because of the Simpsons reference but because it's delicious. Ferg's beloved burgers are all handmade with locally sourced ingredients and served on buns baked next door at Ferg's own bakery. (Photo: Flickr/Calium)

Blacows is owned and run by a butcher, so expect the best meat here. By best, we mean Japanese Black Wagyu beef. Diners can get a glimpse of their burger being made through the window Blascows' "Patty Factory." The Big Blacow Burger is the best bet here. It's two patties of Black Wagyu, cooked medium, and dressed with Colby and Monterey Jack cheese. Crispy Nadeshiko bacon and creamy sliced avocado add more flavor. The buns come from a Tokyo branch of the famed Parisian boulangerie Maison Kayser. That no expense is spared in the creation of this mega-burger shows in the ¥2,600 ($24) price tag. (Photo Modified: flickr/gemini st)

The way Americans clamor for Swedish meatballs at Ikea is similar to the way Swedes queue up for a taste of Jon Widegren's Flippin' Burgers in Stockholm. 

Widegren is serious about his burgers — so serious that he wrote the book about them: Flippin' Burger, in which he shares his "no secrets, no shortcuts" philosophy of burgerdom. All Widegren's beef is grass-fed, sourced from local farms, and ground in-house. A nearby bakery provides the buns. Flippin' doesn't take reservations but that doesn't stop fans from coming, leaving their names, and waiting to be called to place an order for one of the six burgers on the menu (one of them made not with meat but with cassave flour, kidney beans, and chipotle chiles). The basic burger here is described as "For the pure of heart. Meat and bread. Nothing more." Wash your burger down with one of 40 beers offered, along with wine, cider, and some hard stuff. (Photo: Flickr/Erik Mörner)