Hank’s Full Throttle BBQ Ribs Behemoth Burger

In the past year or two, we received regular requests to cover big-eater burgers. We’ve searched all over the rock, even in nooks and corners and mostly found standard burgers, that have been multi-pattied into lengthy towers of meat, with little to no burger-design purpose, other than that of quenching never-ending appetites.

So we decided to do it the #MALTAbugers way, and create our own! We aimed to create an irresistible and scrumptiously monstrous burger, that no burger lover would shy from! If you love to play with your burger-meat and tag along with your friends for a fun night out, read on because this is something you will want to experience and re-create first-hand.

So beware, get ready to surrender your diet plans, as there’s a new breed of culinary-enhanced burgers on the rise… Welcome to “Off The Menu”

Our plan was totally flawless: We would hit an established restaurant that offered hefty burgers and had a 5-star food selection to top-off the burger and create a new Behemoth Burger, by combining the burger with other food elements. And there was only one place in town where we could do that… Henry J. Beans at the Corinthia Hotel in St. George’s Bay. Hank’s has been operating in Malta since 1995, so they know more than a thing or two when it comes to burger building. Their burgers are nicknamed as Legendary, so we expect nothing less than the name implies. Hank’s have been honing all kind of comfort food for more than 22 years. They are backed up by a 5-star hotel infrastructure, which pushes the expectations towards the cutting edge of food-o-rama. And that’s another reason why we’re starting our Behemoth Burger journey here, and not elsewhere. If an establishment should have a great burger, this should be it.

Meet the first, in a series of Behemoth Burgers: A Full Throttle bacon burger, stuffed with a dose of smoking BBQ Ribs! Can we manage to eat it all?

The Full Throttle is a flagship burger at Hank’s. It’s made from two minced beef patties. Each patty is 230gr and made from back ramp meat, which is just lightly seasoned with no additional knick-knacks. A good cut of meat should provide all the necessary flavour and the guys at Hank’s have just put that in perfect practice. Upon the first bite, the juice starts flowing like a rumbling volcano, with each bite yielding a full beef aroma. This patty boasts lavish and earthy tones that create that urging craveability from the first bite until the last. The juices stay mostly within the patty from start to finish, maintaining a respectable texture. Seasoning is on point, and the char is not only a visual consideration but a palatable bonus too. And best of all, you get two beef patties, conceiving the illusion of a never-ending munching pleasure! The Full Throttle has so far passed the meat test with flying colours.

Sauteed mushrooms and grilled back bacon go on top of the patty. We are talking hunger-quenching portions here. Chef Eric has skillfully accomplished a good crisp on the bacon, and he better do, as we’re no fans of limp, unloved, and quickly-done bacon. The mushroom and bacon hill is kept together with a thickness of Emmental cheese, that is as seductive as melted cheese could ever be on a burger. This Swiss cheese has a buttery, mildly sharp and slightly nutty taste, and is a right pair with the rest of the ingredients.

The burger comes in two halves because Hank says that due to its jumbo size, it could prove challenging to bite it off! Each portion is served on the half side of a sesame bun, that despite its looks, is able to withstand all the weight of the content without a glitch and without breaking up after 10 seconds. This is because the seed-studded bun has a good density. It’s also spread with a mustard mayonnaise.

A generous amount of salad leaves, tomatoes, yellow peppers, lettuce and carrot sticks join the party on the plate. If vegetation is your thing, then you will love these crispy and crunchilicious greens. You also get dabs of Hank’s house dressing to tang the palate up. We know that many meat-lovers tend to remove vegetables from their burgers, and this has put into motion a new trend of vegetable-less meat burgers. We won’t do that here and will put in as many vegetables as possible in our Behemoth.

There’s more on the plate. This wouldn’t be a Full Throttle without a portion of beer battered onion rings. The onion rings are thick, meaty, crunchy, and golden crisped. They hold their shape and have the proper look and feel of full-onion flavour. We will use them to crown our creation. The plate is also packed with steakhouse fries and coleslaw.

That’s the Full Throttle burger for you. But to us, this is only a starting point. Once we’ve assembled both halves of the Full Throttle, with a good amount of vegetables in the middle, and onions rings steak-knifed on the very top, we’re moving into a piquant territory and putting in a whole half portion of bbq ribs. These ribs have been smoked Chicago-style, and are smothered in Hank’s own BBQ sauce recipe. They are slow cooked for long hours in the Smokehouse, where they come out beautifully glazed and ready to be racked! They are fall-off-the-bone delicious and are covered with some of the most fully-flavoured BBQ sauce we’ve tasted on ribs. The sauce should compliment the meat, not make the meat, and that’s exactly what happens here. They are meltingly tender, and it takes no time to knife off the meat, and splice it into the burger! These ribs definitely add an element of primal experience to the Behemoth Burger.

And this is the end of our burger story… that is, we ate it all to the incredulous stares of the Chef. Whilst many burgers with ribs have come and gone, most only piqued in either the beef patty or the short rib. This one hits the jackpot from every conceivable corner and fulfills that furtive need to gormandize on heaps of quality meat at once. We’ve hit our daily consumption of protein, so Mission accomplished!

Shroomiest burger of them all

In US, National Mushroom Day is sometime in October, but that did not stop the guys at Just Burger from creating a mushroom-centric burger in February. We’ve tasted and checked out different incarnations of the mythical mushroom burger in our 5 years of existence, and what we usually get is a standard burger with 4 slices of mushrooms thrown in for good measure. And that’s it! That might be enough for any causal burger consumer, but it’s not enough for us.

So how did Just Burger solve the Mushroom-gate dilemma? They shifted directly to the fifth gear and added a double flavour of mushroom to the burger-equation!
Now, why didn’t we think of that ourselves?!

This burger starts life with a bunch of perfectly sized baby spinach on top of the bun. Baby spinach is a tender leafy green, so it is especially tasty when served raw as it provides a vibrant colour, crunchy texture and flavor. It’s a much more welcome green than the more common lettuce. The first layer of mushrooms comes in the form of portobello mushrooms. They are oven roasted with thyme, bay leaves, and basil to get a deep savory flavor. Portobello mushrooms are the mature version of cremini mushrooms. They are not as watery as cremini and have a slightly more pronounced mushroom flavor. They are the ideal choice for this burger, because of their larger size and consistency.

At the epicenter, we have a patty made from 140g of Angus Beef. Just Burger get their own fresh cuts of Angus beef and mince and create the patty in their own kitchen. It’s also a fairly lean blend of beef, and even though it has a low-fat content it’s tasty and juicy and does not feel dry, even when cooked at higher temperatures. The patty is topped with a Pecorino Pepato cheese. This is a raw sheep’s milk cheese, that originates from Sicily and is infused with black peppercorns all over. Pecorino Pepato is usually aged for 2 to 4 months during which it develops a flaky, but creamy consistency. The salty, tangy citrusy flavours complemented by the spiciness of the peppercorns make this cheese a great tasting-point in this burger. We all know and love the bacon cheeseburger, but thanks to the Pecorino Pepato, we might now have another burger category on the rise: the Mushroom Cheeseburger!

The final ingredient is the turning point in this burger creation. Just Burger have doubled the stakes and added a truffle mayo on the very top. A truffle can generally be considered a type of mushroom as it’s a spore that usually grows on the roots of trees. The truffle oil infused in the mayo creates a garlicky and deep musky flavour. It’s earthy, pungent and deliciously funky. It has a slightly thick consistency and is utterly delicious.

What do you need more in a mushroom burger? Until someone comes up with a triple dose of mushrooms, this is the most shroomy burger of them all! If you want to be creative, you might choose to double the patty… yes you can do that too and end up with a mega mushroom burger!

And as if that is not enough, Just burger have created two new sauces, a curry sauce, and a classic bbq sauce, which many use as a dip for french fries, you can also be added inside any burger to add a level of customisation. Both are labeled as Vegan, and both taste as good as any curry or bbq aficionado would expect. These guys never stop creating and inventing foodish delicacies, and that’s the way we love things!

Top 5 Veggie Burgers

When ordering a veggie burger at a restaurant, are you really making the healthier choice? Even though today’s food engineering has made stampede-sized steps since the days of soy-based burgers, ingredients can vary so widely, that it pays to take a close look at what your veggie burger is actually made of. Do veggie burgers have any health-improving advantages over the more popular beefy-originals?

And that’s where we come in. In 2017 we’ve tried, tasted and tested 19 different vegetable-based burgers, and did all the homework for you. We’ve discarded the bland ones that tasted like wet cardboard, and incinerated the cheaters made from frozen soy patties…

Which 5 have made it to the Top of our Hit List (in NO particular order)?

L-Istazzjon

We’ve seen and tasted many Quinoa burgers, but this Sweet super-grain version from L-Istazzjon is the real deal! The patty is made from quinoa, sweet potato, chickpeas, lentils, curry, herbs and coconut oil. The burger has a few extra condiments: rucola, lettuce, tomatoes, onion, and cucumbers. All are raw, as the patty itself is the hero here. Everything is housed in a brioche bun, with a gluten free option available on request.

This Sweet Quinoa burger has managed to keep its head high among its beefy peers. If you love meat burgers and want to try 1 vegetable option in your life, make sure this is it! For the rest, this is a wheat-free vegetarian dream burger that should make you run out to Mdina and go try it now before others eat them all!

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The Beer Cave

When we were told that there’s a green burger in Valletta, we assumed that the greens were inside the burger and not the colour of the burger itself! Chef Marco @ The Beer Cave has fine-tuned his own family recipe to create a green bun that has a mix of coloured seeds on top, to make it even more unique. Just like many veggie burgers we have come across, this one had no name, so we promptly re-baptising it as The Asparagus Burger!

The patty is a mash of chickpeas, marrow, carrots, spring onions, grated breadcrumbs, and asparagus. Asparagus, often considered as an aristocrat of the plant kingdom, is one of the main ingredients. On a gram per gram basis, the raw materials used here, are the most expensive we’ve seen in the local veggie burgers scene. There is no sauce in this burger, just the green bun, the asparagus patty, 2 slices of tomatoes and rucola.

We truly loved this Asparagus interpretation of the classic Veggie Burger, and so did 20,000+ of you, as this was one of the most checked-out Features in 2017.

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Novi

Our search for the tastiest vegetarian burger in town, that one burger-unicorn that can turn the most ardent beef-eating person into a lover of greens, took us to Novi on the Gzira seafront. We went there because last summer, owner Chris came up with a new burger concoction. It’s a visceral vegetable burger, made from grilled, raw vegetables, with halloumi at heart. Halloumi is a fresh, semi-firm cheese, traditionally prepared from sheep’s milk in Cyprus. Why should someone make a vegetable burger based on Halloumi? It’s because Halloumi is a soft curd-like cheese free of rennet and safe for vegetarians who do not eat rennet. On top of the two hefty blocks of grilled Halloumi cheese goes raw baby spinach, 2 slices of grilled eggplant, 2 pieces of roasted red peppers and raw onions. All is topped with morsels of walnuts and honey-mustard sauce. All the vegetables are sourced locally, making this one a made-in-Malta guaranteed burger!

We’ve rarely seen more transparency than this one, when it comes to burger-making, as you can literally see the whole lot of vegetables it’s made of. During 2017 we’ve tested a number of other Halloumi based burgers, but this one has stirred a big fire in the tastebuds of not-a-few beef-eaters, according to your feedback.

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Hugo

In its 2+ years since inception, Hugo’s Burger Bar has established itself as the new McDonald’s of Paceville. If you’re in the area and need a quick Burger fix, Hugo’s is the place to go. And that’s what we did!

Any lover of burgers and vegetables remembers how old school veggie burgers used to rely heavily on soy filling, but not this one. The patty is coated in a batter of panko breadcrumbs, which is lightly fried to make it look and taste crispy. The inside is filled with sweet potato, quinoa, black zucchini, sweet corn, carrots, spring onions, kidney beans, chick peas and coloured peppers. This seems like a whole garden full of fiber, whole grains and legumes inside! The vegetables are mashed and blended just enough to create a dough-like patty with a very uniform texture. Even though all the ingredients have been worked out in a patty, the burger still has a hint of the real vegetables inside with an appealing consistency and a hearty flavour. Both sides of the bun are covered with a Tzatziki dressing spread, made from yogurt, garlic, mint, and cucumber. We also get some raw mixed leaves and carrot strings on top.

Hugo’s made the right move when they added a veggie option to their menu, almost from the very start, as it provides a pit-stop to bean & zucchini lovers. If you’re on the go, then this burger is a sure-fire choice.

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Grassy Hopper

Way back in 2013 there was a food truck at Ta’ Xbiex, promoting clean eating. Years later it turned into a green food Mecca in the center of Gzira, that nowadays feels like the original purveyors of Veggie Burgers in Malta, even if that is not historically correct. Their popular BBB (Sweet Potato & Black Bean Burger) is a perfect showcase of how comfort food should be full of nutrients, energy and body-positive properties.

The patty ingredients have been carefully chosen to provide high quality carbs and low GMI, without refined sugars and starches: black beans, sweet potato mash, a varied mix of seasonal vegetables like carrots, rice and buckwheat. The bun is baked locally from whole grains and is topped with a variety of crunchy seeds. The burger also has lettuce and slices of tomatoes, and mustard, and all these vegetables are sourced from organic or pesticide-free farmers.

Need we add more? Yes we do! You have the option to add Vegan Cheese to this burger, and if you do not, you’re going to regret it for the rest of your life, as this might be Grassy Hopper’s best kept secret. This nut-based cheese is produced in-house and is made from cashews and a selection of spices. Add it to your burger, and suddenly the BBB gains a whole new level of WOWness! If you’re a vegetarian you already know all this, but if you’re not and love the idea of a burger that might increase your life-span, go bite one now! 

Those were the five veggie burgers made from vegetables, whole grains, legumes and all the good-for-you ingredients that provide fiber and a variety of vitamins and minerals, for increasing your life-span. And they pack less calories & fat than the meaty variants!

We will bring you more Veggie News in the weeks & months to come, as restaurants and burger joints up their game, and hopefully bring Veggie Burgers to a whole new level of tastefulness!

Burger & Nachos

In 2017, Just Burger regaled us with so many exotic and assorted burgers, that we’ve almost lost count! Some of them would easily make it to the Top 10 burger chart of the year gone by if we would make one. For 2018 Just burger have one clear plan… more burgers, more quality ingredients, more variety every month… and we like that!

The first burger of 2018 has one clear talking point… it’s topped with nachos. We’ve seen burgers with nachos or crisps before, so how does the January Burger plan to steal the game?

The base is spread with a salsa verde made with basil, mint, and oil. Just Burger’s signature 140gr Angus beef patty sits on top. It’s covered with a Jalapeño flavoured cheese. This is a Havarti variety cheese, which was originally devised in Denmark. The cheese has smooth and buttery properties. The flavour is not too sharp and doesn’t look “moldy” like other cheeses. It’s one of those mild cheeses that virtually everyone likes. And it also melts visually and beautifully on the beef patty. Cheese is a necessity in a burger. It’s like a blanket that snuggles the patty, adding a dimension of texture and flavour. The burger is topped with Tortilla chips. These provide a layer of crunchiness and boost the height ratio of the burger itself. The last ingredient is Sriracha-Lime Mayo, made in-house with mayo, lime juice, chives, and zest. This tastes very good on its own too, and Just Burger should add this to their list of dips.

There’s a lot going on with this burger, and the most important aspect is taste… this is something that any burger lover can savor with great pleasure. If we were given just 1 wish to better this burger-creation, maybe we would have loved to see a layer of kidney beans wedged between the patty and the cheese.

We’ve tested the Just Burger fries once again and can attest that at this rate, no other potato chip is going to challenge these anytime soon. They are crisped to perfection, well seasoned and have a great crunchy taste. Forget those limp and oily fries from takeaways or chicken express food shops, do yourself a favor and treat yourself to a portion of these fries!

Just Burger have hit the jackpot once again and kickstarted their 2018 with a great hit. When you’re on your way to Sliema, make sure you make a pit stop at the Plaza, to taste this one out.

Chicken BBQ Bacon @ Xmas Time

Five years ago, on this very same day, we launched #MALTAburgers with the main intent of covering all the new burger options that were popping up all across Malta. The very first burger we listed at the end of 2012 was the Texas Grander from KFC. We’ve come full circle and are back at KFC, to see what Malta’s most popular chicken express-food house is up to these days.

The image on the front window at KFC Gzira shows a humongous box with a bbq burger, a piece of chicken and all the sides your stomach can dream of! We’re in!

The BBQ Box Meal is made up of a chicken fillet, 2 pieces of bacon and a golden hash brown. The usual lettuce, cheese, mayo, and bbq sauce are there too. The chicken fillet is the original recipe one, it’s moist and tasty and has a crunchy, appetizing texture. Moist is a key factor here… Give us dry chicken, and we will run away faster than Road Runner! KFC prepare these daily, and we check out the Gzira one on a monthly basis, and their track record is usually always on the upper-quality scale in the express-food scene. Colonel Sanders’ secret recipe of herbs never fails to impress. They also have a Zinger version (called the Supercharger) for those who like spicy chicken. The hash-brown adds a mushy layer to the stack, whilst the bacon brings in the smokey flavor. This is one of the very few KFC burgers with bacon inside. We wish the bacon could be a tad more crispy, as that would have catapulted this chicken burger into a higher level of awesomeness.

The mix of textures works really well and this burger seems to have everything going the right way. The BBQ flavor is quite strong and present, though the burger is neither spicy nor sweet, so it has a good balance for those hungry ones, who just want to grab a chicken and bacon burger and devour it in one go! Aesthetically, the burger looks the part. Indeed the box meal also has a chicken piece, drink, fries and a side (onion rings, salad or corn). We think this box meal is definitely a chicken-craver quencher… If you’re famished and in the Gzira area, you know what to do!

We wish that KFC would keep the ball rolling in this direction, and hit back again with bigger chicken burgers and grander boxes filled with even more awesome sides.

In the meantime, we’re out of the office, keeping up traditions, and burger hunting on Xmas eve…

Xmas Burger

Christmas themed burgers are somewhat of a rarity. With all the family lunches, work-related parties and the obligatory social circle dinners, the last thing you need to stuff your stomach with is a burger… or so we thought until we did a survey last January. 14 burger joints (located in central areas) we talked to, reported record burger sales in December, when compared to previous months of the year. People do anything for Xmas shopping, they even challenge rain, wind, and hail; and after a shopping spree, coffee with pizza or burger is always due!

So why don’t we see more Christmas themed burgers? Restaurants are exceedingly busy during this month, and they usually trim down their menu to optimise cooking time and keep up with the demand, which is a good plan. But what about our traditional turkey burger with cranberry sauce? Well, that’s where Just Burger in Sliema comes in! In 2017 they have churned out new burgers every month, and if that was not enough, more lately they are even doing weekly specials! Because of their turnover and overall quality, they have become the 2017 Kings of express burgers. Move over McDonald’s; Just Burger is THE burger place where you can get a high-standard burger meal (Angus burger, drink, fries & dip) for under €10!

The December burger is made out of staple Xmas food:

  • A layer of roasted Brussels sprouts with cubes of bacon
  • 140gr Angus beef patty
  • Fried Parsnip crisps
  • chevre sauce made out of goat cheese and salt & pepper
  • Spiced cranberry and mandarin compote

While we miss the turkey flavour in this burger, the Angus beef patty made us forget this detail very quickly. Just Burger get their own fresh cuts of Angus beef and mince and create the patty in their own kitchen. There is no closely-guarded recipe here; it’s just quality beef! Their patty delivers tenderness and is always juicy and fully flavored. The bun is made from their own Swedish recipe and produced by a local bakery. They have a gluten-free bread option too, which will be very welcome by many. The fried parsnips add the necessary level of crunch. If you are one of those who is convinced that you don’t like Brussels sprouts, this burger will make you think twice. The kitchen guys have tricked us to eat sprouts by throwing bacon in the mix! Very cunning indeed!

The highlight of this burger-creation are the two sauces. The compote has signs of cranberry, mandarin, cinnamon and lemon zest. The French chevre sauce is tangy and creamy as you would expect from a goat milk product. These sauces create a balanced and delicious taste, which pushes this burger to further savory levels.

There’s still a thing or two to go…

We’ve told you in the past about the potato goodness of the Just Burger fries. Just Burger import these bags of chips exclusively and are crisped to a level we’ve seldom seen. They are generously seasoned and aren’t greasy, complimenting their burgers. We’ve tested them once again, and they truly deserve the King of Fries crown!

As if that’s not enough, Just Burger have just come up with two new special milkshakes for this merry season. The Gingerbread has a mix of cookies and rum, while the Christmas Spice has the flavour of cranberries and mandarin. These shakes are really dense, with a creamy consistency and these two flavours in particular, drive your tastebuds into a festive mood. If you like the genuine-tasting milkshakes from New York Best, you need to try these two right now!

One last thing… if you need to cute-isize your burger with a Xmas hat on top, like the one in our photos, bring one from home! We did!

Bhima Burger

#THROWBACK to 2012!

This was the notorious BHIMA Burger, created by Porky’s in Hamrun, 5 years ago. The filling itself was not a traditional patty, but it was made from pieces of chopped chicken & pork, 2 fried eggs, lots of greasy bacon, a tonne of cheese, coleslaw, and why not… extra veggies of your choice!

All was grilled right there and then and piled up in a big tower. Porky’s used to open during the wee hours of the morning, making it an obligatory stop for many, after a drinking session in Paceville!

If you take the word of TRIPadvisor you are spoiled for choice: This was either the worst Take Away burger ever, or the most delicious one!

Did you ever try the BHIMA yourself?

Will anyone bring back the concept of the BHIMA in 2018?

Halloumi – a Grate cheesy burger

Our search for the tastiest vegetarian burger in town – that one burger-unicorn that can turn the most ardent beef-eating person into a lover of greens – takes us to Gzira seafront. Novi is an unassuming bar at first glance, but first impressions can be deceiving, as this place is a hideout, ebullient with home-made food. One year ago, we already stopped at this same door, but the sign on the front read Happy Pizza. We wonder what string of events brought such a change from pizza house to a burger joint, so we delve inside.

Here we find the man of the day, always-smiling Chris Vella. Chris was born in New York, from Maltese parents. He’s an engineer by profession, but when he moved to Malta 14 years back, he has worked in a myriad of trades, from being a mobile salesman to real estate work. Having acquired a fascination for good food from his father, Chris saw it fit to open Happy Pizza! The ups and downs of running a pizza delivery service made him turn around, and 1 year ago he resurrected the place as Novi, half bar, half express-food joint. Novi actually means New, and the old Happy Pizza premises were dismantled and rebuilt from scratch and by hand, by Chris himself, with his wife doing all the interior designing and planning. The animalistic paper sculptures on the walls roar back that this is a pet-friendly bar. If you’re out for a drink with friends, why should you leave your pet at home? According to Chris, you shouldn’t!

We came here because we heard that last July, Chris came up with a new burger concoction. It’s a visceral vegetable burger, made from grilled, raw vegetables, with halloumi at heart. Halloumi is a fresh, semi-firm cheese, traditionally prepared from sheep’s milk in Cyprus. So why should someone make a vegetable burger based on Halloumi? It’s because Halloumi is a soft curd-like cheese free of rennet and safe for vegetarians who do not eat rennet. Halloumi is firm, salty and a bit rubbery, and has a smooth texture. Halloumi is not meant to be eaten raw, so in this burger iteration, it’s grilled. Once cooked, the saltiness fades into a robust, savory bite with a creamy texture that’s a bit akin to a marshmallow! Just like marshmallows, once grilled, this cheese becomes crispy and savory on the outside, and sinfully melted on the inside! It won’t melt totally, but develops a crispy crust because the protein bonds are broken before forming into curds… which is the opposite of most cheeses!

Liga from Latvia is our chef of the day, and she churns out our burger in record speed time. On top of the two hefty blocks of grilled Halloumi cheese goes raw baby spinach, 2 slices of grilled eggplant, 2 pieces of roasted red peppers and raw onions. All is topped with morsels of walnuts and honey-mustard sauce. All the vegetables are sourced locally, making this one a made-in-Malta guaranteed burger! We’ve rarely seen more transparency than this one, when it comes to burger-making, as you can literally see the whole lot of vegetables it’s made of. The combination of Halloumi, vegetables, and nuts conjures superb flavors and texture. The sauce was a good choice because it is not overly sweet or overpowering, just mellow in taste. We miss some more overall crunch in this burger, maybe adding some carrot strings would help fill that void. We’re sure that this one will stir a fire in the tastebuds of not-a-few beef-eaters, who will be more than glad to devour this burger in a matter of bites!

Any burger, whether beefy or veggie, should be accompanied by a good portion of fries, and Novi spoils you for choice. We tried out the sweet potato and seasoned chips, which are both crinkly, golden and rightly-crisped, just as any Maltaburgers-approved fries should be! The portions are big-man US-sized, so Novi have a variety of dips to go with the fries. We tried the hot one, which is a chili and vinegar sauce, and the basil sauce. Add a lemon drink made in the US, and you have one beast of a veggie meal any gorilla would climb the Empire State building for!

Chris made the right choice when he dumped pizza making and started grilling burgers! We love his attitude and ideas for express-food with a homely taste. Come on Chris, dream up a new burger or four for the year to come!

BaconBurgerGate

Just Burger has been churning hit burgers, non-stop, month after month. The Greek, Asian and Wellington received an unbelievable amount of views from all of you. Right now, they also happen to have the crispiest fries we’ve tried out this year. So what can they possibly come up with next? A bacon burger!

As with some of their previous hits, this burger has many levels of ingredients. On top of the bun goes iceberg lettuce, 2 slices of tomatoes, their signature beef patty, melted cheddar cheese, 2 long strips of bacon, 3 slices of gherkins and crispy onions. All the ingredients are infused with a smoked paprika-flavoured mustard and a sundried tomato ketchup.

Over the past 5 years, we’ve had the pleasure to witness and sometimes the misfortune to taste, dozens of bacon burgers. Just like every dog has an annoying squeaky toy, every burger joint has a bacon burger. Most are built on a similar formula: grill some meat put a slice of cheese on top, slap some pieces of bacon, and call it The Bac ‘o N or a twist of whatever name Mcdonald’s has just come up with. Just like McDonald’s, it’s always the same burger from years gone by, maybe slightly smaller in portion size and more expensive than last year.

So how do Just Burger fare in all this BaconBurgerGate? They use 140g of Angus beef to create the patty. The meat is always juicy whatever cooking temperature you see fit to ask for, and that’s always a good start in our books. They also use cheddar as the cheese of choice, as it tends to have a mild and well-balanced taste, bringing an element of smooth creaminess. The pickled gherkins, one of the most traditional burger toppings, add piquancy to the taste equation. The mustard and ketchup have been imported just for this one burger, as they have their own unique flavours. This, not only shows the level of dedication that Just Burger goes into when creating a new offering but also serves as a tasty cement for those crispy and crumbling onions. We love crispy onions, but when they fly all over the place, they are more a nuisance than a blessing. This is not the case here though, and the fried onions provide crunchiness and add substantial height to the overall size of the burger.

Every Bacon Burger worth its name is ultimately judged by its bacon. Anyone can do limpy, soft and squishy bacon. Anyone can turn bacon black trying to get it right. Where is that crispy, dehydrated, crunchy, crusted thin slice of bacon everyone dreams of? That bacon from those traditional English breakfasts of years gone by, where preparation took ages, as excess fat had to be drained from the pan from time to time, and then rested on a paper bag to avoid the extra-grease effect. Well, this burger comes with hard and crispy bacon that’s a joy to crunch between your teeth. Each mouthful of this burger comes across as primarily beefy, with the smoked paprika sauce playing nicely with the gooey cheese, before the layer of bacon flavor starts to kick in slowly.

Just Burger have nailed the bacon dead on, and that’s game over for all the other mediocre and wannabe bacon burgers in town! The war for the ultimate bacon burger still roars on though, and while this is not the worldwide king of all bacon burgers, it manages to score exceedingly and soars sky-high. Which means, you still have a few more weeks left to run to Sliema and try it out, as it will be gone once the Xmas month is here.

The Easter Bunny Burger

Charles Bar in Swatar is no standard Sports Bar. For the past months, they have carved a name in the local burger scene, with almost supernatural creations like The Muscle, a triple beef patty burger, with jalapeno flavour and a waffle at the base, who’s had not a few rounds with big eaters and mouthy challengers. And who can forget that burger filled with Dorito chips, or the Surf & Turf one with buttermilk chicken, prawns, jalapeno salsa & feta cheese?!

Behind all this, is a man, who is surprisingly not named Charles! Wayne Desira (whose second name is Charles) is a 27-year-old chef, who took over the old Charles Bar 2 years ago from a retiring owner… whose name was not even Charles! Wayne was handed the bar, decorated in pink, shiny tinsel and red Christmas ornaments! Even though Christmas was 2 months away, Wayne had to painstakingly tear down the whole place and rebuild it the way we see it today.

When Wayne heard the news that we were hunting for rabbit burgers, he promptly offered to create something just for MaltaBurgers, as his traditional fried rabbit is one of the bar’s trademarks. We thought that this would be a rehashed burger, with a rabbit patty instead of a beef one… but how wrong we were! The burger had no name, so we promptly christened it The Easter Bunny Burger!

The EBB has no bread bun. The bun is a golden ufo-like dome made from rabbit meat! The idea originated from the mac & cheese balls that Wayne does. Rabbit meat, fennel, curry, ginger, garlic, and chorizo (Spanish sausage) are worked in the form of a flat patty. A hard-boiled egg is placed in the middle and enveloped within the meat to form a fist-sized ball. This is covered with flour, coated in egg and dipped in breadcrumbs. It’s then deep fried in oil until it crunches into a golden colour. When it’s split in half, it’s transformed into a Bunny bun!

Lettuce, slices of tomatoes and onions go on top of the bunny bun. A generous portion of sundried tomatoes pesto amalgamates the vegetable ingredients. Wayne’s signature beef patty goes on top. It’s adorned with melted cheddar cheese and a big big wallop of mashed peas. The various elements, like the sundried tomatoes and peas, are taken from the traditional fried rabbit recipe, which is the main inspiration behind this burger. And it also tastes like the rabbit your grandmother used to do on Sunday lunches, which you adored so much.

With his out-of-the-box thinking, Wayne has created a very distinctive and one of a kind burger, the likes of which we haven’t yet come across this year. The days when formulating new burgers was a matter of slapping a couple of random ingredients on a cheeseburger and calling it Mighty Cheese, are over! We hope other burger chefs get a kick in the right direction and start innovating their burger offerings. Building this burger involves many stages and much preparation, so if you like rabbit and burgers and always strive to try something exclusive, you better book with Wayne before you show up at Charle’s Bar! And if you happen to know who the Charles on the sign is, let us know!!