Madrid, may we have your votes, please?
Basics
Location
On the Web
Per Person
Shared starter, whole burger, shared dessert. 1.5 beers €20
In Short
Hopes?
A bit of quality burgerage, without fuss.
Reality?
2/2 objectives completed.
First Impressions?
On the hottest day of the year, the seating area and terrace (the terrace??) are busy.
A USP?
Excellent food/atmosphere combination.
The food in three words?
Posh fast grub.
Can they get the staff?
Yep, loads of people around.
Service with a smile?
Absolutely excellent, with the boss very visible.
Would you take your friends?
Limited V-options, but with that considered, yes.
Rating for a dating?
You`d have to be out with a carnivore, really.
Tip?
5%
Change one thing?
The view. A window facing a rubbish pile.
Going back?
Yes.
In Pictures
On Google Images
Compare & Contrast
Hamburguesa Nostra, Bilbao
In Depth
Time was in this town burger-munchers had a simple choice. Cheap and cheerful meant BK or The Dark Side. If you were aiming for a smidge posh, you'd swan off to VIPS to be ignored by waiters aiming for Olympic standard at avoiding eye contact. If you fancied yourself as having a bit of cred, it was Hollywood and those legendary brown plates of doom and suspiciously unending supply of coleslaw.
These days, we're spoilt for choice. Every opening business that's not an estate agent or beer shop is a burger joint. There are gazillions of them. Today's candidate: Steakburger.
This branch is pretty good.
There are plenty of (pretty predictable, if we're honest) starters. Keeping it relatively light, we went for onion rings.
They arrived in a basket, but at least it wasn't a miniature shopping basket. It does happen. They were crunchy and sweet as you'd hope. More than enough for two with a nice splodge of (presumably commercial) barbecue gunge. Very good. There are no airs and graces at SB. They don't bother about a marque sauce selection here. They know their audience, so it's simply Heinz heaven:
And so to the burgers. Here's the back to basics.
Taking a leaf out of the competition's book, there are two meat choices and four size options. This one was veal at 120g, well done. It was, essentially, a poshed-up whopper. Well done didn't mean dry though, It stayed juicy. Never mind a leaf out of a book, that giant lettuce frond looked deeply depressed and took something away from it. It looked like it'd been told it was joining a Dia ready salad. A shame. Maybe a few leaves of shredded iceberg might look a bit cheerier.
The grim greenery didn't affect the Mexican:
This ox/buey one - the second largest size at 320g - turned up with some lumpy, spicy but very tasty guaco-like gunge and some nice red onions. It could have done with some sour cream or refried beans too, maybe, but it was good. Slightly oddly it was cooked to the same degree as Back to Basics although we'd asked for it medium rare. Its not often you use the other half of the burger bun - slightly spicy mex sauce included, but we did here. A good sign.
At this point we noticed the background music was a Spotify playlist with loads of 2017 Eurovision tracks like this one on it. And, before you ask, we can and will go on.
So mains done. The fact is, after ginormous burgers, you rarely need a massive pudding. And if it's 38 C outside you'd be a massive pudding to have one. But banoffee mousse never hurt anyone one, now did it?
A big yoghurt pot of nice toffee stuff with chocolate bits. The cream was, thankfully, not the usual simulated grot that you get landed with. It didn't add anything much, but didn't get in the way. €3 feels about right. You'll want to know the music had moved on to Royuame-Uni at this point.
So. Food quality is up there with the marque names around town. Service and atmosphere, in this branch at least, is far more relaxing than some other chains and is pleasingly unhurried. You don't get the feeling - as you do in some - that they're more concerned about the next diners at your table than you. Staff bring fresh drinks in seconds and make a point of asking but not pressing. Price is perfectly good value for what you get, although it's not in the cheap category.
It's worth a go. Not least if ,when it comes to burger places, you have difficulty making your mind up.
Basics
Location
On the Web
Per Person
Shared starter, whole burger, shared dessert. 1.5 beers €20
In Short
Hopes?
A bit of quality burgerage, without fuss.
Reality?
2/2 objectives completed.
First Impressions?
On the hottest day of the year, the seating area and terrace (the terrace??) are busy.
A USP?
Excellent food/atmosphere combination.
The food in three words?
Posh fast grub.
Can they get the staff?
Yep, loads of people around.
Service with a smile?
Absolutely excellent, with the boss very visible.
Would you take your friends?
Limited V-options, but with that considered, yes.
Rating for a dating?
You`d have to be out with a carnivore, really.
Tip?
5%
Change one thing?
The view. A window facing a rubbish pile.
Going back?
Yes.
In Pictures
On Google Images
Compare & Contrast
Hamburguesa Nostra, Bilbao
In Depth
Time was in this town burger-munchers had a simple choice. Cheap and cheerful meant BK or The Dark Side. If you were aiming for a smidge posh, you'd swan off to VIPS to be ignored by waiters aiming for Olympic standard at avoiding eye contact. If you fancied yourself as having a bit of cred, it was Hollywood and those legendary brown plates of doom and suspiciously unending supply of coleslaw.
These days, we're spoilt for choice. Every opening business that's not an estate agent or beer shop is a burger joint. There are gazillions of them. Today's candidate: Steakburger.
This branch is pretty good.
There are plenty of (pretty predictable, if we're honest) starters. Keeping it relatively light, we went for onion rings.
They arrived in a basket, but at least it wasn't a miniature shopping basket. It does happen. They were crunchy and sweet as you'd hope. More than enough for two with a nice splodge of (presumably commercial) barbecue gunge. Very good. There are no airs and graces at SB. They don't bother about a marque sauce selection here. They know their audience, so it's simply Heinz heaven:
And so to the burgers. Here's the back to basics.
Taking a leaf out of the competition's book, there are two meat choices and four size options. This one was veal at 120g, well done. It was, essentially, a poshed-up whopper. Well done didn't mean dry though, It stayed juicy. Never mind a leaf out of a book, that giant lettuce frond looked deeply depressed and took something away from it. It looked like it'd been told it was joining a Dia ready salad. A shame. Maybe a few leaves of shredded iceberg might look a bit cheerier.
The grim greenery didn't affect the Mexican:
This ox/buey one - the second largest size at 320g - turned up with some lumpy, spicy but very tasty guaco-like gunge and some nice red onions. It could have done with some sour cream or refried beans too, maybe, but it was good. Slightly oddly it was cooked to the same degree as Back to Basics although we'd asked for it medium rare. Its not often you use the other half of the burger bun - slightly spicy mex sauce included, but we did here. A good sign.
At this point we noticed the background music was a Spotify playlist with loads of 2017 Eurovision tracks like this one on it. And, before you ask, we can and will go on.
So mains done. The fact is, after ginormous burgers, you rarely need a massive pudding. And if it's 38 C outside you'd be a massive pudding to have one. But banoffee mousse never hurt anyone one, now did it?
A big yoghurt pot of nice toffee stuff with chocolate bits. The cream was, thankfully, not the usual simulated grot that you get landed with. It didn't add anything much, but didn't get in the way. €3 feels about right. You'll want to know the music had moved on to Royuame-Uni at this point.
So. Food quality is up there with the marque names around town. Service and atmosphere, in this branch at least, is far more relaxing than some other chains and is pleasingly unhurried. You don't get the feeling - as you do in some - that they're more concerned about the next diners at your table than you. Staff bring fresh drinks in seconds and make a point of asking but not pressing. Price is perfectly good value for what you get, although it's not in the cheap category.
It's worth a go. Not least if ,when it comes to burger places, you have difficulty making your mind up.
