A burger! A burger for my kingdom!

Lately, I'm finding myself terribly addicted to hamburgers. Might be, I'm just in one of my phases. There were times that I went on weeks eating siopao. Then the most recent would be my noodle craving days towards the end of 2013.

Hey, everybody's doing it for everything else, why not burgers?

And now, a few months into 2014, I'm on a burger eating roll. I've eaten at a few burger joints since last year, but I'll just list the ones I've had since this year.

Bodato Burger

On our way home, I saw this burger joint along Visayas Avenue in Quezon City. And since I was craving for some burger, we stopped by and tried it out.

It's literally a hole-in-the wall, as it's a wall with a big window, and just enough space on the other side for the grill and some table surfaces to work with. In front of it was a single table with two chairs if you decide to eat your orders there.

I had to wait a bit as the attendant was in another establishment (it's likely that the two places have the same owner/s).

The cute but complicated packaging.

I ordered two of their cheapest burger (the other one's for Chea), which was the Beef Burger without the cheese. It's a little above 100 pesos. I can't remember, although this says it's around 107 pesos but it's likely outdated. I'm not sure if it's a quarter pounder as I didn't ask.

It was also a bit of a wait since they're cooked as they're ordered. I think it took us about 20 minutes to get both orders.

Burger with lettuce, cucumber and tomatoes

As for the taste? It's pretty ok. It's better than the ones you get at fast food burger joints, so that's a plus. As for the price? It's tolerable.


Brother's Burger

I've never been a fan of Brother's Burger. I tried them out back when they just started here and found the grilled burgers too dry. I never tried them again since, even with their annual (do they still have that?), half price discounts.

But recently, I teased a co-worker to treat me to a Brother's Burger meal (it's the closest burger joint to our office) as I was still on a burger mood when I was helping her out with a programming exercise.

I'm sorry to say that they have the worst ketchup and mayonnaise condiments that I know of.

She bought me a Brother's Burger's Brother's Burger (Hey, don't look at me. I didn't name their burgers). I asked her how much it cost, and she said it was about 140 pesos. The cheese add-on cost another 35 pesos (for real?). I'm not sure if it's a quarter pounder (damn. I should probably start asking these kinds of stuff), but a 175 peso burger, without fries AND drinks, is kinda off-putting.

Still, the burger I got wasn't as unpleasant as the one I had years ago. It's still grilled, but it's not as dry as I remember.

Cali Burger

On our way to Antipolo a couple of weeks back, we passed by Timog Avenue. Since it was almost lunch time, I got hungry, so we looked for some place close to eat.

It just so happened that we were passing by CaliBurger, which was new to the area along with Highlands Coffee, so we decided to try it out.

The buzzer. 

The place looked pretty nice. Roomy and modern. But as soon as I laid my eyes on the menu, I wanted to get back to the car and drive away.

It's not that the menu's too expensive, I was just not in the mood to spend 195 pesos on a burger. But I wanted to try the place out, so we decided to stay. Chea's not that hungry anyway, so I didn't have to order ourselves separate meals. We could just share one.

This milkshake won't bring boys to your yard, or joint, or whatever.

I opted for the Burger meal with fries and a medium sized soda, which cost 295 pesos (so that's 100 pesos for fries and a drink). There were two other meals, but I was already put off since they cost more than 300 pesos each.

I also ordered a strawberry milk shake for Chea since it looked like one of their specialties. Unfortunately, there was nothing really special about it. It tasted like milk shake with strawberry syrup in it. If there were actual strawberries, we couldn't tell.

The fries was pretty ok. They were firm and tasted like they're freshly made.

This was pretty big. And tasted good too, although a bit too salty even for me.

As for the burger? Chea's impression was it was too salty. And for one of the few times in both our lives with regards to salty foods, I actually agreed with Chea. And that's coming from a guy who likes his food salty.

I can definitely say that I won't be going back. Not because of the food. The burger's actually good. But the price? Never mind.


The Snack Shack

I got introduced to The Snack Shack by chea. It's located along Maginhawa Street, Sikatuna Village. She tried it previously along with her siblings.

They serve charcoal grilled burgers. What sets them apart is the price. A quarter pound burger with cheese costs 70 pesos only. A half pound burger (with two slices of cheese) only costs 140 pesos.

There's enough space for about 5 or 6 patrons to eat

And since they're inexpensive, not to mention that they also taste great, they're quite popular around the area.

The grill

While waiting, I saw how burger patties were put on the grill by batches, cooked, removed and replaced with uncooked patties over and over again. I didn't count how many batches were cooked before I finally got my order, but it was definitely a long time.

They would actually advise you to call in your orders 20 minutes ahead of time.

The menu. Read it and weep, in pure burger happiness.

As for the burgers? They're great. I've never been a fan of grilled burgers, but they've made a convert out of me. And as for the price? You can't get anything better especially at this price. Unless you want to settle for a fast food burger full of meat extenders.