XO 黃金蝦堡 (Mos Burger)

The owner of Mos Burger must be doing speed or something, since this is the first Summer in which I've seen them come out with 3 different seasonal special burgers. The latest offering is the XO 黃金蝦堡 or 'XO golden shrimp burger,' in which you're presented with a golden patty comprised of shrimp, topped with shredded cabbage, and finished off with a healthy serving of XO sauce (read about this splendidly spicy, sweet, and delicious condiment here). True, shrimp burgers have been around for a while in Mos' history, but I've never seen XO sauce used as the complementary sauce before. Is it so magical that it fulfilled my every worldly desire?

Well... maybe that's asking too much.



Teehee, I thought the wrapper was uber clever (you can stop laughing at me now... I'm just that childish). Maybe this is something that they've always done on all their sandwiches, but I never noticed until this one. It seems Mos Burger uses stickers to identify their sandwiches so there are no mix ups. See? XO + shrimp. No confusion! Brilliant.



Oh yeah, how was the sandwich huh? While I wouldn't say that it 'completes me,' this sandwich is pretty freakin' incredible. Starting with the patty, which, if you can see, uses real shrimp (like 5 of 'em!), and ending with the bun... everything does its job, and something magical is created. The 'golden patty' is delightfully crispy (no doubt due to the use of panko breadcrumbs), and is fried on the spot, so it's guaranteed to be perfectly hot on arrival. The flavor is mild, with only a slight hint of seafood aroma to be found (so if you're into that, you'd probably be disappointed), but I'd say the combination of fish paste and shrimp is delightfully light. The XO sauce is again where this sandwich shines (hmm, I sense a recurring theme... Mos = sauce). While the sauce is probably nothing special in the grand spectrum of XO sauces, the use of slightly spicy, sweet, and tangy chili based sauce perfectly compliments the mild tones in the patty without overwhelming it. Of course, the bun... is the same as always, light and so fluffy that I'm probably gonna die. At 75 NT (~$2.40), it's not as cheap as most other places, but it's still worth a try.



I lol'd when I saw this. In Taiwan, MOS Burger calls 酸甜醬... 'Chinese Sauce.' There you have it. Definitive evidence that the Chinese invented sweet and sour dipping sauce. Fact.