On a whim yesterday, after our personal training gym workout (and feeling like we could sacrifice a few calories), we decided to pig out and have burgers for dinner. De Burg is a casual Singaporean burger joint which is currently located in a coffee shop at Bukit Merah (in the area of the flatted factories where many automotive garages are located). They used to be at the Ghim Moh housing estate and moved to their current premises a few months ago. We ate at their Ghim Moh stall once and liked it, and were keen to try out their new place.
De Burg markets itself as a old fashioned burger stall, though they have vegetarian burger options and Italian gelato. They don't sell drinks though, and you'd have to get them at the adjacent drinks stall. Their burgers are hand formed and they don't use binders to put their Australian beef patties together. Each patty is individually seasoned and grilled after the order has been made. You order at the counter, get a plastic electronic disk which will buzz when your order is ready (just like Shake Shack - see below) and look for a seat at a table (common seating shared by all the stalls in the coffee shop).
I ordered the basic cheeseburger, and my wife had the cheeseburger with bacon. We don't like burgers which are too fancy and stacked up too high, and my ideal burger is one where I can pick it up with my hands and eat it without making too much of a mess. The meat was very juicy and tasty and I couldn't taste the binders (which they don't use here) or any hard bits of ligament or trimmings which are common in burgers elsewhere. The fries were also very nice; thick cut, crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. But what really stood out was the bun, which was very good.
But the question was, how did this compare with the famous Shake Shack in New York, which we visited recently (and we still cannot stop talking about the burgers there)? Shake Shack is a bit of an institution in New York, and has gathered quite large following. Apparently in warmer weathers, people can queue up for an hout just to get one of their burgers (which defeats the purpose of burgers being 'fast food'). We are not claiming that we think Shake Shack has the best burgers in New York (God forbid! Americans are very sensitive about their burgers), but as an infrequent visitor to the city it is probably the most prominent of the casual burger joints which were accessible to us. Some of our friends have told us that the small burger joint at Le Parker Meridien on West 56th Street is better but we didn't get the opportunity to try it.
Shake Shack is part of the Danny Meyer food empire in the US, with Michelin starred fine dining restaurants like Eleven Madison Park, Gramercy Tavern and the Modern as well as hip cafes like Untitled. They have quite a few Shake Shack outlets in New York, the most famous of them would be the one at Madison Square Park. It was quite cold during the time we were there but we could imagine that in nicer weather it would be quite pleasant to have a burger in the park.
Despite having a photo of the Madison Square Park Shake Shack, we didn't actually eat there. We came across it after coming out of a very heavy lunch at Eleven Madison Park (which was just across the road from the park) and as tempted we we were, we just couldn't have a burger at that time (there wasn't much of a queue too at the time, which was a pity). It was the next day when we finally got to try the famous burger at another outlet on the Upper East Side and again a few days later on the Upper West Side. Operating pretty much like a fast food outlet, orders are placed at the counter and an electronic tag is given which will buzz when the order is ready to be picked up at the counter (we think De Burg could have picked up this idea from Shake Shack).
And our verdict? The burger was indeed very good. We liked that it was small and easily handled, and packed in a paper sleeve which made it tidy to pick up and eat it. The bun was soft and thin, and the beef patty (they grind and hand-form the patties on each day itself) was tender and succulent. What stood out for us was the freshness of the lettuce and tomatoes in the burger, which were surprisingly crisp and sweet for a fast food burger (it reminded us of the Freshness Burger in Tokyo). We also loved the milkshakes there (nothing like a burger and a milkshake to bring back memories of our childhood). The fries were a bit of a letdown as they were a bit soggy and not particularly nice, and the additional hotdog we ordered was unremarkable.
So how did De Burg stack up with Shake Shack? We think both had their strengths and weaknesses.
Shake Shack's burgers are smaller and more manageable, have fresher vegetable fillings and great milkshakes. On the other hand, you'd probably need more than one burger to get your fill at Shake Shack, and the fries aren't great.
Either way, both of them have great beef patties and make great burgers and now having found the new location of De Burg, we are comforted to know that we don't have to travel halfway across the world to Shake Shack when we are craving a good but simple 'roadside' burger anymore.
De Burg
191 Bukit Merah Lane 1, #01-40, Singapore
Shake Shack
- Upper East Side, 154 East 86th Street, New York
- Upper West Side, 366 Columbus Avenue (at 77th Street), New York
- Madison Square Park, Madison Avenue and East 23rd Street, New York
I need to go there when I'm back!
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