I can safely say that burgers are (one of) our (many) weakness(es!). When temptation presented itself in the form of a Groupon deal, we seized the opportunity to check out this place for a discount (bless these websites). For $10, you get a 'gourmet' chicken burger, an iced lemon tea and a serving of fries. A day after acquiring two vouchers, we sauntered into the Far East branch, eyes a-shining with expectations of a satisfying dinner of big juicy burgers.
Our expectations couldn't be further from the truth.
Orders are placed at the counter, and then you sit down to wait for your meal to be served. After about 15-20 minutes (could have been longer), a burger was dropped off at our table. It came wrapped in a brown-bag.
This was the bear's order: Porto Polo - Tender Chicken with Spicy Portuguese Marinade, Homemade Peri-Peri Sauce, Swiss Cheese, Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion & Aioli. It came semi-lukewarm (you take 20 minutes to serve and it's not even completely warm?), and the abundance of sauce had already accumulated and soggified the bun.
Waiting for 20 minutes and serving me a lukewarm burger? Un-bloody-forgiveable. They have a serious flaw in their workflow here, and I just failed to comprehend WHY a burger made on the spot can be lukewarm. Not that I expected the burger to be piping hot, but the sauce was below room temperature, the patty slightly warm, lettuce cold and the whole burger just failed to hold any flavour together. Besides, the home-made peri peri had no inkling of spice in it, and the portuguese marinade was just strange.
After a bit more waiting and repeatedly reminding the staff, we were presented with my order. I had chosen the Budgie Smuggler - Grilled Chicken Breast, Orange Honey Marinade, Lettuce, Tomato, Red Onion, Sweet Chilli & Aioli. To be honest - this tasted strange in a bad way. The so-called orange honey marinade was instead masked by a salty soy-like sauce. I did not detect any aioli nor sweet chilli. Couldn't say much for the grilled chicken either as my tastebuds were overwhelmed by the funky saltiness. I almost felt sorry for myself for having to eat this!
Honey-orange went really really strange with the chicken. I like their exploratory behaviour with meat and sauces but ... no.
Our sides of fries came last - after some more fervent reminding that our sides were still missing after finishing about 85% of our burgers! We soon discovered though, that the best was saved for last. This. This was probably the highlight of our meal, which says a lot (or very little) about their burgers. We polished this off eagerly (and gratefully!)
BERGS positions itself as a gourmet burger joint - and to be fair, I would have to (reluctantly) give their other burgers a go before I can fully judge. However on first impression this has not been the greatest of experiences: flavours were not balanced well, service left much to be desired.
HGW Link: http://www.hungrygowhere.com/singapore/bergs_gourmet_burgers/
No comments:
Post a Comment