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But then two years ago I had a couple burgers that changed my life and now, among many other foods (ie. ceviche), I am on the search for the burger that I can call the best I've ever had in my entire life!
I should also probably set some categories to rate the burgers, so I'll start with:
Buns
Meat
Sauce
Avocado (whether it's present or not. I like my burgers with avocados)
Fries
Would I eat again?
Overall rating: 1-5 stars
I guess my interest first sparked when I saw that the Freshness Burger by my station was serving tofu burgers. It was basically a block of tofu with some salsa and a piece of lettuce. But since I was in some weird "health grind" where I ate what I thought was healthy and did about 13 days of Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred, this was as close as I was willing to go for a burger. Good job, 2012 me.
Buns: Chewy and slightly toasted! Yum.
Meat: Tofu! It may have been seasoned a little bit, but for the most part, it tasted and has the mouthfeel of what you would expect of a slab of grilled tofu in a bun.
Sauce: From what I remember it was nothing special, really. Maybe even a little salty, but now that I think about it, it was the real MVP since the tofu couldn't hold its own in the taste department.
Avocado: NONE. -0.5 points for Tofu burger.
Fries: I didn't get any. #HealthyLife, you know?
Would I eat again?: If Freshness Burger put it back on its menu and I felt like having a burger but not a real, calorie-packed one, then yes! But this time I'd have it with fries... I don't even know what I was thinking in 2013.
Overall rating: ★★★☆☆ There are no half-stars but I give it a 3.5/5 stars. But if I add the -0.5 from not having avocado, it becomes a 3. In fairness, it was my fault for not asking to add avocado, but it is what it is!
Buns
Meat
Sauce
Avocado (whether it's present or not. I like my burgers with avocados)
Fries
Would I eat again?
Overall rating: 1-5 stars
I guess my interest first sparked when I saw that the Freshness Burger by my station was serving tofu burgers. It was basically a block of tofu with some salsa and a piece of lettuce. But since I was in some weird "health grind" where I ate what I thought was healthy and did about 13 days of Jillian Michaels' 30 day shred, this was as close as I was willing to go for a burger. Good job, 2012 me.
This was probably the last time I ate it, which was probably back in early 2013. I used to think these were really good burgers, but having eaten other much better burgers since then, my ratings might be a little bias now.
Meat: Tofu! It may have been seasoned a little bit, but for the most part, it tasted and has the mouthfeel of what you would expect of a slab of grilled tofu in a bun.
Sauce: From what I remember it was nothing special, really. Maybe even a little salty, but now that I think about it, it was the real MVP since the tofu couldn't hold its own in the taste department.
Avocado: NONE. -0.5 points for Tofu burger.
Fries: I didn't get any. #HealthyLife, you know?
Would I eat again?: If Freshness Burger put it back on its menu and I felt like having a burger but not a real, calorie-packed one, then yes! But this time I'd have it with fries... I don't even know what I was thinking in 2013.
Overall rating: ★★★☆☆ There are no half-stars but I give it a 3.5/5 stars. But if I add the -0.5 from not having avocado, it becomes a 3. In fairness, it was my fault for not asking to add avocado, but it is what it is!
Then the semester after I had my last tofu burger, my friend Lilly showed me the light. She took me to a place called Kiriy's Fresh, a small bakery and restaurant tucked away in the streets of Tokyan suburbia, and this is where I had the best burger of my entire life. It's the reining champion of the best burger search... for now.
Buns: They're housemade, and housemade anything will most likely win me over all the time. It's rusky on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. It's not as sweet as Freshness Burger's bread so it doesn't overpower whatever's inside but it's also its own show. Kiriy's Fresh spreads butter generously on both buns and grills them until they're brown and the edges are a tinged with a char-y black, which is a 10/10 in my book! There's something about slightly-over toasted baked goods that I love so much. (my mom calls it tutong, which I believe is used to describe the toasted crispy rice at the bottom of the rice pot, but we use it for everything that's toasted)
Meat: Juicy, high-quality. My only problem is I can't choose the done-ness of the burger, and for burgers (and only burgers) I like it medium.
Sauce: As you can see, the avocado is slathered in their house horse radish sauce, well at least that's what I think it is. The katakana spells out "horseradish" but it isn't strong like regular horseradish. It has the slightest hint of horseradish but other than that, I think it's predominantly mayonnaise. But it doesn't make it bad, in fact, it's great because the horseradish-to avocado ratio is perfect; there is enough horseradish-y taste to cut through the creaminess of the avocado and the mayo. How many times have I said horseradish???
Avocado: There's easily half an avocado in it, and I'm not complaining. +0.5 for being generous with the avo.
Fries: Ugh. UGH. Where do I even begin?? I'm not even crazy about thin-cut fries, if I had the option, which I (sometimes) do in Kiriy's Fresh, I'd choose a side of onion rings. It just costs a little more and depends on who the cashier is because onion rings aren't on the menu. But these fries are crispy but are somehow also a little chewy...in a good way? It has a certain bite to it; it's like if soggy fries and crispy fries had a baby, they'd have these. I love me some soggy fries, but if I had a choice between them and this, I would pick the latter. Hands down.
Would I eat again?: I'm going to. Real soon. The day my midterms are over, I'm heading to Kiriy's with my friend Afnan to celebrate with some quality burgers. And because she's made me try two burgers and each time I've said that Kiriy's was better.
Overall rating: ★★★★★ DUHHH. And +0.5 for the avocado, so a 5.5/5..
And with that marks the beginning of my official Best Burger Search. I guess at this point it's the"is it better than Kiriy's?" burger search. But Kiriy's is great and all, but I'd like to see what Tokyo and wherever else I end up has to offer!
Freshness Burger Info
Kiriy's Fresh Info (In Japanese, but you've got automatic Google translate!)
This was taken the last time I went there, which was a few weeks ago. The first time I went there with Lilly was in simpler, much darker times, aka when Kiriy's Fresh didn't have the avocado burger in their menu. Lilly and I would sneak an avocado to the restaurant all sliced and ready to go so we could enjoy the burger to its maximum potential. Since the great avocado burger addition of 2014, the Kiriy's Fresh menu has improved significantly, and I'd like to think it's because of us. You're welcome, Kiriy's Fresh.
Now let's get 'a ratin'!
Meat: Juicy, high-quality. My only problem is I can't choose the done-ness of the burger, and for burgers (and only burgers) I like it medium.
Sauce: As you can see, the avocado is slathered in their house horse radish sauce, well at least that's what I think it is. The katakana spells out "horseradish" but it isn't strong like regular horseradish. It has the slightest hint of horseradish but other than that, I think it's predominantly mayonnaise. But it doesn't make it bad, in fact, it's great because the horseradish-to avocado ratio is perfect; there is enough horseradish-y taste to cut through the creaminess of the avocado and the mayo. How many times have I said horseradish???
Avocado: There's easily half an avocado in it, and I'm not complaining. +0.5 for being generous with the avo.
Fries: Ugh. UGH. Where do I even begin?? I'm not even crazy about thin-cut fries, if I had the option, which I (sometimes) do in Kiriy's Fresh, I'd choose a side of onion rings. It just costs a little more and depends on who the cashier is because onion rings aren't on the menu. But these fries are crispy but are somehow also a little chewy...in a good way? It has a certain bite to it; it's like if soggy fries and crispy fries had a baby, they'd have these. I love me some soggy fries, but if I had a choice between them and this, I would pick the latter. Hands down.
Would I eat again?: I'm going to. Real soon. The day my midterms are over, I'm heading to Kiriy's with my friend Afnan to celebrate with some quality burgers. And because she's made me try two burgers and each time I've said that Kiriy's was better.
Overall rating: ★★★★★ DUHHH. And +0.5 for the avocado, so a 5.5/5..
And with that marks the beginning of my official Best Burger Search. I guess at this point it's the"is it better than Kiriy's?" burger search. But Kiriy's is great and all, but I'd like to see what Tokyo and wherever else I end up has to offer!
Freshness Burger Info
Kiriy's Fresh Info (In Japanese, but you've got automatic Google translate!)
OMG I need that tofu burger in my life. I quit beef and pork and there isn't a Mexicali or Good Burger near my office. Well, there's a Mexicali at Serendra but it's too hot to walk there for lunch!
ReplyDeleteI'd imagine it would be relatively to make at home!! I've been telling myself I'd try it out but I have no patience to wait for the tofu to drain; I'm more of a "if it takes more than 20 mins to cook, I'll just toast some bread" kind of gal. :P And based on what's been on my social media feed lately, everyone's too hot to walk to in Manila rn /._.\
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