Saturday, September 19, 2009

The Handburger

C says:

Newly opened at the Raffles City basement by the folks behind The Soup Spoon, The Handburger offers an array of gourmet burgers at prices ranging from around $13 to $18. The decor is simple, and I quite like the wooden block-like chairs that tuck nicely away under the tables.

They have quite exotic burger varieties, including a tea-smoked duck burger, duck confit burger and tandoori chicken burger. Being our first time here, we decided that one of us should try the original before veering off to the exotic ones. So I had the Original Handburger, which consists of a 170g sirloin patty, tomato, lettuce, cheddar cheese, caramelised onion jam on an onion bun. I chose to have mine with fries.


It didn’t bode well when my request for a medium rare burger led to much confusion between the server and the kitchen. The server looked at me blankly, and told me their burger is normally cooked 70%. Figuring that was more like medium or even medium well, I asked for 50% instead. More confusion as that was relayed to the kitchen. Finally, the head waiter came to me, and confirmed that I wanted it medium rare. Isn’t that what I said all along?!

Against this backdrop, I therefore didn’t expect much when the burger arrived. To my surprise, it was actually very good indeed. Perfectly cooked patty, the bun was nice and soft, and the onion jam added sweetness but not in a cloying way.


A ordered the Reuben, which had slices of corned beef, swiss cheese and an egg on a basil bun. He chose the chilled stuffed tomato as his side – a peeled tomato was stuffed with coleslaw. I found this a bit too cold for my liking, but it tasted good. I think the Original was better than the Reuben – I found the basil bun a bit too experimental for me.

The coffee here isn’t great, but overall this was a surprisingly good find. Next time if we’re really hungry, one of us can try The Works burger, which is the Original with added mushrooms and bacon. Mmm...

A says:

Props to my dad for mentioning this place to us (although what he said was, “Wah! Burger so expensive one ah?”).

The waitress we got was a bit blur but everyone else seemed to know what they were doing.

C’s burger was better than mine but it has to be eaten fast. The patty goes cold and lifeless if you don’t gobble it down. But a big treat for me was the chilled tomato stuffed with coleslaw. Totally unexpected and totally a refreshing change from fries. Not for everyone but a definite must-have for me.

Anyway, this is my new favourite joint in RC. My next goal is to go hungry and try the desserts and/or milkshake.

The Handburger
#B1-77/78 Raffles City Shopping Centre
252 North Bridge Road
Tel: 6334-4577
Sundays to Thursdays and PH: 11.30 am to 10 pm
Fridays, Saturdays and eve of PH: 11.30 am to 10.30 pm
http://www.thehandburger.com/

2 comments:

YY of Y, B, C & M said...

Somehow, "Handburger" sounds dirty.
As in, sex dirty.

Anonymous said...

Hey, I had the same burger as you just last week during one of my rare days out for lunch! Meant to tell you about this place & I really do like the burger. My girlfriend had the pork one and said it was really yummy ... very pricey but it's "hi crass" burgers! C @ office