Today I finally had the pleasure to try out the Impossible Burger in San Francisco. As of this writing, Impossible Foods Inc. does not sell Impossible meat directly to consumer yet… They are mainly focused on bring Impossible meat to restaurants around the world, you can find them across United States and Hong Kong. For a list of restaurants serving Impossible Burger, you can use the map tool here. If you live in San Francisco, here’s a list of notable restaurants (not exhaustive) that currently serve the Impossible Burger:
- Osteria Bella – 3848 Geary Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94118, 415.221.0305
- Papa Mak’s Burgers – 3755 Noriega St, San Francisco, CA 94122, 415.340.3171
- Cybelle’s Front Room – 1385 9th Ave, San Francisco, CA 94122, 415.665.8088
- Gott’s Roadside – One Ferry Building, #6, CA 94111, 415.318.3423
- Sauce – 131 Gough St, San Francisco, CA 94102, 415.252.1369
- Hotel Utah Saloon – 500 4th St San Francisco, CA 94107, 415.546.6300
- Cockscomb – 564 4th St, San Francisco, CA 94107, 415.974.0700
- Stanford Court Hotel, 905 California St San Francisco, CA 94108, 415.989.3500
- Jardiniere (one of the first locations that served the Impossible Burger), 300 Grove St San Francisco, CA 94102, 415.861.5555
- Old Bus Tavern – 3193 Mission St, San Francisco, CA 94110, 415-843-1938
What are the nutrition facts on Impossible Burger?
According to Impossible Foods website, here are the nutrition facts for Impossible Burger’s patty1 (NOTE: this does not account for the buns and toppings as each restaurants vary):
- Serving size: 3oz (85g)
- Calories per serving: 220
- Total fat: 13g (saturated 10g)
- Cholesterol: 0mg
- Sodium: 430mg
- Total carb: 5g (dietary fiber 0g, total sugar less than 1g, includes less than 1g added sugar)
- Protein: 20g
Impossible Burger Nutrition Facts
Personally I’m fairly impress it only has 5g of carbs, ideal for someone who is in a low-carb diet. The sodium I felt was a bit high, but considering this is restaurant food, things has to be tasty, this is acceptable in my opinion. What I am surprise is the amount of saturated fat it has for being a plant vegan burger, a whooping 50% daily value. For the folks who are watching their fat intake, this is something you can want plan on before heading out for an Impossible Burger. All in all, I’m fairly impress with the nutritional values reported. Here are some other facts you might find interesting, according to Impossible Foods website2:
“Compared to a burger made from cows, making an Impossible Burger uses about 1/20th the land, 1/4th the water, and produces 1/8th the greenhouse gas emissions.”
When you eat an Impossible Burger, not only it is better for your health, but you’re also helping the environment as well.
Why did you choose Gott’s Roadside as the venue to review the Impossible Burger?
Several reasons. Over the years I have tried many plant-based meat substitute and majority of them (in the high 90%) failed to impress me. Most just taste like vegetable with a hint of meat flavor as garnish. To be honest, I was skeptical if this would taste good. I’ve been to Gott’s in the past and I know they make a solid burger, so just in case Impossible Burger doesn’t live up to its name, I can always fall back to a Gott’s double bacon cheeseburger if I have to. Another reason is how much the burger costs. Most of the venues that serve the Impossible Burger charges anywhere in the $15-$25 range, I was not ready to put down that much money for a burger that I was skeptical about. Gott’s price was very reasonable at $12.99 (at the time of review), which includes all the usual toppings and their signature toasted egg bun. They also serve gluten-free buns if you’re staying away from processed flours.
How does the Impossible Burger taste like?
If you ever had Gott’s burger, you know you need to have a stack of paper towels because it will be juicy and greasy all at the same time. If it’s not, you’re eating it wrong. The Impossible Burger is a different burger compare to Gott’s usuals. I had them cut the burger in half so that I can check out how the inside would look like. To me, the inside of the patty looks like well-done lean meat, reminds me of a turkey patty. Smells like meat, possibly because of the ‘Heme’ property2 and it’s not very greasy compare to other Gott’s burger.
So far so good, I took my first bite. Remember how I told you most meat-substitutes failed my expectation, but the Impossible Burger definitely lived up to my expectation. I was surprised how it feels and taste like meat. The explosion of the umami flavor from the meat (sorry, I meant plants) pairs really well with the toppings and the egg buns. If I had eaten this without prior knowledge that it’s a plant-based patty, I would of believed that I had a meat burger. It tasted and felt like meat. And. It was delicious.
My hope is that Impossible Foods will bring this to the consumer level so that we can create our own burger and dishes in the comfort of our own home. It’s rather amazing how you can have something that taste and feels like meat while takes way less resources to harvest. Did I mention you’re also sparing a cow from dying?
Sources
1. https://impossiblefoods.com/food
2. https://impossiblefoods.com/ask-us
