Burger Month: Burger Baka Vol. 10

Burger Month continues!
This is the last Burger Month post for this year and it is a big one. It is the post that all the other posts have been leading up to: Burger Baka Vol. 10!
Burger Baka Vol. 10 kicked off last Sunday, March 23rd, at Kasama's Geijutsu Mori (Forest Art) Park. Burger Baka was huge this year with over thirty hamburger shops joining the biggest burger event in Ibaraki. The Ibaraki Eats Duo got to Burger Baka at around 9:15 am. 45 minutes before the event started. One of my favorite burger places, Montana, already had a huge line at their tent. And Burger had a line and so did Drool Diner. It is insane to see this event grow and grow and to see more people come to have a burger for breakfast.
My wife and I decided to grab some burgers a few minutes before Burger Baka started, which was at 10:00 a.m. My wife lined up at a place called Agopakan, which means breaking my jaw. I saw a picture of a beautiful-looking burger at another burger place and had to have that first.

Rock Burger
Donut Burger

When we arrived at Burger Baka, my wife and I split up to line up at different places. She went to Agopakan, while I walked around and wondered what to try.
While walking around, I found a cute-looking burger trailer with the name Rock Burger. I know Rock Burger from last year's Burger Baka. They are a burger restaurant from Mito. I have had their burger before and was about to think nothing of it. Then I did a double take of their menu and saw a new menu item, the Donut Burger. Oh yes. We are definitely trying that. I ordered the Donut Burger and Rock Burger gave me a number and told me to come back later.
Yes! Finally! Everyone is learning about the wait time problem with Burger Baka. What really impressed me with all the places at Burger Baka was that when you ordered a burger, 90% of the burger stands would give you a ticket with a number and would tell you to come back at a later time when your number was called. This system is so much better than just spending all day waiting in line.
Anyway, I digress. My wife was still in line at Agopakan when I received my Donut Burger. I opened the wrapper and that Donut Burger looked beautiful. Something so simple, a glazed donut with a meat patty in the middle with melted cheese looked so delicious. My wife said, "Don't you Americans have donuts for breakfast? This is sort of like breakfast for you right?" Can't beat that logic!
I took a bite out of my Donut Burger and was ready to call this burger the best burger I had at Burger Baka. It was incredible. The balance between sweet, salty, and meaty was perfect. Every bite of this Donut Burger was bliss. My wife loved it and said, "Americans think of the most delicious and fating things." She is 100% right. I told a fitness instructor friend of mine about this burger and he let me know that I would have to run for an hour and do four sets of 25 push-ups to burn all those calories. I do not mind though, this fantastic burger was worth all the extra kilos.
After we finished our Donut Burger, we ordered our Agopakan burger, got a number, and was told that it would take around 45 minutes. We decided to try a different place that had a smaller line.

Mito Fusion
Mito Fusion Burger and Cheddar Fries Set

We decided to line up at Mito Fusion. Can you guess where they are from? We were in line for a short 10 minutes, ordered our burger, waited 5 minutes, and our burger and fries were ready.
OK. I have written this a few times and have said it to quite a number of people. I try not to be negative in my posts. I might mention a few things here or there but nothing too negative. For Mito Fusion, I am going to have to break that rule. What Mito Fusion served us was not a burger. I am not sure what it was, but it wasn't a burger. The buns were all mushy, the cheese was...something, and the patty was a car wreck. I bit into that burger and all I got was a charred beef patty. That patty also broke apart. It broke apart! I have rarely had that happen in all my burger-eating years. The fries did not fare any differently. They were a bit undercooked and were splashed with what I assume was cheese whiz.
I am sorry Mito Fusion, this was bad. Having a patty fall apart and all the fallen pieces be charred chunks is not my idea of a good burger. Do better.

Agopakan
Double Cheeseburger

After our less than great experience with the last burger, our Agopakan burger was ready. We grabbed our burger, opened the wrapper, and could already tell that this was going to be an excellent burger. This burger looked like a cheezy delight with what I can only describe as a cheese waterfall running down from the top bun, all through the double patties, and finally ending under the bottom bun. The burger looked great, but I feared that the cheese would overpower the flavor of the patties. After taking a bite out of this double cheeseburger, those fears were put to rest. This burger was fantastic. The double meat patties were meaty and delicious. The gooey cheese waterfall between the patties is any cheese lover's dream. Biting into that burger was like falling into a river of cheese with a chunk of delicious beef as your raft. Another plus of having so much cheese was that it held the double cheeseburger together well...until you got to the final bites. Then everything fell apart. Either way, it was a delicious burger.
This was my wife's pick and I have to say she nailed it. When she bit into that burger, she made a clear statement of intent, "We are getting one more for us, and one more for my parents." At the end of our time at Burger Baka, we did end up going back to Agopakan and getting a burger for Mrs. Ibaraki Eats' parents to take home. Later that day, they tried it and gave it their own thumbs up.

Thank you Burger Baka!

After that amazing Agopakan Double Cheeseburger, we did have another burger which was OK. Honestly, I do not remember the place we got it at and what burger it was. All I remember was that the patty was good but it had undercooked bacon. It kind of tasted like a subpar Burger King burger. So not worth writing about.
My wife and I had a great time at Burger Baka Vol. 10. The burgers were great (except for one), the live music was nice, and it was a great sunny day. A bit too sunny. We were planning on staying until the end of the event but it was 24 degrees that day. Way too hot for spring. We packed up our stuff and headed to my wife's parent's house with their Agopakan burger. I would have also brought them a Donut Burger but they were all sold out by the end of the event.
Thank you for another amazing burger event, Burger Baka. Until next year my fellow burger bakas!