We went to Shanghai's rip-off Burger & Lobster

Whether it's popular augmented-reality app City Elves Go or Chuzhou's famous Sphinx (see today's bulletin), China loves a cash-spinning rip-off. Couple that with the country's growing demand for imported lobsters, and it's little wonder 'B&L Burger & Lobster' has just opened at Fuxing SOHO Plaza, a restaurant that is a top-to-toe copycat of London-founded eatery Burger & Lobster.

When we originally saw the hoarding featuring a hand-scrawled Burger & Lobster logo and whimsical illustrations of diners back in June, we had hoped that it heralded the arrival of a legitimate branch of the popular surf 'n' turf chain. However, Burger & Lobster in London told us that this restaurant was an 'imposter'. We put this to the new restaurant who said they were in contact with London and were hopeful of getting permission to become a legitimate branch (but had clearly gone ahead and used the original's artwork anyway).

We'd also heard that the restaurant had provided landlords SOHO Fuxing Plaza with documentation claiming the brand was from the UK. Things escalated last week when the OG B&L made it quite clear what their take was on the situation via their Twitter:

When we heard that the Shanghai restaurant was ready for opening, we contacted them to find out what their take was. As you can see above, it seems they'd decided to have a change of heart on the name. A spokesman told us: 'Our restaurant is called B&L Burger & Lobster. We are not that restaurant. We used a name, logo, some pictures but not that one, totally different.

'We do other food on the menu, not just burger and lobster, and we have a totally different drinks menu.'

When asked about the original Burger & Lobster's remarks on Twitter, they said '[we] don't know about that. Some other restaurant maybe put some bad voice about this restaurant, the competition. We are not the same restaurant, we [have not] used the logo.'

So here's the logo of the London restaurant:

And here's a shot from the Shanghai menu:

The interior (pictured below) is also almost an exact copy of the interior of the Threadneedle Street branch of Burger & Lobster in London.

So what's it actually like anyway?

Things didn't exactly get off to a flying start on the cocktails front; the 'Clint Eastwood' (58RMB) tasted more or less of straight whisky and the M.P.C. Margarita (58RMB, from the 'Lady's Secret - For Ladys [sic] only' section of the menu), featuring a dusting of chili powder, was somewhere between unpleasant and undrinkable.

Drinks pushed aside, the burger (128RMB) was a largely flavourless entity - it didn't taste especially bad, but then again it didn't taste of much at all. The fries were acceptable, though for some reason served on a bed of ageing lettuce, and the side salad was sprinkled with something resembling Parmesan except without the flavour of Parmesan.

Maybe the lobster roll (pictured above, 198RMB) could save the day? They did have a (somewhat over-populated) tank of lobsters to pick from after all. However, the flesh was underwhelming and the taste left in the mouth was of the bread rather than the lobster.

Perhaps most bizarrely, it was served accompanied by small dish of melted butter. Or at least, it looked like melted butter - when we said hell to it and poured it over the roll, knowing full well that butter makes everything awesome, we were saddened to find it didn't taste much different at all. It seems, like much else on the menu, they had taken the cheaper option and provided a boat of melted margarine, and unfortunately one that you can believe is not butter. Oh dear.

Another slightly worrying factor was that, while many restaurants in Shanghai will make it clear where they have sourced their meat, there was no such mention on the menu here. Overall, it was a pretty miserable dining experience and not at all like the meals we've had at the actual Burger & Lobster outlets. When the spokesperson for the Shanghai rip off told us 'we are not that restaurant', they weren't joking.

But then what do you expect from a place that has entirely hijacked a brand and sought to fool people into thinking they are the original? At least Bull & Claw had the decency to use a different name.