Mos Vs Dukes

[smokie36]

For the money, pretty hard to beat Mosburger. Several notches above anything else under 100 baht, that's for sure. I like the original Mosburger with the suki sauce but they also have regular hamburgers and cheesburgers with no sauce, you dress it yourself with mayo, ketchup, mustard, whatever you like.

Tonight I had one of the best burgers I've ever eaten at Iron Fairies in Bangkok. Not for bargain hunters. They have five varieties on the menu, 350-380 baht. Huge burger served on a wooden cutting board with a knife stuck right down the center of the burger. Fresh Aussie tenderloin grilled on a woodfired grill - you can smell the smoky flavors before you even pick it up. Delicious fresh buns from a bakery that makes them just for IF. Dressed with a couple of different 'secret' sauces made by the Aussie owner.

How much does a burger cost at Duke's Express? I stopped by for onion rings a couple of weeks ago and they were excellent, some of the best I've eaten. Fast and friendly service.

I'm not a huge fan of burgers but you really sold the Iron Fairies one well.....where is it located?

On Soi Thonglor just past Soi 12. Open 6pm to 2am nightly.

Thanks I'll take a look next time I'm in Bangkok.

[powderpuff]

If you have no problem driving from BKK to Pattaya for a burger, then I'm sure you can manage to find your way from Siam Center nextdoor to Siam Discovery and give the hamburgers at Outback a try.

PASS

I'll drive to bar B Q Sandwich King. At least I know what I am getting.

Are there cobwebs inside Discovery Center?

Outback is an overpriced tourist trap.

Yankke idea of an Aussie place.

Roasted roo anyone?

[sabaijai]

He did not say anything about it not being "American". He just said it tastes terrible (much like a red herring).

You're right, UG. I presumed it was implied in the statement:

Whatever MOS Burgers serves is not recognizable as a hamburger, and certainly doesn't taste anything like a hamburger....

But perhaps I presumed too much. I always assume that when Americans say that 'X doesn't taste like X should' that they mean 'the American way.' MOSburgers are a Japanese innovation, and either you like 'em or you don't. They have a lot of fans around the world.

BTW Duke's burgers are about triple the price, so can't really compare them with any of the fast-food outlets, IMO. Nor can you compare them with the gourmet burgers at 250+ baht. They fall more in the middle 'coffeehouse' range; better than the conveyor-belt, not-so-fresh, fast-food outlet burgers but not as good as the gourmet burgers. It's great that Bangkok has something for every budget Next time the urge for a burger arises and I'm near Emporium, I look forward to trying one at Duke's Express.

especially slathered in the awful, bland sauce they use. I've tried several of their varieties, and won't ever go back again for burgers there.... though their french fries are perfectly fine

jfc, I guess you never tried the regular cheeseburger at MOS then, because it does not use the MOSburger sauce, nor does the hamburger.

[jfchandler]

Sounds like Sabaijai is making a lot of presumptions again, mostly amiss...

I don't care whether anyone's burgers are done American style or any other style, and I never said anything different. I do care if they taste good, which, admittedly, is a subjective opinion.

But suffice to say, as I mentioned earlier, I'm open to, familiar with and appreciative of all kinds of different foods and cooking styles, including from different countries including Japan. (By comparison, the various burgers offered until recently at the burned down (Red riots) R Burger shop across from Siam Paragon were actually quite good, in all their Japanese style incarnations).

That said, there's nothing much to find of good taste in MOS burgers, including, but not limited to, the congealed, brown, tasteless muck they slather over their burgers. I didn't ask for that sauce, and I didn't order burgers that said they came with that sauce. But both of the two different burgers I ordered on different visits to MOS at Paragon came with it.

As for your "about triple the price" comment re Duke's burgers vs. MOS, not sure how you're arriving at that comparison. Duke's burgers menu starts out at 149 baht for a 1/4 pound burger and 159 baht for a 1/4 pound cheeseburger, and then rises to 210 baht for a very good 1/2 pound Route 66 burger. The most expensive "gourmet" toppings burgers at Duke's top out at 245 baht. And all of those prices include accompanying fries, which don't come included with the MOS individual burger orders.

Is MOS selling their "burgers" for 50 to 80 baht a piece???

He did not say anything about it not being "American". He just said it tastes terrible (much like a red herring).

You're right, UG. I presumed it was implied in the statement:

Whatever MOS Burgers serves is not recognizable as a hamburger, and certainly doesn't taste anything like a hamburger....

But perhaps I presumed too much. I always assume that when Americans say that 'X doesn't taste like X should' that they mean 'the American way.' MOSburgers are a Japanese innovation, and either you like 'em or you don't. They have a lot of fans around the world.

BTW Duke's burgers are about triple the price, so can't really compare them with any of the fast-food outlets, IMO. Nor can you compare them with the gourmet burgers at 250+ baht. They fall more in the middle 'coffeehouse' range; better than the conveyor-belt, not-so-fresh, fast-food outlet

[DP25]

279 for a cheeseburger at Outback isn't a great 'deal' no matter how much cheap soup and free soda (who drinks more than one anyway?) they throw at you. Heck, at Outback in the US you get a bacon cheeseburger for 276. Never thought their burgers were that great.

[DP25]

I wouldn't wait 4 minutes to get inside a Taco Bell....even in Los Angeles, much less Bangkok...

Uhh...I would never eat at a Taco Bell in LA. In Bangkok I'd stand in line a lot more than 4 minutes.

[jfchandler]

I don't think they're that great either... But, they are decent and better than many of the burger offerings to be found around Bangkok, IMHO... You gotta grade on the local scale... not compared to what's available back in the States.

279 for a cheeseburger at Outback isn't a great 'deal' no matter how much cheap soup and free soda (who drinks more than one anyway?) they throw at you. Heck, at Outback in the US you get a bacon cheeseburger for 276. Never thought their burgers were that great.

[Skytrain2hell]

I went to Duke's about 4 years ago in CM and will never go back. Despite the food being good, the manager at the time was a huge A-hole.

A friend ordered an avocado cheeseburger, and it came out without avocados. He told the waitress this, and the manager came over saying "It's because of picky people like you that I have to make out an entire new menu. Avocados are out of season, don't you know that?!"

Woah.

A tourist couple next to us overheard the entire exchange and paid our table's entire bill as a nice gesture. I couldn't believe it and won't ever try their new branch because of that one POS.

Sorry...had to to get that off my chest.

On the burger note, Larry's Dive on suk't soi 22 does a mean mozzarella mushroom burger (I add bacon on it). It's called the Cosa Nostra...and I think it's around 240 baht. Definitely worth a try.

[jfchandler]

Sorry, but that's plan silly... If you'd be willing to stand in line for Taco Bell in BKK, don't wait..

Go right now to La Monita, Sunrise Tacos, Tacos & Salsa, Los Cabos and others, and any one of them will do better than Taco Bell on their best day.

I wouldn't wait 4 minutes to get inside a Taco Bell....even in Los Angeles, much less Bangkok...

Uhh...I would never eat at a Taco Bell in LA. In Bangkok I'd stand in line a lot more than 4 minutes.

[DP25]

Sorry, but that's plan silly... If you'd be willing to stand in line for Taco Bell in BKK, don't wait..

Go right now to La Monita, Sunrise Tacos, Tacos & Salsa, Los Cabos and others, and any one of them will do better than Taco Bell on their best day.

Yeah, they're all better than Taco Bell, but they're also all in inconvenient locations for me (places I never go except specifically to eat there) and some are expensive for the quality of the food. It's not like LA where there is cheap and awesome Mexican food on every corner, so I'd be very happy if I could just walk out the door or ring them up and get a cheap and fast bean and cheese burrito from Taco Bell

[jfchandler]

OK, then, I have two alternate suggestions for you...if Taco Bell caliber Mexican is acceptable to you..

1. Buy frozen Mexican entrees at the local markets. Villa has stocked a packaged brand of burritos and a few other items that run about 100 baht per package, and while nothing to rave about, are perfectly serviceable. When I'm too busy to go out and want a snack at home, I'll often pop one of them into the micro...

Likewise, another TV member here who likes Mexican food has reported that Tops markets, at least in the farang areas of BKK, are stocking a packaged brand of Mexican entrees that he likes quite a bit.. Those I haven't tried, so I can't offer any more details on that....

Or, 2, Buy the raw ingredients and make your own at home. Especially for bean burritos, everything you need is pretty available here. Tortillas can be found in most of the farang oriented supermarkets... Likewise for cans of frijoles, or even bags of pinto beans if you want to make your own. Same for jars of bottled salsa and packages of cheddar or similar cheese. Etc etc etc... And actually, anything you fix in that fashion is likely to be better than what TB has to offer.

[Ulysses G.]

I went to Duke's about 4 years ago in CM and will never go back. Despite the food being good, the manager at the time was a huge A-hole.

The Duke has told me that story about the out-of-season avocado many times, only in his story, he was not the A-hole. 

[Skytrain2hell]

I went to Duke's about 4 years ago in CM and will never go back. Despite the food being good, the manager at the time was a huge A-hole.

The Duke has told me that story about the out-of-season avocado many times, only in his story, he was not the A-hole.

Of course I'm sure that's how he saw it...you can tell him to keep his blinders on. However, it's kind of damning when strangers decide to side with us and pay our entire bill because of an A-hole manager. Literally everyone in our vicinity couldn't believe what they were hearing from that guy over a simple mistake that he didn't want to accept responsibility for. "Oh, avocados are out of season...maybe we should take the avocado cheeseburger off the menu."

Nevermind, we got our revenge in a quiet manner.

[Ulysses G.]

To be fair, I don't think there is an "avocado cheeseburger" on the menu. It is called something else with avocado listed in with a bunch of other ingredients. 

Anyway, he probably did not think that your revenge was all that "quiet". Have you finally gotten it out of your system after all this time?     

[Skytrain2hell]

To be fair, I don't think there is an "avocado cheeseburger" on the menu. It is called something else with avocado listed in with a bunch of other ingredients.

Anyway, he probably did not think that your revenge was all that "quiet". Have you finally gotten it out of your system after all this time?

The revenge was smelly

[jfchandler]

Can we get back to a discussion of either:

a) the quite good burgers at Duke's BKK, where the manager is quite personable...

or the quite lousy so-called burgers at MOS....

Either one would be preferable to the direction this thread otherwise has been heading...

[Skytrain2hell]

Can we get back to a discussion of either:

a) the quite good burgers at Duke's BKK, where the manager is quite personable...

or the quite lousy so-called burgers at MOS....

Either one would be preferable to the direction this thread otherwise has been heading...

Basically MOS has a mediocre burger at a cheap price.

Duke's has a mediocre burger at an expensive price (and we were referring to the Duke's manager in Chiang Mai who was an A-hole, not the BKK manager).

If they were the same price, I'd go for a Duke's burger over a MOS burger, but Duke's is way overpriced for a not so special burger.

[jfchandler]

I'm assuming your experience with Duke's is based on their CM location, not the BKK one...

And clearly, you had a bad experience there that's colored your views....rightly or wrongly...of the place.

I've never been to the CM one, only BKK... But there have been many glowing reviews of the CM Dukes by CM folks here on TV, and few if any negative ones...

So I'm inclined to lean toward that prevailing opinion, while also acknowledging that even good places sometimes have things go wrong.

At the BKK Dukes, with their basic price of 149/159 baht for a hamburger/cheeseburger and fries, that's basically the same price as a Burger King hamburger and fries, or I presume something similar at McDonalds. So I find it hard to conclude Duke's is "overpriced" as you say, considering that their burgers are far and away better than fast food offerings.

[sabaijai]

Is MOS selling their "burgers" for 50 to 80 baht a piece???

Indeed they are.

They are clearly "burgers" whether you like them or not. Don't take up a career as a food critic

That said, there's nothing much to find of good taste in MOS burgers, including, but not limited to, the congealed, brown, tasteless muck they slather over their burgers. I didn't ask for that sauce, and I didn't order burgers that said they came with that sauce. But both of the two different burgers I ordered on different visits to MOS at Paragon came with it.

Then you must not have ordered either the cheeseburger or the hamburger. No sauce.

[jfchandler]

Well, I'll be darned... Sabaijai, you must be the king of bargain basement dining... because I just happen to have a MOS Burgers menu at home, being the unofficial restaurant critic that I am...

And sure enough, they show and have pictures of a 43 baht hamburger and 49 baht cheese burger that appear to be the cheapest entree items on their menu, and the menu photos for both show some kind of relish that looks like diced tomatoes... hard to tell... I must confess, you are correct in that I've never tried ordering either of those.

Silly me, I obviously made the big mistake of choosing their upmarket MOS Burger for 69 baht and their 79 baht Spicy MOS Burger one one visit, and then I think their 99 baht Double MOS Burger on a return visit. And all of them had, and have in the menu photos, what looks to be chili (which is what I thought it was in originally ordering), but of course, turns out instead to be that tasteless muck...

But even subtracting the muck, as you obviously can tell by now, I found their burgers to be bland and uninspiring... But that's just my opinion...

[bkkjames]

So do we have a consensus yet or should we enlist Jingthingy to do a poll?

[sabaijai]

Well, I'll be darned... Sabaijai, you must be the king of bargain basement dining... because I just happen to have a MOS Burgers menu at home, being the unofficial restaurant critic that I am...

And sure enough, they show and have pictures of a 43 baht hamburger and 49 baht cheese burger that appear to be the cheapest entree items on their menu, and the menu photos for both show some kind of relish that looks like diced tomatoes... hard to tell... I must confess, you are correct in that I've never tried ordering either of those.

Silly me, I obviously made the big mistake of choosing their upmarket MOS Burger for 69 baht and their 79 baht Spicy MOS Burger one one visit, and then I think their 99 baht Double MOS Burger on a return visit. And all of them had, and have in the menu photos, what looks to be chili (which is what I thought it was in originally ordering), but of course, turns out instead to be that tasteless muck...

But even subtracting the muck, as you obviously can tell by now, I found their burgers to be bland and uninspiring... But that's just my opinion...

jfchandler, you are a gentleman for checking the facts, and confirming them publicly. That makes you worthy of the moniker 'food critic,' and compels one to respect your opinion

There's no tomato relish on the regular cheeseburger/hamburger. As I recall, the only thing on it besides tomato and lettuce, if anything at all, is a smear of ketchup, like at McD's.

Considering the price differential, not sure it's fair to compare MOS and Duke's. I would expect the Duke's burger to be at least better, if not three times better

I usually get the regular MOS burger, which for me beats anything else at the price. By now, I've probably said that as many times as jfc has expressed his disgust for the same. As always YMMV.

Tried R Burger once, didn't like the rice-flour buns (that's what the R stands for) but it wasn't too bad. I tried the one at Siam Square. Not a very clean establishment, hygiene-wise, even by local standards, which surprised me knowing it's Japanese origins. It didn't really bother me, but I did take note and haven't been back.

[sabaijai]

So do we have a consensus yet or should we enlist Jingthingy to do a poll?

I don't see one. Regardless, like someone once wrote, if cuisine were democratically decided, we'd all be eating pizza three times a day.

[jfchandler]

There's no tomato relish on the regular cheeseburger/hamburger. As I recall, the only thing on it besides tomato and lettuce, if anything at all, is a smear of ketchup, like at McD's.

Needless to say, MOS Burgers follows the same path as Mickie D's and others in that the menu photo-illustration depictions of their food tend to bear little resemblance to what they actually serve. That certainly was the case for their other burger items that I have sampled, as listed above.

Tried R Burger once, didn't like the rice-flour buns (that's what the R stands for) but it wasn't too bad. I tried the one at Siam Square. Not a very clean establishment, hygiene-wise, even by local standards, which surprised me knowing it's Japanese origins.

I likewise ate at the Siam Branch, before the Reds burned it down, and I didn't notice any hygiene issues during my visits....

And, while I saw the rice flour buns on various of their menu items, to the best of my recollection, the couple of different burgers I had there had regular traditional buns. See the second row of burgers in the menu photo below...

[RudieTheFoodie]

"Hungry Burger" in the centre of vientienne.

American/Laos owners.

Burgers beat MOS and Dukes by a country mile. - Around 80bt.

I went to see the bun makers - would you beleive it was an Indian Bakery? - You should, as most of the best pizza makers in Italy now are Morrocans/Algerians

Highly reccommend them and sure anyone else who's tried 'em will too.

[onethailand]

Went to Dukes after about a 6 month hiatus. Had the Duke Burger again, not bad, but this time a little flatter than the last. Cole slaw was better though it seemed to have thousand island mixed in. And tea looks to have gone back to instant again but it was ok.

Friend had a Duke Burger, he said it was good but too greasy for him. His onion rings were a bit too lightly cooked, and he also had the tea but that was ok.

Saw someone else having the lasagna, which looked really good, much better than the one I had ages ago. And also saw someone with the pastrami foccacia - looked pretty good, just not my type of pastrami (fatty Jewish pastrami is what I prefer).

Someone next door had the ribs - looked okay. Kind of hard to tell unless you taste them yourself.

Best of all - comment forms on every table! Now that makes a lot of sense.

I still prefer Triple O White Spot but I don't think they'll be reopening for quite some time, if at all...

[bonobo]

A wise man once said, "You don't go to McDonald's for hamburgers for a hamburger. You go there for a Big Mac." They are tasty for fast food junk and a set lunch is relatively cheap. I do not go there often, but every once in a while, a Big Mac really hits the spot.

 That is probably a pretty accurate statement.  I would never stoop to call anything at McD's a hamburger.  I have too much respect for hamburgers, and I don't want Thais, for example, to think those are real hamburgers.  I tend to call them "beef-based sandwiches."

However, that is not to say they can't taste good.  I do get a Big Mac a couple times a year and enjoy it.  It just isn't a hamburger.(And I do actually like the Fillet of Fish.)

I love meatloaf sandwiches, but when I get the meatloafy "hamburgers" from some more European or Australian-styled places, I am sorely disappointed. But if they advertised them as meatloaf sandwiches, I would probably enjoy them.  Perspective is a crazy thing, I guess.

[powderpuff]

A big shout out for the onion rings at Great American Rib. Ditto the pulled pork sandwich.