Restaurant Chili

Friday night burger feast!

No skimping on the blue cheese!

...not on the mushrooms à la crème either for that matter. 

Very cheap Rioja.

Restaurant Chili
Vandkunsten 1
1467 Copenhagen K

Notes:
On a springy Friday night in May, B and I had commenced a small cocktail crawl but suddenly found ourselves in need of a quick pitstop to inhale some solids before moving on to the next watering hole in line. Chili became our spontaneous choice. Located right in the center of Copenhagen, the restaurant has been there for years. The concept is easy to understand - decent burgers at decent prices. Being quite the blue cheese lover, I naturally went with this option and was not disappointed to find what resembled an entire package of Danablu atop my burger. B went with creamy mushrooms, no skimping on the toppings there either. The burgers were grilled to a medium perfection level, and now comes the fun: little carrousels of bowls are served alongside, comprising all sorts of condiments from chili relish over aioli to good old fashioned ketchup. Alongside this burger feast we decided to have a ridiculously cheap bottle of Rioja (less than 200dkk), which was really not properly tempered. We threw in a few cubes of ice, French style, and it went perfectly with the very unpretentious meal. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my burger, which by the way are extremely affordable, and Chili left me with an impression of being a no-fuss but very honest place. Highly recommended.

Mos Burger

The feast

Ebi-katsu burger

Naan burger with shrimp and curry

Side salad

Mos Burger
Several locations across Hong Kong

Notes:
B and I had missed a visit to infamous Mos Burger during our Japan trip and were thus pleasantly surprised to see that the Japanese chain also had outlets in Hong Kong. We went there for a no-fuss dinner and decided to compile our own tasting menu to test the menu. We were however a bit disappointed to see that none of the rice burgers were featured on the HK menu. We were however rather pleased with the food. The ebi-katsu burger was quite grease but I really enjoyed the shrimp patty. The seasonal naan burger with shrimp and curry was certainly a new concept to us but India savvy B gave it his stamp of approval. The teriyaki burger tasted also interesting - the teriyaki a bit too dominating for my taste so I only had a bite or two. All in all, we had a really good experience at Mos Burger. Naturally, this is fast food but I was impressed with the freshness of the ingredients - the salad was fresh and crunch and the meat actually tasted like meat. Of course it was all a tad greasy but if you're in the mood for stocking up on the grease account, Mos burger is recommended.

Blue Frog

"The Montana" and "The Zone"

Blue Frog
3/F Sanlitun Village South
19 Sanlitun Lu
Daily, 10am-2am
 

Notes:

Blue Frog is a Beijing burger instituion with their 1+1 burger deal every Monday from 4pm-close. Expect a bit of waiting time as the place is usually packed with burger-craving expats and exchange students. On this occasion we tried "The Montana" including onion rings and their low-carb burger "The Zone" served sans bun. The onion rings were sub-standard and drenched in bland BBQ sauce but other components such as the bacon and cheddar were of decent quality - same went for "The Zone" which also included pickles. Both burgers were grilled to our medium-rare preference but the total impression remained rather bland. The sweet potato fries option was however a good alternative to their normal, very standard fries. A decent value proposition on a Monday.

McDonalds India

Indian fast food aplenty

McDonalds
Globally yours - even in India

Notes:
Lets call this an experiment. We went into B's local McDonalds in Lajpat Nagar and ordered practically everything that is unavailable outside the borders of India. Oh yes, and fries... Our extensive fast food selection included the McVeggie (dull at best), McSpicy Paneer ("Cottage cheese" in a burger), McSpicy Chicken (way too much breading, surprisingly spicy), Veg Pizza McPuff (edible and extremely good value at just 10 rupees), McAloo Tikki (the children's favorite that goes into the Happy Meals) and of course the Chicken Maharaja (Indian BigMac equivalent). Quite a feast. I hardly ever frequent McDonalds, the only incentive for a visit being the occasional new McFlurry edition. This also left me unsurprisingly unsatisfied. I need beef in my burger! No need to say India will not provide you that - they even have a salad sandwich but I guess there is no need to say, we skipped that... Recommended. For the fun of it.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen

Domo + cider

Burgers, chips, onion rings

Gourmet Burger Kitchen

Clapham