Cheeseburger at Morrison's Grill & Green, Helsinki, Finland

This was my third burger with a journalist from Helsingin Sanomat. He's making a story about hamburgers and I was interviewed for the article while tasting several burgers.

Morrison's Grill & Green is a small restaurant in downtown Helsinki. Back in the day this place was called Dick Tracy's Diner and they were know to be a quick and cheap lunch restaurant. Only the interior and name has changed, everything else seemed to be as it was. The menu is almost the same as it used to be and they still serve ridiculously large portions of simple food from Wiener schnitzels to chicken fried chicken and hamburgers.

Actually Morrison's claims to serve the most bodacious burgers in Helsinki. With their King Kong Burger this might even be the truth. King Kong Burger has not one but two 190 gram (6.8oz) pattys, bacon, two onion rings, double cheese with lettuce, onions, tomato and red bell pepper mayo. Since I knew I needed to visit another burger joint after this one, I was forced to skip the King Kong this time. Instead I ordered the standard Cheeseburger which, for some weird reason, was listed as Double Cheeseburger since it has two slices of cheese. The burger had 190 gram (6.8oz) patty with shredded lettuce, red onion, tomato and red bell pepper mayo.

It didn't too long for out burger to arrive. The portion was huge, on the side it had big pile of fries and a salad with lettuce, tomato and cucumber. The burger itself was big but pretty thinly stacked. The bun was grilled and it was crispy from the inside and soft from the outside, but the bun was standard supermarket bun. The patty was nicely seasoned and grilled for a freezer patty and it actually had some of the juices left. Unfortunately processed and frozen beef pattys still are dry and tasteless and the structure is pretty compact. It seems that all the frozen pattys come from one source since the size, structure and non-existing taste is the same as in any grill kiosk or restaurant that I have visited so far in Helsinki.

This burger was ok, but they still have the basic problem with frozen beef. They also should get rid of the cheap soft white gummy buns. It's a good effort but not quite good enough. With freshly grounded chuck this could actually come out nicely dispate the lack of proper burger bun and the lack of personality. Recommended with caution if you grave for a big burger in Helsinki.

--
Ravintola Morrison's Grill & Green
Keskuskatu 7
00100 Helsinki, Finland
+358-9-625-466
www.ravintolaopas.net/morrisons


Larger Map

Kämp Hamburger at Kämp Café, Helsinki, Finland

This was my first burger with a journalist from Helsingin Sanomat. He's making a story about hamburgers and I was interviewed for the article while tasting several burgers.

The Kämp was opened in 1887 and it was the first luxury hotel in Helsinki. It has seen the good and the worst days of Finland from two wars to independence. The Kämp restaurants were patronised by renowned politicians, artists, composers and writers. For example, composer Jean Sibelius, writer Eino Leino and painter Akseli Gallen-Kallela were regular customers. Original Kämp hotel was closed in 1965. The building was demolished and rebuilt and it didn't work as a hotel until 1999 when it was re-opened as part of the Luxury Collection of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

We visited the Kämp Café which is located on the street floor of the hotel. The decor was nice, modern minimalism with pinch of kitch. The service was good and friendly as you can expect. And yes, this was my second gourmet burger location where you get to use silverware and cotton napkins while having your burger. The reason why we came here is that Kämp Café is said to serve the most expensive burger in town. Here's the description...

"marbled fillet of beef with rucola and horseradish mayonnaise, cheddar cheese and pommes frites"

Kämp is profiled as a gourmet place and this "burger" did not reach the gourmet level. Let's go to details:

- First of all this is NOT a hamburger - this portion should be called a steak sandwich not a hamburger.

- Secondly, the bun should not be standard-supermarket-good-to-eat-for-two-months type of a bun. And the bun was hardly toasted and it crumbled to your hand. With the price of €21.00 you expect to get something else. For example they served really nice focaccia bread while waiting your order to be served which they could use as a bun.

- Thirdly, the combination of tastes were not right. Rucola, tomato and horseradish ok, but what's with the cheddar? Try Gruyère or Manchego, or even strong Emmental (Swiss cheese) - anything else with more taste than standard cheddar. Something which works well with the Rucola and horseradish.

- Fourthly, what's with the portion size. It's gourmet and it's built high to look nice but with a big bun and small piece of fillet you ended up having a 1/3 sandwhich without any meat on it. Ok, you had a good pile of nice crispy (and really salty) fries on the side but for €21.00 you want to have a perfect burger not just bun with horseradish mayo and rucola.

- And finally the 'juices'. If the only moist thing in the serving was mayo there's something wrong. The fillet was correctly cooked to medium but fillet is fillet not 'juicy' burger meat. If they changed the fillet to freshly grounded prime beef it could still be priced as fillet, and the taste could be from another planet with juicy meat.

(As a side note: Kämp is located about two blocks from the market hall which has one or two butcher stores where man could get daily grounded premium organic beef. That could work as a base for gourmet burger. If executed right it would match the expectations of gourmet level. And a free hint for the Chefs who seek a benchmark for gourmet burger - travel to San Francisco and try Zuni Burger.)

With this price I would not recommend this steak sandwich - burger or whatever they want to call it - to anyone. Sadly, the value for the money just isn't there.

--
Hotel Kämp
Pohjoisesplanadi 29
00130 Helsinki, Finland
+358-9-576-111
www.hotelkamp.fi


Larger Map

Chico's Burger at Chico's, Helsinki, Finland

American style restaurants are a big hit in Finland. For some reason Finnish people has always been a fan of US culture in every single way. Maybe the reason for is history and our location, a long love and hate relationship, with Russia. It's like we love to get as far as we can from Russia and take everything we can from Western culture. Well, what ever the reason is, there seems the be a huge amount of American / Tex-Mex styled restaurants in Finland. There's nothing wrong with that but usually the final product isn't that authentic. And yeah, who am I to judge this after creating a fanzine for American icon - a burger. Well, I think I have some perspective to the matter after living in California and travelling around the different states plus having this fixation with burgers.

Chico's restaurant chain is owned by HOK-Elanto. HOK-Elanto owns one of the biggest supermarket chains in Finland, and they also own restaurants and restaurant chains, service and gas stations, and hotels among other businesses. Chico's chain was found in 1991 and it currently has 17 locations in Helsinki region. Unfortunately Chico's is just another sad example how to build up a restaurant chain, put a little effort to interior and menu and start to call it as American restaurant. They actually brand Chico's as a All American Bistro with the taste of a real America - yeah right. With prepared meals, freezer pattys, ready-made-sauces plus frequently repeating words Tex-Mex and Texas in menu does not make a real American restaurant. It looks fake, it feels fake and most of all it tastes fake.

Well, let's get done with this... They serve a handfull of burgers which all have the very same ingredients that are used across the menu in different mixes and combinations. Their signature burger, Chico's Burger, is a bun with 2 x 75g ground beef patties, bacon, remoulade sauce, cheddar cheese, tomato, lettuce, red onion and pickle served with French fries. Sounds ok but in reality someone has thought it like this...

"Hmm, let's take the biggest bun in the kitchen and throw two small freezer pattys inside it. Oh, and let's pile it high that it looks like a huge burger even if it isn't. And as a cherry on top let's grill the freezer patty until it has lost every drop of its juices and is dry as a sahara. And if someone happens to notice that let's just fill the burger with mayo. And let's cross our fingers and hope that people never travel to America, go to a proper burger joint and see what's a real burger is like."

That pretty much descripes everything what this place is all about. Not recommended.

--
Chico's
Hietalahdenranta 5
00150 Helsinki, Finland
+358-10-766-3660
www.chicos.fi


Larger Map

Zuni Cheeseburger at Zuni Cafe, San Francisco CA

This burger has been hyped in different forums, and it's been stated as 'the best burger in Bay area' for multiple times. The fact is that it really doesn't fall under burger joint category but I decided to give it a try after all the recommendations.

Zuni Cafe is a pretty well-known, award winning Mediterranean style restaurant in San Francisco. It was established in 1979, and it sits on Market Street between Civic Centre and Castro areas. Zuni is known for their extensive selection of exquisitely fresh, pristine oysters and really excellent roasted chicken. Atmosphere is relaxed, service is friendly, and their interior is really spacious with minimalistic details, huge windows and partly open kitchen with wood owen.

So what did I ate? My burger was:

"Mesquite grilled house-ground hamburger with Gruyère on grilled rosemary focaccia with garden lettuces, aioli, and Zuni pickles."

Before I go into details let's make couple of things clear:

1. This burger is not just any burger, it's a gourmet burger from gourmet restaurant menu.

2. This was the first time I got some house bread and butter served on my table while I was waiting my burger.

3. I expected this to be expensive but $16.55 with sales tax is robbery for a single burger, gourmet or not.

4. And finally, this was propably one of the best burgers I have tasted. Yes, it's gourmet and it's expensive but I can finally say 'What A Burger'!

Their meat is, naturally, organic and grown in sustainable way, it's juicy and tasty, and it was perfect medium rare as ordered. The meat was coarsly grounded and when I pressed gently from the top of the patty, it was just oozing juice. Perfect! Focaccia bread was grilled from the one side so that it was crisp from the inside and soft from the outside. The bottom part of Focaccia soaked in all the juices that squeezed out from the patty. The garden lettuce was fresh, crispy and marinated with the juices from the meat. House pickles were two types of marinated onion and pickle. Really tasty. And as 'a cherry on the top' I added some dijon mustard which was brought to table as condiment.

This was absolutely delicious burger. Recommended!

--
Zuni Cafe
1658 Market St
San Francisco, CA 94102
+1-415-552-2522
www.zunicafe.com


Larger Map | Street View

Cheeseburger at Original Joe's, San Francisco CA

Original Joe's is a well known restaurant in San Francisco. It sits on the out-skirts of dodgy Tenderloin area near to Market Street and it has 70 years of history.

The first Original Joe's was established in San Francisco by Louis Rocca and Tony Rodin in 1937. The little restaurant initially consisted of two counters and a row of booths. As business grew, Louis and Tony leased a vacant space next to them that allowed the addition of a full dining room. Later, further space became available next to the dining room enabling the addition of a full bar, thus completing Original Joe's in San Francisco. The second Original Joe's was opened in May 1956 and it's located in San Jose.

Original Joe's serves a wide variety of foods themed more toward Italian food. They serve over 100 entrees including a large variety of salads and soups, sandwiches, roasts, veal, chicken, fish, pasta, steaks and chops along with a variety of omelets and other dishes. Their signature is extremely large portions of food regardless of what you order and penguin suited, only male waitrons (or at least during the time a visited the place). The atmosphere and the waitrons were friendly and they seemed to know every other customer by name.

Large portions means large burgers. You have three choices: the Original Joe's burger with or without cheese, a Diet Plate which has hamburger steak with tomatoes and cottage cheese, and your third choice is a Joe's Special which has fresh spinach, eggs and mushrooms mixed with ground chuck (this is something that could really make your arteries sing). All sandwiches are served on sourdough French bread and include fresh hand cut steak fries.

I had the original Joe's Burger with cheese: 12 ounces of ground chuck on a French loaf with cheese. Cheese was white cheddar and the big slap was covered with it. Burger was served with hand cut steak fries. And that's it - a bread, a big slap of meat and cheese - no condiments of any kind. I poured some mustard and started to destroy this monster. The slap was made medium well as ordered and it was mildly seasoned and mixed with onions, really really tasty. I was told that they ground their own chuck so it's fresh every day. My fries weren't really good, barely warm, dry and propably done long before I arrived to the restaurant.

After finishing my first half of the burger I started to grave for lettuce, tomato or something, so I asked for the extra stuff and heard that bacon, lettuce and tomato costs extra and are available only on request. Maybe you should mention this in your menu?!

There really wasn't anything wrong with the burger except the missing lettuce, tomatoes etc. I definetly recommend Original Joe's, maybe not for their burgers but for a friendly and authentic dining experiece.

# Original Joe's San Francisco
# Wiki
# Google Map