Central, Hong Kong | Burgers Hong Kong

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Three buns.png The Smokin’ B-boy burger from Three Buns is an exquisite hamburger. Starting with a confusion of slight dryness with juicy undertones, the hamburger has a burger taste balance that enhances with every bite, increasingly turning more luscious. The bread, patty, and everything in between begets a whole range of flavors that will romance anyone’s taste. It’s as if each ingredient ripens between the two buns and each mouthful intensifies in savority, intensity, and delivery.

The ingredients in the b-boy’s burger taste balance are actionable, presenting themselves clearly in each bite. At first the beef patty might feel tightly packed, hinting towards a patty that has been prepped with some binding… but comes as a nice surprise as the beef’s flavor remains somewhat untouched, with hints of great light seasoning. What glistens in this hamburger is a glorious buttery taste that is delivered in mystery… it’s not butter, or it may well be, but it has the richness, salt, and delight of ghee.

It could be the blend of a smoked cheddar cheese, that is subtle enough to pass discreetly, combined with thick layers of a dell beer & treacle streaky bacon, that is juicy, and both soft and jerky. Or perhaps that buttery taste emanates from the smoky mayonnaise that copulates with the hamburger’s BBQ ketchup, trio-ed with a bawang goreng that is bawang delicious. The burger construction is simple but stout, it feels tight, and with a bun that is sturdy and absorbative, ruggedly built. The bread fills with great rich drippings and is tough enough to support and capture the flowing flavors within, but soft on the burger’s burger taste balance.

For HKD 128.00 this is a great burger to try, and the naughty fries are good (though the béarnaise sauce get’s a little lost). The Smokin’ b-boy is a great hamburger experience that progressively improves with each bite. It’s a slow buildup that finds a flurry of tastes engulfing the senses. The last bite was something memorable, every descriptor – smokin’, BBQ-uey, streaky, meaty, and gorengy, come together and proceed to deliver one memorable and demanding bite that withers in the tongue. If all this was done on purpose or not, this hamburger certainly shows planning and care.

Thee Buns at Potato Head

G/F, 100 Third Street,
Sai Ying Pun,

Hong Kong

+852 2858 6066

Green Common

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Green Common’s Beyond Burger is an edible “hamburger.” A “burger” that is far beyond any other hamburger one has tried, a sham from a vegan affair; and if this is what the future tastes like, then it’s a burger destiny to rise against. Everything about this “hamburger,” from it’s burger taste balance to the discourse that surrounds it, has the feel of an Orwellian dystopia… a world where citizens are fed ideals of what a burger tastes like; a place where we’re told that our meals are made with intricately named ingredients, that we are provided with all the nourishments we’ll need to be “happy.”

The first bite isn’t bad, it won’t taste awful… it just doesn’t feel right, and every succeeding bite adds to the uncertainty of honesty. The Beyond Burger’s “burger” taste balance is an uncompromisingly false reproduction of a hamburger. The patty, comprising of stuff like pea protein isolate, refined coconut oil, maltodextrin, and natural flavors, tastes as if it’s trying to hard to be factual – a distinctive acidulous taste of grill that is not is professed. The cheddar cheese, a glue like substance that’ll fuse parts of the “burger” into solid blocks, cues a nutty acetic like cheese substance that sticks to one’s teeth.

It’s the uneasy feeling of deceit… the perception of eating something phony, no matter how good it claims to be, that doesn’t sit right in one’s judgment. At least the veggies and bun give a glimmer of hope in this dismal burger future. In grandiose form, the avocado fills each bite with its creamy effervescent greenery; and the bun is crisp, soft and tasteful. The burger construction is tenuous, not only from a lubricious layer of avocado that constantly slops, but from a patty texture that feels as delightful as a mouthful of small chewy pellets with a cartilage like texture.

For 108.00 HKD one should try this fradulous “hamburger,” if only to experiment. As a burger zealot the first step might be full of skepticism and low expectations, but it’s important to keep an open mind… to try new things. The beginning is better than you might think; but still, the insincerity of this “burger,” the artificiality of its taste, will eventually make the last interaction, the last bite, a disappointing incident. Walk out and look for those burgers that awake feelings, that make you feel free. The best burgers… are those that are honest and tell you what you already know.

+852 3582 4463