Bite into a burger
View(s):This week on Take 3, the glorious chicken burger is the focus of our obsession. Here’s what you need to know.
The Sandwich Factory 24, Wijerama Mawatha, Col 7. Tel: 011 2676080
You’ll have to pay an additional Rs.140 to have fries accompany your burger at the Sandwich Factory, which seems like a real tragedy when burgers and fries were meant to go together like rama lama lama…you know the rest of the ‘Grease’ song. In fact, the cast from ‘Grease’ would have felt at home here – the décor leans heavily toward the vintage, complete with posters, a juke box and the kind of deep sofas arranged to make cute little booths.
Keeping with the theme, our burger comes to us on a red plastic tray. Sandwich Factory offers an intriguing range of ‘stuffed’ burgers and we’ve chosen the Jalapeno burger (Rs.530) for our tasting. The menu promises a patty stuffed with little chunks of Jalapeno topped with cheese and basted with ‘red hot’ haberino sauce, served on top of salsa and lettuce. It delivers on most of it – the bread is soft and yielding, the patty is juicy and flecked with little slivers of chillie and the chunks of jalapeno deliver a satisfyingly sweet kick with an edge of heat. Unfortunately, the ‘red hot’ part of the haberino is conspicuously missing.
You have your choice of beef or chicken on several burgers such as the Cheese and Onion (Rs.510) where the patty is stuffed with, well, cheese and onion and topped with mango chutney, but the option doesn’t apply to the Pepperoni burger (Rs.570) which is a beef patty stuffed with pepperoni and cheese. Vegetarians need not feel left out here – the Sandwich Factory recognises their existence with offerings like the Spicy Crispy Paneer burger (Rs.490) and the option of turning the Cheese, Madrasi, Satay and Mexicana burgers into vegetarian dishes. Another bonus? They deliver.
Al-Jazeera Arabic Restaurant No. 293, Dean’s Road, Col 10. Tel: 23355899
No one in their right mind would go into Al-Jazeera expecting to find a burger; from their décor (painted gold walls with an ornate knife and scabbard as a focal point) to the cover of their menu (Biriyani! Kebabs!) this couldn’t be more different from the Sandwich Factory. If it hadn’t been for our adventurous journalists we might never have heard that the restaurant served up one of the tastier, more affordable burgers in town.
They like to keep things simple at Al-Jazeera. There are only four burgers listed on an otherwise extensive menu but in reality there are only two. There’s the chicken burger (Rs.260) and the beef burger (Rs.230). Rs.30 more will get you a slice of cheese on either. The chicken burger is Colombo’s answer to the zinger burger. Batter fried chunks of chicken served in a bun, generously slathered with sauce and mayonnaise, and a side of French fries make this a great meal, especially since most of the other places that could compete are only open in the evenings.
Almost as interesting as the food is a waiter named Latiff who speaks several languages, including Urdu, Hindi, Sinhala and Tagalog – the national language of the Philippines.
Burgers Hut No.53B, Allen Avenue, Dehiwela. Tel: 0773669667
We first heard of these renegades from Yamu.lk, which announced a rebellion in the burger kingdom. Burger King is a Slave Island institution and easily one of the most popular burger joints in Colombo. That the offerings at Burger Hut bear an uncanny resemblance is no coincidence, in fact the menu looks pretty identical. There’s also the same blazingly fast service – we’ve barely finished putting away our change before our Cordon Bleu (Rs. 260) is deposited on our table. No. 2 on a list of 13 burgers (Burger Hut also serves falafel for Rs. 180 and shawarma for Rs. 220), this is a burger for meat lovers. Just a hefty hunk of tender chicken breast slathered with rich mayonnaise and sandwiched in a warm sesame bun.
Chicken Hot n’ Spicy Burger (Rs.250) looks absolutely promising as well with its dark, spicy batter and big chunks of crisp chicken. The grill outside the little shop gets going by about 6 and you can get a grilled beef burger then for Rs. 250. Vegetarians aren’t entirely neglected – there’s a veg burger for Rs.150 and fishitarians can experiment with the solitary fish burger (Rs.180).
To find Burger Hut just take one of the roads on either side of St. Mary’s Church in Dehiwala on the landside and then turn right. They open only after 4 p.m. but stay open till midnight.
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