W
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hen you have a
mother who is very proud of her cooking and uses the freshest ingredients
possible to make a meal, you are not going to be insane enough to tell her that
the reason you are not hungry is because you snuck a trip to the Street Burger
stall near your house to get your fix. Now I’m not going to lie. When thinking
of clean eating, road side burgers are not going to be anywhere near that list.
But that is why it is so good.
Burger Babi
Bakar follows suit with the Roadside/Street burger stall vein as they recreate
the flavours that we all know and love, especially on those meals we spoke of
earlier. For a while now, the biggest draw to this house-stall-restaurant is in
its name, as not only are they one of the few places that serve pork burgers, but
they flame grill them as well. When you get to see your meat being cooked in a
flame, how can your inner caveman not be enticed?
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| I had a bad hair day. |
As a word of
caution you need to either come before they open at 7, or be prepared to wait
more than half an hour for your burger.
What I love
about stalls is being able to see how your food is being prepared while waiting
and as usual, I’m the annoying customer that stares at their handiwork and
preparation while Julian, cameraman extraordinaire distracts them away from my
gaze by getting all up on their grill with his camera.
Now on to that
grill we talked about. Patties are placed on this flame grill and from what we
are told; it is all prepared by the owner himself. The benefits of using a flame grill as we can
see, allows for uniform cooking which is important for patties of this thickness.
The right cook can be hard to achieve as it is easy to overcook them and even
easier to burn the outside while under-cooking the inside.
It can be argued
though, that patties would do better when cooked over a charcoal grill as the
flavour of smoke would enhance the flavours of the meat.
As for add-ons,
we’ll take a look at their egg. It is a welcome sight to see a Street burger
stall that makes their eggs in a sunny side up/over easy fashion instead of the
omelette style that is prevalent in so many others. The eggs being cooked this
way allow for a firmer and thicker body of texture to the egg instead of the
flat and thin omelettes we are so used to. These eggs are cooked over butter
and drizzled with Maggi Seasoning, quintessential in all Street Burger Stalls.
Bacon is also
offered here and cooked over their flat top till crisp and a pork sausage that
they slice open and into half to make for quicker cooking and easier arranging
on the buns.
When I mentioned
that this is very much a Street burger, I was not kidding as you will notice
your sliced cabbage and cucumbers for crunch and fresh onions for aroma. That,
and your ever abundant amount of mayonnaise and chilli sauce.
The finished
product tastes as good as it looks. As you have your first bite, your taste
buds will identify with the soft buttery bun, the fresh tasting crunch from the
cabbage and cucumbers, the sharp salty cheese, crunchy bacon, buttery fluffy
egg and that juicy pork patty. As most foods that taste good and are associated with
your childhood, they transport you back to a simpler time.
The last
sentence you read may also be the biggest problem with these burgers though. It
reminds you too much of the burgers you already know so well that can cost you
RM3.00 in almost any other street.
RM9 for a burger
with an egg and bacon, and a burger at RM12 with the ingredients mentioned
earlier added with a sausage and ham, it may be unfair to have to pay triple if
not quadruple the cost of a normal street burger.
Barring of
course the pork patty that is seasoned well and cooked till juicy, those
flavours created are drowned in mayonnaise that is creamy and sweet and chilli
sauce that is also sweet. The bacon also being drowned thus masking its flavour,
only serves to add crispy texture to the burger while the sausage added is
merely also sweet and ham that is once again dare I say it, sweet and neither
has the flavour and texture of cured and brined meat.
Overall, what
you are getting here is a Street burger and there’s nothing wrong with that.
Part of the charm of the burger is both its simple flavours and being
affordable. Unfortunately, the worth of what you are paying for is highly
debatable at Burger Babi Bakar. Granted what one is willing to pay for is
subjective, but if price is not an issue when it comes to having a meat as delicious
as pork in your Street Burger, you have every right to spend it like the hordes
of people that help Burger Babi Bakar sell out on most nights.
Burger Babi
Bakar is opened on Monday to Friday, from 7pm to 10pm or until they sell out.
