Hamburger Review: The Goods Diner Jakarta

Coffee Rubbed Burger at The Goods Diner Jakarta

Honestly, a good and very tasty burger. And sadly very shitty rubber fries. But since I review burgers, this is a good one. Not sure about the coffee rub that gives it the name, since I did't taste much of it but it was rather satisfying to eat it.

The bun is an unconventional bun covered in oatmeal instead of sesame which didn't overwhelm the total taste with any "health/eco" flavour. The salad on the side was nicely done, as was the layering of the burger itself.
The beef paddy was truly fresh and well cooked. As I mentioned before, I couldn't taste much of the coffee rub, which is positive since it did not overpower the flavour of the meat.

Overall I recommend this burger to everyone who wants to have a try... but opt for another side dish option if you don't want to be disappointed in the fries as I was.

http://culinarybonanza.blogspot.com/2012/02/not-cafe-not-dept-its-goods-diner.html

Rating: 4 out of 6

Hamburger Review: Sophie's Steakhouse London

Sophie's Steakhouse Angus Burger

OK, first of all, "I love Sophie's Steakhouse". Especially their Fulham Road outlet. They do good steaks, have a good atmosphere and I can not complain about anything,... anything but their burgers (well also their meat quality isn't as good as Goucho, but thats another story).
Most of the time I complain about restaurants which are trying to make a burger into more than it is or should be (fancy bread and cheese, garnishing etc). But this time it is a bit too basic. The bun was left under the salamander for a few minutes too long, and was almost brittle (will I ever use this word again?). Yummy bacon though.

'The meat patty':... OK, they are a steakhouse, hence they have good meat. I assume that if a burger order comes in, the chef grabs a steak and throws it into the grinder, forms a patty and onto the grill with it. A steak is not a burger, although both need to rest before preparation, there are different cooking processes taking place on the inside. Which is why a perfect burger consists of different types of meat, that have different properties. Fat content, muscle tissue, and water content need to be finely tuned to make a good burger patty. Lastly, like so many burgers there was a geometrical failure... the patty is too small. (maybe that's something only McDonalds can get right, because they "design" all their food)
Angus Steak yes - Angus burger NO!

Rating: 3 out of 6

So I had to try their Hamburger as well. Just to make sure they are rated properly. The first thing to be noticed, the regular, cheaper burger has a better bread than the more expensive Angus burger; AND it comes with a leaf of lettuce. I like the garnish on the side.

The bread is very well caramelized, preventing it to  sucking up the moisture from the patty and making it soggy. Even without the lettuce as a moisture barrier the bread remains its texture (I begin to wonder if they have another chef working on the cheap burgers; who knows more than the head-chef doing the lux version).

And the patty itself, ...nice. Grilled flavors, moist on the inside. Juicy? Yes, but again a "geometrical failure". I ended up with too much bread.

Rating: 4 out of 6

Hamburger Review: Corgi's Deli Chelsea London

Corgi's Deli on 367 Fulham Road in Chelsea

Went here with my friend Samar, after looking for something to eat and a place that allowed dogs (had my puppies with me) on Fulham Road. So I have to get them some plus points for allowing dogs, but it didn't help much with my burger rating.

The first thing to notice is the bread. Sorry chef, this isn't it. Just looking at the picture again my mouth feels dry and full of flour. ...but lets have a look at the patty first. Fair enough, it was home made, formed from fresh minced meat and it tasted grilled and juicy, good job there. If only the bun wasn't 40% larger than the meat patty, and resulted in an overabundance of carbs on my plate after I finished the burger.  Tristan would say: "So bad,.... Sooooo baaad".

Although the toppings were all fresh, cucumber on the side, and it was served on a porcelain plate... this burger did not blow me away. The composition on the plate and that of the burger itself was not very aesthetic (see picture). As for the taste; the meat was good, the type of bun and its size need to be changed, and the plate would look much nicer if you had the fries on it and not in a separate bowl on the side.

Rating: 3 out of 6

Hamburger review: VingtQuatre London

VQ VingtQuatre

VQ is a restaurant on London's Fulham Road. As the name suggests, the restaurant is open for 24 hours. They have a very diversified menu, and are not a specialized burger restaurant.

The burger looks very good, and comes with two patties, two slices of cheese, a strip of bacon, and fresh lettuce, tomato and pickles. The bun is made from the right flour and has sesame on top, it is however a bit too big, which makes the burger too dry and disqualify it as finger food.

The beef patties are not made of the best meat quality, and they are not grilled but fried (in my opinion, although I have to admit that I am not 100% sure, but I couldn't taste any charcoal flavor).

The fries and coleslaw sides were both very good.

Rating 3 out of 6

http://www.vingtquatre.co.uk/vqlocation.htm

Hamburger Review: La Salle à Manger Geneva

La Salle à Manger Geneva

La Salle à Manger is a cozy little restaurant located in the steep alleys of Geneva. Their menu consists offers several kinds of burgers, that are all served with fries. As you can see from the picture I went for the double burger, since this was both breakfast and lunch in one for me on that day. Let me tell you I was struggling... although I am known for my healthy appetite.

So let's start with the analysis; the sesame bun is my favorite bun and it was fairly good, but could have been toasted a bit more. When biting into a burger, a very essential taste experience is the smell of the toasted bread aroma.

Something I didn't like at all, was the swiss cheese on the burger. I think that it is not the right ingredient for a burger as it has a very strong flavor and its saltiness overpowers the meat flavor. The meat itself was very good, which is why I am giving a 5 rating instead of a 4, as I find it to be the most important aspect of the burger. And Swiss meat is definitely very high up in the meat quality scale (although Argentinean and Japanese Kobe are far ahead). THe patties were handmade and had a fresh and juicy texture.

Now there was no milkshake and the fries weren't outstanding either, but not bad either.

Rating: 5 out of 6

http://www.salleamanger.ch/