When a restaurant has a sign outside suggesting you try the ‘healthiest burger in town’, it’s a tempting prospect. Burgers, after all, are not noted for nutritional value so the chance of a guilt-free one is hard to resist. Following just such a promise, TOAD ventured along to Burger House, a one-off restaurant nestled on the promenade in Al Raha Beach.
Taking a seat, the waitress was quick to explain that the ‘healthiest burger’ was not in fact a singular specialty burger, but applied to all of those on the menu since, she points out, all burgers can be had with fresh brown bread, the patties are made on site from 100 percent beef that has never been frozen and the salad innards are equally of-the-day.
Now, this is like saying you have the safest gun because you use smaller bullets, but still, it does make the decision of which burger to opt for a whole lot easier – any of them.
We ordered, and as is often the way, our two portions of fries turned up first, both a slightly different take on the humble chip. Sweet potato fries were delivered with an array of different dips (including Burger House’s own smoky sauce, which was the most popular at our table) while the regular fries came topped with chili mince, some diced onion and a liberal sprinkling of cheese. The finely minced chili had a reassuringly fresh taste to it.
The kitchen at Burger House is open plan which is great as you can keep an eye on your food being prepared, but the downside is the constant smell of cooking if you sit inside. The beef bacon sandwich we ordered was a little disappointing. The meat seemed stringier than a harpsichord and the bread it came in was dry and fell apart at the first attempt to lift it. But, this place is called Burger House and not Beef Bacon House, and luckily, they do know what they’re doing when it comes to patties.
The eponymous Burger House burger came with grilled mushrooms and onions, Swiss cheese, beef bacon and mayonnaise, wrapped up in a brown bun. It’s not the biggest burger you’ll have, nor the tastiest for Dhs39, and we’re not totally sure it would even be one of the healthiest, but it didn’t seem to hang around for long. Well cooked and enough flavour just from the meat made it a joy to eat, the only thing that let it down was the occasional breaks in the devouring rampage to deal with stringy beef bacon (again!).
Washed down with a hearty and delicious dose of Oreo milkshake, we left feeling like we’d had mixed experiences of Burger House. On the one hand the cooking smell and beef bacon with useless bread for the sandwich were reasons to avoid the place. However, the burger, fries and milkshake were all worth going back for, so if you’re in the area and the weather’s good, take a seat outside looking at the beach, don’t stray from the burgers and avoid the beef bacon. You may even be able to justify it as a healthy meal, although that will depend on your own definition of what healthy food is.
The bill (for two)
Burger House burger Dhs39
Beef bacon sandwich Dhs30
Sweet potato fries Dhs18
Chili fries Dhs25
Total (excluding service) Dhs112
