Is there even such a thing as an Octopus burger? Octopuses have been swimming in the seas for half a billion years. Cows, not very long at all in comparison. So why did it take all this long for someone to sandwich an octopus in a bun and make a burger out of it? To calm the spirits of half a billion years’ worth of octopuses who never became burgers, let us explore why, how and what really went down.
Meaty fish like salmon, tuna and shellfish make good burgers. In 1962 McDonald’s came up with a burger made from fish to capture the business of Catholic customers who couldn’t consume meat in observance of Lent. Since then, the fish burger became a year-long staple all over the world. But what about the other popular sea creature, the octopus? Fast forward another 50 years, to Berlin where in 2012 the Burger joint, bar and Rock club known as the Whitetrash Fast Food was the first one in Europe, ballsy enough to put an octopus in a bun. Since then, we’ve seen the odd octopus in a bun here and there, but the octopus trend never seemed to overpower the fish and beef burger one. And there’s a very comprehensible reason for that. Even though octopus is a delicacy enjoyed the world over, it’s a tough meat. Cooking this lean cephalopod can be devilish and requires converting the brawny connective tissue into tender, silken gelatin. It’s above the skillset of your average McD or BurgerKing kitchen dude.
Which brings us to the year 2015, somewhere near the outskirts between Hamrun & St. Venera. Situated on the grounds of the historic 7up factory, a stylish restaurant known as Bean & Loaf came up with a whole burger menu. It was a time when dedicated burger joints in the area where a rarity. Indeed Bean & Loaf was run by Ortobello, a Milan-based diner that specialises in wholesome and homely food. And you will never guess what their Chef Ciccio came up with: a burger made from a whole deep-fried octopus, leafy broccoli rabe and covered in tzatziki sauce. It was aptly named the Octavius! The creation caused a lot of commotion and outbursts from the local burger community because even though this was practically meat in a bun, it was not in traditional patty form.
But times change. It wasn’t until July of 2018 that we would start covering burgers in their more stranger forms and thus went for a week-long island-wide burger tour, trying out and reporting on the most extravagant forms of burgers you’ve never heard of! As long as it had meat, condiments, sauce and was enveloped in some sort of sandwich, we were game! We found burgers made from Pizzas, Noodles, Gyros, Nachos and even Baguettes! Unfortunately, Ortobello had closed down their Malta franchise in 2017 and the octopus burger did not make it in our top hit list. We were heartbroken!
Luckily Sea Salt, a concept take away eatery in Sliema came to the rescue in late 2018 and has reinvented the octopus burger game!
