In recent years we’ve been bombarded with healthy eating messages left, right and centre. The doctor, the media, the government and even the school teachers have instructed us to eat fit food. We totally love that. Yet, one burger joint in Hamrun dares to defy the rest by inviting us to eat irresponsibly. Get your knives and forks ready. Then put them aside, as today we’re off to Hamrun to eat the Bandit way!
After much teasing in 2018, Bandit opened its doors to unsuspecting Hamrun people in the first days of January 2019. With age-old and iconic eateries like Tivoli and the town square Gabbana to measure up to, the people behind Bandit seem to have no fear. But who are these people? Clint Tabone, Gareth Bartolo and Matthew Piccinino where all raised in Hamrun, and this project seems to have been a long time coming. They went for the name Bandit because bandits don’t live by rules and love to challenge conventions, especially those of culinary nature! Last year has seen a resurgence in things burger in Hamrun, with places like Chick ‘n Bites and Journey trying to come up with something different than the standard Gabbana cheeseburger. But how will the new challenger Bandit fare? We defied thunderstorms, wind and rain to find out.
Situated right next to the majestic San Gaetano church, one of Bandit’s signature burgers is aptly called the Holy Trinity! This curious creation is a combination of three different types of meat in one bun: a 180gr beef patty, a piece of buttermilk chicken thigh and crispy bacon for that extra crunch. That seems to be what a bandit would want to eat these days. Chef Martin Debattista, an ex-teacher who spent the past 15 years working in kitchens all over UK and Malta, raises the grill temperature and gets ready to prepare this Spartan special. The patty is made from cuts of brisket & short rib to produce a pleasingly granulated burger. This is a flavourful grind with an optimal ratio of fat to lean. The Spartan beef blend tastes rich and has a good texture. As soon as you bite into it, it just melts, gifting you with an intense beefy flavour. Short rib might be short, but it’s about as marbled a cut as you can get. The muscle’s constant action makes this cut packed with flavour. The distinct flavour profile of the Brisket and percentage of fat content yields a rich patty with a humble meat-and-potatoes attitude. This robust patty blend has a ton of personality with some slight sweet undertones, which we truly loved.
Buttermilk fried chicken is the ultimate comfort food, and this burger comes with a hefty dose. The chicken thigh is marinated for 2 days in a buttermilk mix, covered in seasoned flour and then deep fried until golden and crispy. The buttermilk definitely creates a tangy tenderization here. There is a fair amount of time and labour involved here, but the Buttermilk fried chicken is one of those finger licking foods that we miss from times gone by when KFC was still top at the chicken game. Hamrun is chockful of chicken takeaways but the extra crispy breading in this thigh is definitely going to cause a town-wide craze.
We love super crispy bacon, the kind you get in English breakfasts, cooked on the stovetop and drained properly. It seems that there is some sort of secret to crispy bacon that eludes many Maltese burger joints. We pity the Millenials that only know the limp, squishy and greasy bacon from Burger King and McD. We really do. When Chef Martin promised us crispy bacon, we stood open-eyed. Indeed the bacon here is beautifully crusted, the kind that’s a joy to crunch between your teeth. These kitchen Bandits have nailed the bacon dead on!
A burger needs accompaniments, and the pickles are a God sent here as they bring the yin to the burger’s yang. The juicy snap of the pickles, salty and vinegary, mingles well with the textured meats, providing a much needed acidic boost. The pickle is a sort of palate cleanser here, allowing you to experience the sharp contrast in flavours and more fully appreciate the taste of the beef, chicken, bacon and cheese sauce. There’s also a maple mayonnaise made in-house that will make you smack your lips, as it goes especially well with the chicken.
Anyone can grill a burger, but it’s the condiments that separate the mundane from the memorable. And that one memorable condiment of the Holy Trinity is the cream cheese. Warm, oozing cheese is never a bad idea. Here Bandit have taken this concept to the unexpected limits. Their cheese sauce is so spectacularly and stupendously rich and gooey, that they slather it onto every ingredient inside the burger! No one is spared! Say goodbye to cheeseburgers as you know them, as this one is laden with spoonfuls of cream cheese sauce made from besciamella, cheddar, Edam and some sharp mature cheese for good measure. The sheer amount of luscious cheese sauce is artery-clogging, but that’s the whole concept of the Bandit. Needless to say, this purposely creates an irresponsible and messy burger, where taste takes over visuals.
In the end, we ate it all! That’s because, all the burger elements do work together in harmony, never taking away from the symphony of the beef and fried chicken. The pure, unadulterated goodness profile of this beast burger has definitely catapulted it into the top position, as far as Hamrun burgers go. In due time it will gain cult status amongst Hamrun people and beyond, like the never-forgotten Bhima burger.
