JustBurger

Just Asia

Liselott and her international team of burger mongers are unstoppable. They keep churning new burgers every month, and August is no exception. This time around they have come up with something that might sound odd at first glance: An Asian Burger?! Maltese are big-time lovers of Asian cuisine, and most if not all Maltese love burgers in one form or another. But what happens when you mash and combine the two? Have Just Burger started a new local burger craze or is this a big miss?

To find out, we need to head to the infamous Plaza Shopping Center, in the heart of Sliema. Once there, a poster on one of the wall reads “You don’t need a silver fork to eat good food”, and so we set forth to bite our burger with bare hands, no cutlery necessary!

This burger tastes Asian from the very base, which is made from bok choy, which is a deep green leafy vegetable that resembles Romaine lettuce on top and celery on the bottom! Bok choy is very related to cabbage. Here, it’s boiled and then grilled. It’s packed with vitamins but tastes slightly bitter, like mustard greens. This is why we have a red & white cabbage slaw on top. The cabbage mix is marinated in Asian spices. We could taste honey, ginger and soy sauce, and the slaw not only tastes delicious but creates a very colourful layer in the burger. It adds great texture, crunch and an unmistakable flavour to the burger as a whole.

At the heart of every Just Burger, there’s a patty made from 140g of Angus Beef. The hand-formed patty has a thick crust marked with crunchy spots of char. The beef is always juicy and lands a beefy punch to the rest of the vegetable ingredients. The beef was a bit on the pink side for our personal tastes, but we know that many burger lovers like it like that.

Every burger does well with some bacon, as this one is no exception! The Asian Burger is topped with a mix of bacon crumble and chopped spring onions. We love crunchy bacon, and Just Burger have managed to get a delicious crisp in their bacon bits. We hope that they will be using these bacon bits more in their other burgers, as they seem to have got the crunchiness level more than right.

The bun is made from a Swedish recipe and produced by a local bakery. They have a gluten-free bread option too, which is very welcome by many. The bun is spread with lime and chilli mayo. And this is what drives the whole burger over the top! The combination of sweet chilli sauce with mayo and lime creates the best added Asian condiment anyone could wish for. All of these Asian flavours come together so well that propel the burger into overdrive mode, bringing you one unforgettable bite. There was enough spread on the top to permeate every bite and unite all the burger’s components. After you taste this, you will never want to go back to standard bacon burgers again!

Every burger has one Achilles’ heel, and this one is its longevity: it will only be available during August! We hope that Just burger will consider adding this one to their menu. Otherwise, we will have to drive to Sliema every single day for the next 30 days! A tender, juicy burger infused with Asian spices is no easy feat, and Just Burger have excelled themselves and come up with their BEST burger to date! It encapsulates the four essential Asian flavours in the mix: spicy, sweet and salty, with a well-balanced tang.

We hope that Just Burger will keep on experimenting with new burger concoctions and come up with something even greater. In the meantime, we’re off to Sliema again, as there’s an Asian burger waiting for us!

Big Fat Greek Juicy [Just] Burger

Just Burger has become a popular destination with us at #MALTAburgers. And there’s a reason for that. It’s located in the very heart of Sliema, the mecca of shopping sprees. Their burgers are the perfect bite size. And they ooze creativity as they come up with a speciality burger every month of the year. That’s three reasons (who’s counting?) to visit regularly.

Liselott Moazed, the owner of Just Burger, says that she and her team want to bring a Swedish twist to an American classic here in Malta. Seems like an international tongue twister! And that’s going to become even twistier, as the Burger for July is a Greek inspired one!

The Greek Burger is a complex combination of many different layers and flavours. It starts with a bed of rucola (or rocket leaves to you and me). This green leaf is native to the Mediterranean area and has a rich & peppery taste. Indeed it’s strong flavour starts our summer journey to Greece on a good step.

One floor up we have a mix of grilled vegetables, mainly peppers and courgettes. Roasted peppers have a wonderfully sweet, caramelised flavour that makes for a tasty accompaniment to this burger. Red & yellow peppers definitely bring a colourful element. The sliced courgettes (zucchini) are crisp and tender.

Tomatoes are one of the highlights of summer produce, and juicy ones are a favourite element in many burgers. One might be surprised that this Greek burger features tomatoes of the sun-dried variety. They bring the perfect balance of sweet and tart.

At the heart of every Just Burger, we find a patty made from 140g of Angus Beef. They opted to use their signature patty for this burger too, instead of one made from lamb, which would have been typically Greeker. The reason is that Just Burger gets their own fresh cuts of Angus beef and mince and create the patty in their own kitchen. They don’t add any spices to the meat, just salt & pepper, so they know their game. Having to re-invent the whole process for lamb, just for a 30-day run would have been a nightmare. The beef is crisp on the outside and hot and well cooked through on the inside. Each bite is mouthwateringly juicy and loaded with beefy flavour. The meat is always very tender and almost falls apart, and we really like the consistency that Just Burger always keeps up. If you like it the way they do it, you will always like it!

Featured at the very top of this burger are feta cheese and Greek yoghurt with a hint of mint. Greeks are the highest consumers of cheese in the world, and the average Greek can consume 20-30kg of cheese in a year! For Greeks, feta is like bread, and it seems that they eat it all day long. So it’s no wonder that Just Burger put this one element at the very top! This white salty cheese produced from sheep/goat milk has a high water content and hence fewer calories than other cheeses. It has such an intense flavour and brings a salty punch to the burger.

The bun is made from a Swedish recipe and produced by a local bakery. They have a gluten-free bread option too, which will be very welcome by many. The buns always have a nice glaze to them.

All the elements are well-stacked, so you can pick up and eat the burger easily without large chunks falling apart. This might well be the tallest burger we’ve yet seen from Just Burger and hands down the one with the most diverse ingredients crammed in… and we love that! The vegetable elements are crunchy fresh, and everything is carefully constructed, not to overload or unbalance the rest of the ingredients.

The first bite was divine as you get a taste of beautifully cooked beef with a hint of minty yoghurt which isn’t overpowering at all but adds to the overall moistness. This is followed up by the saltiness of the feta. Each mouthful intensified the flavours of the Mediterranean ingredients. It is so good that we found ourselves eating slower than usual just to savour each bite one little bit more! This is one summer burger everyone should try at least once (or maybe 5 times). You can easily close your eyes and dream of being in a tavern on some Greek island! We were slightly sad when we finished the last bite and stared at the empty wrapping. And the best part is that unlike other street burgers, this does not leave you feeling full or bloated at all. It is evident that the Just Burger kitchen team put a lot of love into their cooking.

The fries need to get a worthy mention too. They are nice and crisp and generously seasoned. They aren’t greasy and compliment the burger nicely.

This is a one of a kind burger in many ways. It’s the first time Just Burger have this item on their menu, and once July is over, they will concoct an entirely different burger. So if you are in Sliema and want to experience a Big Fat Greek Juicy Burger, you know what to do! We will be there too until July is over!

Not JUST another BURGER in Sliema

It’s a hot & sunny Saturday afternoon. We’re in the heart of Sliema and just done with our shopping spree. We head to the infamous Plaza Shopping Center, where not so long ago used to house McDonald’s. Funny clowns and screaming children are a thing of the past, as today a new Burger establishment, aptly named Just Burger, has taken over. Just Burger in itself is no new name on the local burger scene, as they were an established brand in the Paceville area, but they have nowadays moved into these larger premises in Sliema. We are here, because the very international team of Just Burger, spice up their menu with a new burger specialty every month of the year. Their current burger highlight is the Spinach burger… it’s officially called the June Burger, but we nicknamed it otherwise.

The June burger is made from a combination of very interesting ingredients. A bed of baby spinach leaves gives crunch, thin slices of soft tomatoes add acidity and sweetness to compensate for the overall saltiness of the burger, and real mozzarella cheese replaces the classic square of processed yellow cheese. We’ve just scratched the surface, as the June Burger has more to offer. Instead of bacon (a very burger-favourite topping), we are delighted with Serrano ham, a dry-cured Spanish specialty ham. This very crispy ham is on the salty side and adds a very particular flavour to the burger. A basil mousse goes on top; Very fresh, aromatic and minty. The basil recipe is very cherished even though it’s been only used in this burger so far.

At the heart of every Just Burger, 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. They don’t add any spices to the meat, just salt & pepper. Indeed, the beef is juicy as we always anticipate, even though we asked for a well-cooked through burger. It lands a magnificent beefy punch to the rest of the vegetable ingredients. Well done kitchen dudes! The bun is made from a Swedish recipe and produced by a local bakery. They have a gluten-free bread option too, which will be very welcome by many.

This is a one of a kind burger in many ways. It’s the first time Just Burger have this item on their menu, and once June is over, they will concoct an entirely different burger. So if you are in Sliema, have young kids, and want to feed them more spinach stealthily, you know where to go!