BUN APPÉTIT How the burger got
better
It's no longer the stuff of assembly lines and
quick service. The burger is moving onto specialty menus as restaurants restyle
it, and connoisseurs are willing to fork out up to Rs 1,000 for the perfect
patty and bun
Till not too long ago, a burger was something
you ate when you were short on time, on the move and unwilling to spend more
than a hundred bucks. It wasn't a meal very high on the food chain. But now the
fast food staple has gone upscale.
Social media discussions about where to get the
best burger in Delhi or Mumbai abound, and can often get heated as people
debate bun-patty ratio and whether the fries are handcrafted.
Acclaimed chef, writer, and TV show host Ritu
Dalmia has a simple explanation for why the burger is back with a bang.“Let's
face it, we all love comfort food, and that's why burgers have regained
prominence. Today's burger is not about junk food, but a recreation of
something comforting with good ingredients and a touch of sophistication,“ says
Dalmia. The Calcutta Vegetable Cutlet burger, which includes the meaty
vegetable jackfruit, at Depot 29, her Mexican and American inspired dining
space, could convert many a carnivore.
Other restaurants too have given the quotidian burger
a touch of posh, by replacing processed, frozen meat with choice cuts of
organic meat and the sorry-looking coleslaw with farm-grown salad leaves.
Importantly, unlike a fast-food chain, these restaurants offer a distinctive
dining experience, complete with full-table service. They also offer diners a
high level of customization, such as choosing an ingredient or a topping and
how they want their meat done. Fork You, a speciality burger restaurant in
Delhi, lets you “build your own burger“ and offers up to 10oz (approximately
280 grams) meat patty , four kinds of buns, five types of cheese and more than
15 toppings.
The burger menu at Monkey Bar, the gastro pub
that appeals to fussy teenagers as much as their parents, offers seven
variations of the burger, including two veggie options. In its latest Mumbai
out post, diners can order the Idaho Bill, a crispy chicken patty with blue
cheese mayo in a red bun, or the Lamb Burger, which combines jalapeno dust,
grilled apples, pickled onions with a Bannur lamb patty .“People have finally
woken up to the fact that they can play around with the basic format of a
burger,“ says Manu Chandra, executive chef and partner at Monkey Bar and The
Fatty Bao. “Once you have a basic foundation of meat and bread, the options are
endless. At Monkey Bar, we offered a clean and honest burger and found that
there was a high demand for different and new ideas within that section,“ he
adds.
If people thought Kelvin Cheung of Ellipsis in
Mumbai was mad when he priced the Angus beef burger with caramelized onions at
Rs 1,000--taxes extra--they had to eat their words. Crowds throng the Colaba
haunt for the Animal Burger (single patty for Rs 800 and double for Rs
1,200).The Canadian, who earned his burger stripes running kitchens at restaurants
in Chicago, Toronto, Vancouver and Dinant (Belgium), believes that social media
has played a big role in the burger movement.“Armed with Instagram and Twitter,
the consumer in Mumbai is much more food savvy and more willing to try and pay
for a better, tastier product,“ says Cheung.
The current trend of burgers borders on over the
top. Everyone wants to make the biggest, juiciest burger. Cafe Delhi Heights'
Juicy Lucy Burger is a mammoth 250 grams of lamb mince with a cheese and
jalapeno stuffing in a sesame seed bun.Eating it is quite a messy affair but
they've sold more than 93,000 Juicy Lucys. Coloured buns are the craze--black,
blue, red, you think it and it exists. Everyone's experimenting with fries, a
classic accompaniment to the burger. From sweet potato fries to crisps to
Canadian poutine, the range is vast. “You have a couple of extremes but most
chefs are gravitating to classic style burgers,“ feels Cheung.
Chandra says that even as mainstream
international burger chains (Wendy's and Burger King are two new entrants) move
into the Indian market, the burger will continue to move away from the quick
service restaurant format. “Just take a look at what Shake Shack has done for
the burger. It has established itself as a global brand and is far-removed from
a QSR product. There's similar excitement in India around the burger,“ says
Chandra.
A burger shakedown can only mean happier
stomachs.
|
Ruhi Batra
|
TOI14JUN15
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