In the 1970s it was all about beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun.

But 40 years on we're entering the age of lobster chunks, lobster salad and caviar, or beef and lobster piled on a white bun.

Hamburgers have come on in leaps and strides and their old offerings are now looking a bit tired and a bit has-been and I think they have to see how they can try and catch up. 

Or, if that's not quite to your taste, lamb, tomato, beetroot, aioli, ketchup, onion and an egg.

It might be harder to make a catchy jingle out of those ingredients, though that hasn't stopped two major fast food chains from challenging the traditional beef burger recipe.

McDonald's Australia has announced it will add the lamb burger to its menu across the country from next week, after 18 months of developing the "home-style" recipe.

The Serious Lamb Burger will cost A$7.95 and a A$3 wrap version called The Serious Lamb Taster will also be available.

McDonald's New Zealand would not confirm whether the burger was heading our way, but a spokeswoman said lamb would be included in one of its new products which will be added to the menu next week.

The lamb burger has an average of 3370 kilojoules and 41.4 grams of fat, while the wrap has 1460 kilojoules and 20.5 grams of fat, McDonald's said.

In Japan Wendy's is introducing three lobster-based meals to its menu, including the Lobster and Caviar Burger and the Surf and Turf Burger.

The Lobster and Caviar burger has lobster chunks, lobster salad and caviar, while the Surf and Turf Burger has lobster, beef and red onion, the New York Daily News reported.

The seafood burgers sit on a "premium menu" alongside burgers with mushrooms and foie gras, which is fattened duck or goose liver.

Fairfax restaurant critic Terry Durack said plenty of burger chains were veering from the standard beef burger.

"While it's OK for us all to go back and say 'I remember the old hamburgers of the old days that was the only great hamburger ever', I think that's not quite true and I think we've eaten a lot of horrible stuff over the years.

"And I think that the quality is actually improving and I think it has to improve because we're all becoming a bit more understanding of what we're eating and we're examining everything - from an evening out in a high class joint to a snack from a hamburger bar.

"I think it's all coming under scrutiny, which is a good thing."

Durack said McDonald's were having to compete with new ideas from burger bars popping up.

"Hamburgers have come on in leaps and strides and their old offerings are now looking a bit tired and a bit has-been and I think they have to see how they can try and catch up.

"If they can catch up or not is another question indeed."

-Sydney Morning Herald and Fairfax NZ

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