November 27, 2007

Yummy burger

Tonight my friend Chris, who has been staying with me, wanted to have a burger for dinner, so we agreed to meet up at Shake 'em Buns in Causeway Bay. Neither of us have had burgers at this place, even though I had passed by the outlet on Star Street.

We arrive and the restaurant looks busy. There seems to be only single free seats here and there, and we are asked by the waitress to wait for a while. We can't quite understand why a customer waitng for his take-out order has to block off two seats at the counter, so we ask the waitress. She finally, unwillingly, ask the customer if he minds moving to the side.

We sit down at the counter. But we are warned that the food is delivered through the opening facing one of the two seats, and we are asked to keep it open. I am unhappy.

We are told that 2 customers have left and we can now be seated at the counter facing the window. We move over, and quickly realize that there has actually been a free table all along, immediately next to a couple. Why did the waitress not point us to it? I am at a loss.

We sit down, and quickly realize that we need to order and pay upfront at the cashier. Why did the waitress not tell us, before letting us wait 5 minutes for a seat? We are upset, but proceed to order the food and wait to be called.

The food arrives in dribs and drabs. First comes Chris' strawberry milkshake, which he sips happily. Then the burgers come together: Red on the Neck for me (with chili on top of the patty and coleslaw underneath) and South of the Border (not 100% sure of the name) with extra egg for Chris (with guacamole and sour cream). We both decided to forgo the Gang Bang since neither of us thought we could finish it with two patties.

I cut the burger in half while I watch Chris grab his burger and start chomping. Egg yolk and guacamole drips from his burger. I grab a half of mine and bite into it. Soft buns, and very, very juicy beef patty. I start smiling, and quickly finish this half. Both of us turn to thoughts of redemption for the restaurant.

I start on the other half, and by the time I am done redemption has been achieved. The chili cheese fries arrive, and Chris starts to work on them. I decide to let Chris take all the chili, and pick on a few fries. I generally prefer the thin fries served by Mickey D's and Al's Diner, so Chris ends up taking most of the fries. I am satisfied. Chris tries to convince me to order some more food, but I decide to leave well enough alone.

I do have to say that this is probably the juiciest burger patty I have had in Hong Kong in a long time, surpassed probably only by the sirloin burger from Morton's in Central (before it closed). The beef patty is much more fluffy and tender compared to most other burgers. It absolutely kicks Triple-O's butt, and now I have no excuse not to walk the extra few hundred meters from Pacific Place to Star Street. Look forward to trying out other combinations in the future.

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