The World's Top Burger In 2025 Didn't Come From The US

Hamburgers are one of the most all-American foods — up there with red-white-and-blue icons like hot dogs, barbecue, and apple pie. But when the creators of the annual World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants ranking turned their attention to burgers in 2025, the top choice wasn't from the USA. Instead, first-place on Upper Cut Media House's inaugural World's 25 Best Burgers list went to Hundred Burgers in Valencia, Spain.

The ranking called the winning burgers flavorful and juicy and praised their quality and freshness, as well as the Spanish establishment's artisanal mindset and creativity. The patties are made with beef that's been dry-aged, a flavor-intensifying and tenderizing process that differs from wet-aging. Beef from Rubia Gallega cattle is frequently used, a Spanish breed celebrated for its already deep flavor and tender texture. The restaurant grinds the meat every day, combining cuts with varying amounts of fat for the best taste. The soft demi-brioche buns, which aren't as rich and buttery as regular brioche, are also made fresh by the restaurant daily. 

All the candidates were judged using seven criteria, including quality, how the beef is prepared and cooked, creativity, and consistency, as well as things like guest experience and online reviews. The highest American finisher was New York City's Sip & Guzzle Tavern at No. 13. There were a total of six from the U.S., four of them in New York, although one of the toughest burgers to get in NYC – from Restaurant Le B. — wasn't included. The U.K. had the most with seven, including six in London, Upper Cut's home city.

Alex González-Urbón and Ezequiel Maldjian opened Hundred Burgers in 2020 with the goal of making the greatest burgers they could. This came after they'd traveled to 22 countries in three years, trying more than 300 of them in search of the 100 best. They now have seven locations in Valencia and Madrid, and post their own lists of the best ones around the world.

The restaurant sells several different burgers and a special one each month, including the Singular and the Cheeseburger, the two that were sampled for the ranking. The Singular includes cheddar, "mom's BBQ," bacon, caramelized onions, and camembert cream, and the Cheeseburger has cheddar, smoked cheddar, secret sauce, and camembert cream (via Hundred Burgers).

Some of the others have names like Johnny Drama and Stifler's Mother, and toppings include salted caramel peanut butter on the Showdown, Korean gochujang sauce on the Loser, and smoked butter and egg yolk sauce on the Paul Finch. There's also the Carlton Banks crispy chicken burger, and two quinoa-based vegetarian versions. Sides include regular and sweet potato fries, barbecue ribs, and chicken croquettes, and wine and beer are available, including Hundred Burgers' own craft IPA and cream ale.

The restaurant also received another world's best accolade in 2024 and 2025 from Burgerdudes, a Swedish website that ranks burgers around the world. Hundred Burgers touted that its No. 1 ranking was the first time the site had crowned a non-American champion.