Corral
The burger the chain is built on. A 125-gram all-beef patty with sliced tomato, onion and lettuce, and all three sauces, mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard, on a sesame bun. It is simple, but it is the taste of countless Colombian lunches. Add a slice of mozzarella and it becomes the Corral Queso.
The story
Two Colombians, Pablo Emilio Bueno and Guillermo Calderón, opened the first El Corral in 1983 beside the Javeriana university in Bogotá, which is the reason it still feels like a student place even at forty. It grew into roughly forty per cent of the Colombian fast-food market, a share McDonald’s has never come close to taking, and it did it by not copying anybody: mozzarella instead of processed slices, a charcoal grill instead of a flat top, and barbecue sauce brushed on while the patty is still over the coals.
What’s inside
Make it at home
There is no copycat of the Corral yet. Until there is, these recipes on the site come closest to it, judged by what goes into the bun.
- Shares beef
McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese Deluxe (Copycat) - Shares beef
McDonald's McFeast (Copycat) - Shares beef
McDLT - Shares beef
TOP 3McDonald's Big Tasty (Copycat)
Similar burgers at other chains
Built around the same things as the Corral.- Halo Burger · beef
SignatureQP Burger - Bunsen · beef
Hamburger - Johnny Rockets · beef
SignatureThe Original - Back Yard Burgers · beef
SignatureClassic
More from El Corral
About El Corral
Pablo Emilio Bueno and Guillermo Calderón opened the first El Corral in 1983 near the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá. It grew into the dominant fast-food chain in Colombia, with an estimated 40 per cent of the market, and in 2014 it was bought by the Colombian food group Grupo Nutresa.
Around 200 restaurants in 30 Colombian cities, plus a handful in Chile, Ecuador and Panama.
Not affiliated with El Corral. Trademarks belong to their owners.