All-you-can-eat Hamburgers & French Fries In Bkk

[jfchandler]

I ate five sets of hamburgers and french fries at a Central World restaurant yesterday. I really had only intended to eat four, but the staff asked me to go for the fifth... So hey, what else could I do?? Total bill including tax and service charge: 303 baht.

Such are Thursdays at Eat's My World, a relatively new "foods of the world"-type restaurant on the 7th floor of Central World that currently is offering several promotions, including an all-day Thursdays special of unlimited hamburgers and french fries for 259 baht, plus 10% service, plus 7% VAT. (See the promotion at the very bottom of the photo below...)

The restaurant is billed as a Halal eatery, meaning the food supposedly is prepared in accordance with Muslim standards. And indeed, on a Thursday afternoon, the couple of other tables with patrons nearby were occupied by parties with Muslim Thai women wearing head scarves. Although I didn't ask, that may also explain the homemade texture of the hamburger meat they served, with every patty I received including several nuggets of cartilage...

There are good and bad things to say about this restaurant, and their all-you-can-eat hamburgers deal.

The good things are: It's a great value if you're really hungry for hamburgers and fries, and are more interested in the portions than the quality. They have free-wifi, and international music on the sound system, and tables as well as comfy bean-bag type chairs for sitting. And the two Thai ladies working as waitresses that day were gracious, accommodating and very pleasant. The restaurant also has a very wide selection of international teas, and quite a broad selection of ice creams with very tempting sounding flavors. For drinks, I tried the iced green tea and hot Indian tea with milk, both very nice.

The bad things are: as regards their hamburgers, as mentioned above, each of the five burgers I ate contained at least 3 or 4 bits of un-edible beef cartilage, although the beef itself tasted good and has a nice texture. The buns were grocery store stock style, not even visibly heated or toasted, just like straight out of the bag. But each burger did come with fresh leaves of lettuce, tomato slices and some strips of raw onion, along with dabs of a couple "mystery" (at least to me) sauces. The french fries tasted likewise like grocery store stock, a couple of times emerging from the kitchen hot, the other times pretty cool.

I really was finished after ordering the fourth set of burgers and fries. But in ordering it, I had asked the waitress to bring my final burger without any of their accompanying sauces... just plain...so I could just add my own mustard... And she clearly understand what I wanted. But a few moments later, my fourth burger arrived, with all the same sauces spread on as before. So I proceeded to eat it, and wasn't going to say anything. But finally, I decided to tell the waitress the kitchen had messed up the order/my request. And when I did, politely, she seemed surprised and asked if I wanted a fifth burger, promised to arrive with no sauces. So what else was a man to do...

As much as the waitresses at Eat's My World were gracious, there were things thoughout the meal that just kept getting missed. Apart from hamburger cartilage and the sauce problem above, which could well have been the kitchen's fault, a request for an extra napkin to one lady was understood, and not heeded. A second request to the same lady likewise was not heeded. And finally a third request to the other waitress also produced no result, even though the empty table next to me had spare place settings within reach. Similarly, during one of the plate changes, the waitress took away my fork and knife, and then later brought the new burger plate, leaving me no utensils to eat with, until I had to ask to receive some.

Likewise, although the restaurant was virtually empty when I arrived, it took the waitresses a very long time to produce my iced green tea, and then even longer to produce the first pair of hamburgers (my initial order arrived with two burgers and fries on the plate). I'd hate to see how their service functions when (and if) the place is actually busy.

All in all, the burgers didn't taste bad, though spitting out the cartilage each time was a different kind of experience. I could have put up with that, thinking their ground beef was home-ground rather than mass produced. But the non-warmed, non-toasted grocery store buns really put a chill on my enjoyment of the meal.

Would I go back there for another meal, or even for drinks or to try some of their ice creams that I had no room for the other day? Yes... I would... Would I go back again for a second round of their hamburger and fries buffet? Probably not. Sometimes, even unlimited quantity is not enough to offset substandard quality.

[bkkjames]

great review john, the cartilage pieces must have been tought to swallow.

all you can eat lips and <deleted> xxx baht, thanks but no thanks.

[jfchandler]

Actually James, I believe lips and axxhole meat are out of bounds for halal style...though I'm hardly an expert on such matters...

I really do think they are grinding their own beef, or having someone do it for them, because I'm guessing finding Halal ground beef on the open market here in BKK might not be the easiest thing. As I said, it had a very homemade texture to it...which was good and bad in this instance.

I'd say...it's something some folks might want to try once.... Or, better yet, go back on Monday or Tuesday when they're having their buy one, get one free special on ice creams and deserts.... That and one of their teas would go very nice together....

[onethailand]

Haha... great review.

You gotta wonder about the cartilage though... did you point that out to them? I'm surprised a restaurant in such an expensive complex would serve low-quality material... though you can hardly argue for the price, I guess.

Not a fan of plain buns out of the bag either - wonder if it's possible to get them to at least toast it...

[Datsun240Z]

Ah yes Halal ...

http://www.telegraaf.nl/etenengenieten/426...ruwelijk__.html

[jfchandler]

OT, no, I didn't say anything about the burger crunchy bits... As they showed up in each of the 5 burgers I was served, it became clear that wasn't an aberration.

Frankly, although I was their eating their burger buffet, I'm assuming the same meat would be used in their regular, order-off-the-menu individual hamburgers and cheeseburgers.

About the buns, no, I didn't ask about the toasting... I had trouble getting an extra napkin and a burger without the "mystery" sauces... At that point, I figured, going much further was futile...

Haha... great review.

You gotta wonder about the cartilage though... did you point that out to them? I'm surprised a restaurant in such an expensive complex would serve low-quality material... though you can hardly argue for the price, I guess.

Not a fan of plain buns out of the bag either - wonder if it's possible to get them to at least toast it...

[losworld]

Years ago my friend and I had a McDonald's cheeseburger eating contest. He defeated me 12 - 10 but I'd had a double whopper earlier in the day.

I think I could push 15 on an empty stomach.

Edited July 4, 2009 by losworld

[Ossies]

what do you mean by 'homemade texture of the meat'. Can you describe it and compare to non home made texture as not sure what you are saying/implying?

[rixalex]

Years ago my friend and I had a McDonald's cheeseburger eating contest. He defeated me 12 - 10 but I'd had a double whopper earlier in the day.

I think I could push 15 on an empty stomach.

That you Mr Spurlock?

[Jingthing]

Looking at the pics of those "burgers" I wouldn't want to eat even one of them. All you can eat of them sounds like a kind of torture.

[Datsun240Z]

I think I could push 15 on an empty stomach.

[H2oDunc]

Actually James, I believe lips and axxhole meat are out of bounds for halal style...though I'm hardly an expert on such matters...

I really do think they are grinding their own beef, or having someone do it for them, because I'm guessing finding Halal ground beef on the open market here in BKK might not be the easiest thing. As I said, it had a very homemade texture to it...which was good and bad in this instance.

I'd say...it's something some folks might want to try once.... Or, better yet, go back on Monday or Tuesday when they're having their buy one, get one free special on ice creams and deserts.... That and one of their teas would go very nice together....

I think that Halal does not refer to any specific part of the animal only that it is slaughtered to the Muslim tradition by a Muslim butcher.

Why any body would want to eat more than 1 burger is beyond me. must be an American thing ?

[Curt1591]

what do you mean by 'homemade texture of the meat'. Can you describe it and compare to non home made texture as not sure what you are saying/implying?

The implication is that the meat is a more coarse grind than most patties.

[jfchandler]

Correct. The meat tasted fine, and actually good. But the grind/consistency was somewhat courser than what you'd find at any commercial hamburger place like McD or BK... And the burgers were shaped like they were formed by hand, not the thinner, perfectly round, cut style.

If the buns had been better and/or toasted, and the patties didn't have the cartilage bits, the burgers would have been fine...at least for me.

what do you mean by 'homemade texture of the meat'. Can you describe it and compare to non home made texture as not sure what you are saying/implying?

The implication is that the meat is a more coarse grind than most patties.

[bonobo]

Years ago my friend and I had a McDonald's cheeseburger eating contest. He defeated me 12 - 10 but I'd had a double whopper earlier in the day.

I think I could push 15 on an empty stomach.

WHen I was in high school, there was a group called Christian Athletes which would come to talk to the various teams, often putting on a feed.  THey had McD's hamburgers at one series, and my high school was the last on the schedule.  Of course, the other schools started a burger eating contest, so by the time it got to us, it was 17 burgers.  Another guy and I took it on.  He got to 18, I got to 18 1/2.  The mere thought of that, so many years ago, still makes me shudder!

[Datsun240Z]

18 1/2 hamburger??? Jeez!!!!