Best Burger in Bangkok 2015......

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

No wonder you don't remember. At the time of your Thaiger visit, obviously, you were BUI!!

Burgers Under the Influence...

[smokie36]

I dropped by ChefBar recently on Sukhumvit...off Soi 23.

The burger list there is eclectic...I stuck to a simple cheeseburger but perhaps a mistake to go for the Wagyu over the Black Angus.

Wagyu cheeseburger was 480 Baht....tasted fine but lacks texture.

The chips I must say were poor really...slim and limp....the ketchup served with the burger was very good.

A return visit?

Perhaps.. But not top of my list...the beer is good and perhaps for other food.

[smokie36]

Drifting away quickly from beef burgers...which is the intent of this thread...I had a pulled pork burger at Chu in Exchange Tower Asoke last week.

Highly recommended. Was 360 Baht with fries and a decent salad.

[arunsakda]

And how about a place to get a nice little steak? Does not seem so difficult? I like Japanese beef and good old American, but the best beef I have ever had was in Northern Mexico. Even pricy places in Thailand are bland and tasteless, hardly worth eating without a nice sauce (and perhaps a piece of sautéed foie gras).

**they have this dish called Tampiquena come from Tampico on the Gulf Coast. A thin steak, perhaps pounded , and on the sides guacamole, salsa, tortillas and beans, etc. Absolutely to die for.

Edited July 16, 2015 by arunsakda

[smokie36]

And how about a place to get a nice little steak? Does not seem so difficult? I like Japanese beef and good old American, but the best beef I have ever had was in Northern Mexico. Even pricy places in Thailand are bland and tasteless, hardly worth eating without a nice sauce (and perhaps a piece of sautéed foie gras).

**they have this dish called Tampiquena come from Tampico on the Gulf Coast. A thin steak, perhaps pounded , and on the sides guacamole, salsa, tortillas and beans, etc. Absolutely to die for.

Its a burger thread so not here....No Idea on Soi 22 has decently priced steaks.

[Sure]

Teddy's has arrived

http://bk.asia-city.com/restaurants/bangkok-restaurant-reviews/teddys-bigger-burgers

[arunsakda]

!! Had one in Waikiki bra'. Broke da mouf.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Teddy's has arrived

http://bk.asia-city.com/restaurants/bangkok-restaurant-reviews/teddys-bigger-burgers

Thanks for that... The mystery is finally solved, after all these months, of what became of their BKK plans.

Definitely worth a taste test.... though the location is a bit odd... a Japanese oriented community mall... Still, having direct access to Ekamai BTS makes it a convenient location.

Just have to wonder, how long they'll last there, as that mall seems to be the kiss of death for a lot of its (former and since disappeared) tenants.

[Sure]

Yes weird choice of location. I did try theiir pop ups at Paragon and Emquartier and was impressed

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Had a chance to make a return 2nd visit to Daniel Thaiger the other day, which clarified a few things I had raised in my original review:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/813409-best-burger-in-bangkok-2015/?p=9619969

1. It certainly looks to me like the more expensive Mr. Steve Burger at 169b gets a little better treatment in terms of garnishings compared to the basic 139b Daniel Thaiger burger that I had on my first visit.

Here's the Mr. Steve I received the other day...considerably taller when you add the mostly unmelted cheese, some bacon, and an order of sliced jalapenos that I had them add in for an extra price. Still, despite the appearance of the photo, it's not an especially big burger or one that's hard to fit in the mouth...at least.. not hard to fit in my mouth. But at least the photo/burger resembles those I'd previously seen posted on the Internet, so now I know I was seeing Mr. Steve Burgers instead of their standard Daniel Thaiger Burger.

2. On the second go-round, I tried the approach of A.] having them skip their "special sauce" and B.] garnish with fresh onions instead of their standard grilled ones. However, IMHO, neither of those changes made much of a difference in the taste of the burger. Neither did the addition of their bacon on the Mr. Steve version, for that matter, which really didn't have a noticeable bacon flavor in the burger. The same with the raw onions because, unfortunately, when I asked for raw onion, instead of a fresh slice, what I ended up getting was the same thinly pre-sliced onion shreds that they pull out of a big plastic bag for grilling. Again, barely noticeable taste on the burger.

Meanwhile, here's a better view of what their current seating area looks like alongside the burger truck. Comfortable and plenty of space.

So, I guess all in all, for me, Daniel Thaiger rates as an OK burger that I could go back for eating again, especially in the economy burgers category. But I really wish, among other things, they were char broiling/grilling their burgers instead of frying them.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Meanwhile, speaking of char/flame broiled burgers, I earlier today managed to stop by and sample the new Teddy's Bigger Burgers outlet on the ground floor of Gateway Ekamai Mall, which is located right at the BTS Ekamai Station. Teddy's opened its first Thailand branch there on Thursday, has hours from 10 am to 10 pm, and accepts cash only -- no bank cards. They're located without a lot of prominent signage in the far back left corner opposite KFC if you're coming down the escalator from the main floor.

Worth noting, right now, they're offering a 20% discount off your bill if you add them on either Facebook or LINE. I tried adding them in LINE by their LINE ID on my mobile phone, but that didn't work, so I was able to scan the QR code they have on a poster out front, and that did work. For the record, they take 20% off your bill, and then turn around and add an automatic 10% service charge back on, since this actually is a sit-down restaurant (kind of) where the staff have menu books and take orders at your table.

Suffice to say, I'm probably going to put Teddy's into my MAYBE go back to visit again category, as they had a couple of quite good attributes, and then also a few others that I really didn't care for. But first for the good stuff.

Right at the outset, I should say that their beef patty tastes fine, good consistency, nice flavor, no funky Thai ground beef taste, so that automatically earns points. Likewise, they are char broiling their burgers instead of frying them, which likewise earns points. Also, I must say, the staff I encountered there were pretty helpful and friendly, as hopefully you'd expect with a brand new place making its first appearance in Thailand. As for the burgers, one of the Teddy's team visiting there from Hawaii told me they're using an Australian sirloin beef from the same supplier that serves their outlets in Japan and the Phils. So, no complaints about that.

Here's the Teddy's Original Burger I ordered/received, which is their most basic beef burger on the menu, sized at 5 oz./142g for a regular price of 240 baht+. Comes with lettuce, a few onion slices, a tomato slice and a couple very small pickle slices, along with Teddy's "special sauce." -- to be blunt, LOTS of Teddy's Special Sauce. I upsized that to a combo order -- which includes a soft drink and order of quite OK french fries -- for an extra 70 baht, leaving my total bill after the discount at 300 baht even for the combo.

Without the discount, the total for my combo and 25 baht extra for jalapenos would have been about 369 baht -- so it's not a cheap meal or burger compared to Daniel Thaiger, Fatty's and some other places. But neither is Teddy's as expensive as any variety of the 350 to 500 baht burger only places. So I'd say it falls mid-range in terms of pricing.

After looking at the pretty unappealing menu photos of their cheeseburgers (though where their special sauce leaves off and their cheese slice begins is hard of hard to tell from the menu photos), I decided to pass on the cheese option. Also shown here is their kitchen where they are flame grilling the burgers.

PS - That's not melted cheese sitting on top of the burger patty. That's their sauce.

One of the other nice features about their menu is they allow you to choose between different size burger patties among all their various versions of beef burgers -- the 5 oz./142g version for the menu prices, 7 oz./198g for an extra 60 baht, or 9 oz./255g for an extra 100 baht. If you like a lot of weird and funky toppings on your burgers like grilled pineapple or teriyaki sauce (or 5 other sauces) or a hash brown patty or a fried egg, they've got you covered there also. For me, I'll take a pass on almost all those things that cover up the actual taste of the hamburger.

In the end, though, it was pretty much everything else other than the burger patty itself that left me feeling a bit let down. The "special sauce" -- which appears to be some kind of mayo and mustard mix -- was doused very liberally over both my patty and onto the top layer of my bun, and most of it ended dripping down onto my plate -- not a pretty picture that I'm not going to post here. If I went back again, I'd definitely avoid the special sauce entirely. The bun, I was told, is a kind of potato flour version that didn't do much for me taste or texture-wise. And the jalapeno slices I paid extra for as an add-on to my burger were pretty sparsely, almost invisibly, applied.

I've never been to the Teddy's in Hawaii to either see their outlets or taste their food, so I have no basis for comparison between the Thai version and the original. During my mid-afternoon visit today, though, their tables were mostly filled with what appeared to be mostly Thai customers, and I was the only farang customer I saw there during my entire stay. The location also has an odd, bare kind of ambiance with large black metal mesh screens for a wall and a metal screen box in the center of the room with two kind of lonely looking surfboards, one of the few decorations of any kind. But at least the Thai staff were greeting everyone arriving with a cheerful "Aloha!"

Edited July 18, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[smokie36]

This jalapeno extra is a bit of a cheat John....I may have to start adding some extra hot krapow to mine too.

[smokie36]

Had a chance to make a return 2nd visit to Daniel Thaiger the other day, which clarified a few things I had raised in my original review:

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/813409-best-burger-in-bangkok-2015/?p=9619969

1. It certainly looks to me like the more expensive Mr. Steve Burger at 169b gets a little better treatment in terms of garnishings compared to the basic 139b Daniel Thaiger burger that I had on my first visit.

Here's the Mr. Steve I received the other day...considerably taller when you add the mostly unmelted cheese, some bacon, and an order of sliced jalapenos that I had them add in for an extra price. Still, despite the appearance of the photo, it's not an especially big burger or one that's hard to fit in the mouth...at least.. not hard to fit in my mouth. But at least the photo/burger resembles those I'd previously seen posted on the Internet, so now I know I was seeing Mr. Steve Burgers instead of their standard Daniel Thaiger Burger.

2015-07-16 17.15.28.jpg

2. On the second go-round, I tried the approach of A.] having them skip their "special sauce" and B.] garnish with fresh onions instead of their standard grilled ones. However, IMHO, neither of those changes made much of a difference in the taste of the burger. Neither did the addition of their bacon on the Mr. Steve version, for that matter, which really didn't have a noticeable bacon flavor in the burger. The same with the raw onions because, unfortunately, when I asked for raw onion, instead of a fresh slice, what I ended up getting was the same thinly pre-sliced onion shreds that they pull out of a big plastic bag for grilling. Again, barely noticeable taste on the burger.

Meanwhile, here's a better view of what their current seating area looks like alongside the burger truck. Comfortable and plenty of space.

2015-07-16 17.12.36.jpg

So, I guess all in all, for me, Daniel Thaiger rates as an OK burger that I could go back for eating again, especially in the economy burgers category. But I really wish, among other things, they were char broiling/grilling their burgers instead of frying them.

With this burger I'd only be eating it if I'm having a beer in the area and too lazy to go far for food.

Its OK.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

FWIW, one of the things I was not excited about with both Daniel Thaiger and Teddy's was the pretty meager, unsubstantial veggie garnishings they're adding.

For me, one of the things I really like on my burgers are good thick slices of fresh onions and tomatoes, and preferably good portions of crisp iceberg lettuce that can stand up to the hot burger. But instead at both places, the non-iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and onions were varying combinations of thin and/or sparse, none of it adding much of a "crunch" factor to the burgers...

I know this isn't great art, but here's a photo of the Jalapeno burger from Carl's Jr. where, IMHO, they do a much better job with the veggie garnishings, and they really noticeably add to the overall taste of the burger instead of basically disappearing. By the way, when Carl's says JALAPENO burger, there's no skimping on the jalapenos they serve up, much to my delight.

Now, if I could just get Thaiger or Teddy's burger patty into the Carl's Jr. bun and garnishings, I'd be cooking!!!

-------------------------------------------------

PS -- I think I can add as a quick aside at this point, with quite a few different burger places now under/in my belt, and A LOT of BKK burger places that I've yet to try, I think my favorite overall thus far has been the burger at New York Style Steak and Burger. Every time I've tried another place since NYSS&B, I find myself thinking back to their offering and finding the others falling short in comparison...

But, as I said, still a lot of other untried burger places out there in BKK.

Edited July 18, 2015 by TallGuyJohninBKK

[moonoi]

Well I just discovered that the owner of Teddys is the friend of my kids best friends mother!

Has anyone heard of, or tried a place call Jims Burgers and Beers around Ari? A couple of my Thai colleagues recommended it and wondering if it's really worth the trek over there to try (I live out by Ram Inthra Rd)

[SoiBiker]

This jalapeno extra is a bit of a cheat John....I may have to start adding some extra hot krapow to mine too.

Have you tried the ka prao burger at firehouse?

[smokie36]

This jalapeno extra is a bit of a cheat John....I may have to start adding some extra hot krapow to mine too.

Have you tried the ka prao burger at firehouse?

Nope and I won't be....the service there is enough for me never to return....that and the burger buns.

Funny as the burger itself is good and the chips excellent.....although its two years since my last visit.

[SoiBiker]

Hell, if dodgy service was enough to put me off a place, I'd never eat out in Bangkok..

You're missing a treat.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

PS - Here's the Facebook home page for Teddy's Bigger Burgers, Thailand:

https://www.facebook.com/teddysburgersth?fref=photo

[smokie36]

Hell, if dodgy service was enough to put me off a place, I'd never eat out in Bangkok..

You're missing a treat.

There is better by far.

[SoiBiker]

A better kaprao burger?

Where?

[smokie36]

A better kaprao burger?

Where?

I meant the beefburger.

No interest in eating krapow burgers.

[SoiBiker]

This jalapeno extra is a bit of a cheat John....I may have to start adding some extra hot krapow to mine too.

Yeah. You don't seem interested.

[Sure]

Tried Teddy's cheese burger, customised as follows: biggest patty they had (9 oz?), well-done, no sauce or lettuce, just cheese, tomato, onion and pickles. The beef was a bit wider than the bun but didn;t matter.

Very tasty, nice char-grilled flavour, perfectly cooked. Will go again for sure

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Tried Teddy's cheese burger, customised as follows: biggest patty they had (9 oz?), well-done, no sauce or lettuce, just cheese, tomato, onion and pickles. The beef was a bit wider than the bun but didn;t matter.

Very tasty, nice char-grilled flavour, perfectly cooked. Will go again for sure

I agree about the beef... IMHO, the beef there was the best thing about their burger that I had, and here in Thailand, it is indeed rare to find a burger where the patty is (slightly) bigger in size than the bun it's being served on, which I kind of like.

But if you upsized their regular cheeseburger solo (no combo, meaning no drink or fries) to the 9 oz patty size, that's going to be AFAIK close to 400 baht total without any discount. 265 baht for the regular cheeseburger, plus 100 baht for the larger patty, plus their 10% SC.

So, at 400 baht for their admittedly larger cheeseburger solo with no fries, I MIGHT have been a fan. But the downside for me was I also really didn't care for the hamburger bun they're using. So no matter what I order there, the bun's going to be the same.

But yes... definitely skip their "special sauce."

[TheAppletons]

No burger updates for three weeks.....is there a mad cow disease outbreak in Bangkok?

[keemapoot]

I'll give an update, but it's pretty mundane compared to some of the elaborate hamburger lovers' posts on here. Last Friday, we went to Carl's Jr. Rama IV, and can confirm they still run their Friday special 2 for 1 (burger only and excludes a few specialty ones). It was good as usual.

Surprisingly, they had a young farang guy working the counter in there, so I'm guessing they don't get too many Thais?

[SoiBiker]

I finally got round to eating a Daniel Thaiger burger recently. I rather enjoyed it - will be eating one again for sure.

[Thian]

I really liked MOS burgers when they came to Thailand some years ago.

Today was the limit, i will never eat them again.

We went to MOS opposit the Chidlom mall but it really wasn't the quality i was used to. Burgers were awfull, french fry's dry and tasteless, salad not nice with uncrispy bacon, Fanta which isn't Fanta at all.

So i predict MOS will be gone out of Thailand within a year. Too bad because they really can be great if they had good managers.

[TallGuyJohninBKK]

Still kickin' here also...

Went on a burger spree there/here a few weeks back, and racked up a lot of burgers and fries in a pretty short period of time. And my waistline began showing it...

So been taking a break with sushi for a while to make my wife happy. But she's going out of town soon, and I've got a handful of additional, unreviewed burger places on my agenda.

Almost made it to Smashed Burgers on the 6th floor of MBK today for the first time today, but my wife's sushi cravings prevailed.

BTW, the Nana branch of Carl's Jr. likewise is continuing to offer the same all day/night Fridays, buy one and get the second burger free promotion. But that's just for solo burgers, not for any of their combinations.