Catch up!

I was roadtripping by public transport today. After taking the bus from my house to the train station, four trains and almost three hours were required to take me the 60k to my destination in Ghent. After my meeting there, I needed a meal for the train home. "You've got great expectations" KISS are singing in my headphones, but I'm really just hungry as I dig in, some 20 minutes after receiving the bag of food. This probably influences the verdict

Where: Ketchup, a stylish hamburger joint in the middle of the shopping district.
Burger: The regular hamburger. A fresh bun of somekind of wholewheat is the only thing visible to the eye. The meat and veg are hidden inside it. So my first impression is that there won't be enough meat. A couple of bites in, that impression is justified. The beef is good, but a bit dry, which could be due to the delay in eating. The lettuce and red onions are fresh and the inside of the bun is smeared in perfect portions of ketchup, mayo and mustard. The latter adds some sting to the whole burger and all in all it's a nice little sandwich. Add an extra patty and it could be a winner. I'll ask for one next time and I'll eat it in the restaurant.
Drink: A small cup of Pepsi
Side: Thin cut fries. They look nice, but are too soft and the potato taste isn't the best. Adding salt and some Heinz helps, but they're still not OK.
Cost: €6.90, which is quite much for the size of this take-out meal.
Question: "Do you love me?", KISS are still in my headphones.

Kids meal

Mad Max

While in Norrland (northern Sweden), I had to try the native burger franchise. I'd been to Max before, but always in southern Sweden, and it had been a while, so even though I never really appreciated the place, I gave it a go.

Where: The outskirts of Örnsköldsvik (if there is such a thing in a community of that size). The restaurant sits a the foot of a skijump slope.
Burger: The "Max burger". A very fresh thing, made to order. Topped with tomato, onion, lettuce, ketchup and "white dressing" (=mayo), the burger looked nice, giving a fresh impression and all, and was of a good size. But the meat just isn't there: it's got absolutely no taste. And when I break off a piece of the patty to taste it, I still don't notice it. Boring! The rest of the ingredients are all good, but there's no punch, no presence. Might as well order a salad!
Drink: Self-served coke. No free refills though
Side 1: Fries. Thin-cut and well prepared. Salt at your own discretion. All good.
Side 2: Onion rings. Crisp, tasty, perfectly fried onion rings. So much onion taste, yet good batter. Clearly the highlight of the meal and the one area where Max beats Burger King hands down.
Cost: 84 Skr. OK considering the size of the meal.
Question: Why not set up a decent ordering system? First I have to order my burger from person 1, who tells the kitchen what to prepare. Then I have to tell person 2 what I just ordered, plus which side order I want. He then tells me I should've ordered my onion rings from person 1, but person 1 only seemed interested in burgers. Person 3, who's making the burgers, then needs four attempts to not put cheese on my burger. Each time person 2 has to remind him not to do it. Each time person 2 is too late. Clearly person 1 didn't pass on the order, which makes her redundant in this process. At least that's what I think happened, but it could be I got confused from having to wait for too long while being very hungry.

Downhill Burger

This is a special entry in the sense that it's not about a typical burger joint; it's about the lunch I had while taking a break from downhill mountain biking the ski-slopes at Lindvallen, Sweden. Downhill mountain biking is my new favourite hobby: it's fast, intense, tricky and exhausting, even without pedaling.
We had a few rides in the morning to get used to the hills and bikes and then a few faster ones because it's so great. Then we needed to catch our breath, because when you get tired and lose concentration you'll end up on your face in one of the fast bends. So we had lunch, and this is just an excuse to talk about downhill mountain biking.
After lunch it started raining. The biking was still great, but the slopes got slippery. Worst of all though was riding the ski-lift uphill: it was freezing cold.

Where: At the top of Lindvallen Bike Park, Sweden
Burger: A typical, what we in Sweden would describe as Sibylla-burger: bun, fried patty (not too much beef-taste), lettuce, tomato, onions and hamburger dressing. The burger is the sauce: a sweet, yet fresh, pink sauce. Probably a mix of ketchup and mayo, but neither can be singled out, with a hint of pickles. Yummie sauce, non-descript burger.
Drink: Coke, for some extra sugar when battling the hills in the afternoon.
Side: Nachos. Probably they didn't feel like firing up the fryer in the summertime. The nacho chips aren't bad, just way out of place.
Cost: Some 80 Skr all in all. Over-priced, of course, but not worse than expected at this location.
Question: One I've been asked regarding this blog: where are the photos?

top 5 franchises - no. 4: the king

Roadtrips to Germany (or the Netherlands) usually mean Burger King. You see, the big flaw of the King is that it didn't open in Belgium. Come to think of it. there wasn't one in my hometown Norrköping either. Maybe I'm doomed to live far away from BK? Maybe that's why I like it so much?

Where: Burger King, Autobahn, Western Germany somewhere
Burger: First of all there is the Whopper, the benchmark of consistency: the veggies are fresh and tasty, the mayo and ketchup are abundant, the bun is toasted and the meat is barbecued and delicious. The final product is a burger pregnant with taste, where all ingredients can be identified and yet blend together perfectly. Just great!
Then there are the extras. This time I went for a special barbecue burger (can't remember the name now and can't find it on the online menu either). See, the key to Burger King's great taste is that their meat is barbecued, not fried. This particular burger consisted of the usual bun, two smaller patties, two deep-fried onion rings and typical American barbecue sauce, which is sweet, smoky and has some spark to. It's a great little burger and the best way to enjoy the BK onion rings. Lots of taste, of course dominated by the meat and the sauce. Just the way I want it.
Drink: Sprudelwasser
Side: Fries. The BK fries have rather specific taste. I like them, but I know a lot of people don't. Thin-cut and long is what they are in any case. Dipped in Heinz tomato ketchup they are the perfect side.
Cost: €7.68, after 50 cent toilet discount. A bargain!
Question: Well, there's only one, I suppose: When are you coming to Belgium?

Consistency is rewarded: top 5 franchises - no.5, with a bullet

After the horrible experience in Antwerp last time around, it's time to find some places to rely on. So here comes a countdown of the top five franchises I've tried.

Where: Quick, Brussels centre. A Belgian franchise which always tends to be located near my workplace, no matter where I work. Seeing as the only other franchise in Belgium is that famous McDowell's copy, Quick's rated the best franchise in Belgium.
Burger: The burger is a "twin beef", which is actually two burgers kind of joined at the hip. One half (right-left, not top-bottom) has a nice salsa sauce, which is really the only taste you can distinguish. The meat is well-cooked, but just doesn't break through the wall of sauce. The bun is a bit spongy. The second half topped with fresh red onions, which is a superb burger topping, ketchup and mayo. Again the taste of the meat doesn't really deliver: there's too much bun, relish and sauce. It's all very well-prepared, the food tastes extremely fresh, it even looks nice, but if it were up to me, I'd double up on the meat to give it more body.
Drink: Spa blauw
Side: Belgian fries, of course. Thin-cut, salt-free and fresh. The outside is crispy and nice, but the inside is what we in Sweden would call "flour-y". The fries definitely need some sauce for dipping, but I dislike having to pay for ketchup (and mayo) at a burger joint. All in all, nothing wrong with the quality here, it's just a question of taste. They deserve credit for not pouring salt on the fries (and salt is available for free).
Cost: €6, which is pretty good value for money for a medium-sized meal.
Question: Why not up the beef and the confidence and sell the mini-burgers as separate, big burgers?

Broken finger

It's been a while since my last report, mainly since there ain't been much to report about. But a couple of weeks ago I was in Antwerp for work again. Still in a celebratory mood after winning the Belgian Floorball Championship, I figured I'd go all in at Finger's to celebrate. Big mistake!

Where: Finger's, but I won't bother you with the address.
Burger: As I wanted to go big, I got myself a chicken burger to start with. Three bites in, I was ready to write it off completely, but then the tastes started working: the peppery sauce, the fresh tomato and the chicken itself. In the end, the soggy bun didn't even bother me that much, but I must say I'd hoped for crispy, not soft, batter.
Then it was time for the main act. Last time the Thumb burger was good with great potential. This time when I unwrapped, it looked worse than the year-old McD burger. The meat looked hard and the bun wet. I shouldn't have, but still hungry, I took a bite of it. Disgusting! The bread tasted like it looked and the meat was just all wrong: hard on the outside, uncooked on the inside. The sauce and the veggies didn't come through and after four bites I had to give up because of the extremely ill-cooked patty. I think it's time for the Thai working the grill at Finger's to focus on pad thais and curries instead. I hadn't been on the train to Brussels when eating, I would've told him so.
Drink: Coke
Side: Fries. At first I thought: these are so fresh, so crispy, just great. But once I'd eaten past the first third, they were just hard. Consistent with the rest of the meal.
Cost: €9,70. Rip-off!
Question: WTF? Where's the consistency? Next time I'll go to Starbucks instead (it's just around the corner anyway). A potentially great relationship had come to an abrupt end.

Happy thoughts

Can't really keep this link from a burger blog now can I? It's been all over the place, but I actually found it through Jeremy Piven's Twitter ("Thank you, Ari Gold!"): the year-old Happy Meal, still looking happy. http://www.babybites.info/2010/03/03/1-year-happy-meal/

Where: McD
Burger: Yes, it still looks like a burger
Drink: The cup seems empty
Side: Fresh fries
Cost: Priceless
Question: On which photo do the fries look better?

Fingers, Antwerp

I was in Antwerp for work today and managed to squeeze in a burger between meetings. A man's gotta eat, right? I remember going to this place a couple of years ago, when it was new, but it didn't leave a lasting impression then. Now it was perfectly placed for my lunch. The place itself looks like any franchise, but according to the website, there's just the one restaurant.

Where: Finger's Restaurant, near the central station of Antwerp
Burger: "Thumb". My first impression is that it looks real. As in different from all the plastic, right-off-the-conveyor-belt, identical looking excuses for burgers. The Thumb's got that authentic, hand-made character to it. Sinking my teeth into it, I also notice that the taste is genuine and good. Fresh greens, a nice, but small-ish patty, a great bun and to top it all off: a great sweet pink sauce, somewhere between ketchup and mayo, but with some spices to it. The burger was a real treat. Adding some more of that good fresh onion and perhaps another patty and we could be talking top marks here. Anyway, it lives up to its slogan as "Belgium's best grilled hamburgers"
Drink: A bottle of water. The shake-machine was out of order.
Side: Fries. Thin and perfectly salted. A little bit on the soft side, but the taste was great. Not to fatty, but still oily-tasting somehow. I like.
Cost: €5.95
Question:When do you open in Brussels?

Tonton Chami, Brussels

I found a newly opened burger joint near my work in downtown Brussels and figured I'd give it a shot today at lunch. Brussels and Belgium are pretty poor when it comes to burgers, no Burger King here, so new initiatives are more than welcome. The place looks really slick inside and the signs promised "burger & chicken", so I went for both. Unfortunately, the whole McD/KFC type of concept didn't work out.

Where: Tonton Chami, Brussels
Burger: Bacon Street without cheese, looked big on the photo, but small in the hand. The barbecue sauce was the only thing to it. The beef was OK cooked, but tasteless, same for the soft slab of bacon. Pity, as I thought the place had some potential. Still beats McD and Q***k though.
Drink: 50cl Coke, served in a plastic bottle.
Side: Fries, Mickey D-ish things with too much salt, and a pack of hot wings, which looked pretty awful, KFC-style. They tasted fine, but weren't hot at all. Disappointing.
Cost: 9.50€
Question: Where's the taste?