How I met the 'perfect' burger!!

McVeggie Burger

When I was a kid I used to see McDonald’s advertisements on TV and always end up dreaming and fantasizing about them. I come from a small town in the state of Chhattisgarh which didn’t have a McD store in our state let alone my town (Till date there is no McDonald’s in Chhattisgarh. McVeggie was the ultimate burger I wanted to have and every time I saw the advertisements there used to be a small tsunami in my mouth. My dream came true when I was in class VIth. We visited the dream city of Mumbai  and I was really excited. It was going to be my first rendezvous with McVeggie. We went to the McDonald’s store inside Water Kingdom (by the wave pool). Dad went and purchased McVeggie meals from the counter and I was running behind him till the time we settled down. I opened the cover of the burger and the first bite was heavenly. Oh boy! It was so tender and hot and crispy. The mayo oozed out of the burger and I caught on to the mayo and licked my fingers - my hunger was satiated. I felt complete.

Time passed by and as I grew older and shifted to Mumbai for studies. I realized that the Mcdonald’s McVeggie was not the only burger in town. And then I happened to watch this episode of How I Met Your Mother where Marshal is on a quest to find the ultimate burger in town. I was motivated. Even I made it a point to find out the best burger in Mumbai. I started trying out burgers from all the places I could but I never found that perfect burger. Being a vegetarian I did not have many options. I tried the Veg Snacker @ KFC which was good value for money but wasn’t all that great. I came across this place called Bembos (in Bandra) which serves only burgers. Their burgers were good and they served free extra Mayo (unlike McDonald’s). The search went on… I had burgers at various joints in Bandra but none came close to the burger I was looking for.

Relishing a Burger

Then one day my fellow quill-er ‘the soul searcher’ took me to a small joint in Bandra called ‘Hearsch Bakery’. The place is a bakery which also serves snacks like rolls, burgers, chicken lollipops. The Veg. Burger there was the best burger I ever had. The burger comprised of the normal thick aloo patty, onions, tomatoes, mayo, cheese and the buns and it came along with some potato chips. The ingredients sound like any other normal burger but there is something about this burger which leaves you satisfied. Priced at a meagre Rs50 the burger was the best till date. I thought my search had come to an end. Hearsch was ‘the’ place. Although I am a vegetarian I can safely vouch for their Chicken Burgers also which are equally good. One burger would fill your stomach but won’t fill your heart so share your second burger because you won’t be able to finish the second one off. Chilled Sweet Lime / Ginger Lime go well with the burgers.

Burger @ TGIF

All was going good till last week when I went to TGIF at the Palladium Mall. I had not gone to this place to eat burgers. As we were going through our meal I saw a waiter carrying what looked Iike an inflated burger and my eyes just popped out. Although we were full by that time I was adamant about ordering the Veg Garden burger (which by the way is priced at a whopping Rs 390++). The Burger was at least 4’ inches high and at least double the bun size of a normal burger. They serve the burger in a plate which has very little space for thick golden French fries as the bun takes the entire plate. The patty is at least 1’ thick and is better than any aloo tikki you would have at any chaatwala. They use those orange colored goat cheese slices which gives it an English look. With a decent helping of other veggies and mayo the larger than life burger is complete. I bet no one can eat the burger with one hand and that too without dropping any of the fillings. I used both my hands and opened my mouth as wide as I could and took in the first bite and it immediately took me back to that day in 2001 when I first ate the McVeggie. This burger was heavenly! The cheese coupled with the fried patty and those veggies just melted in my mouth and I felt like I had a mini ‘Burgasm’. It took me 25mins to finish the burger with the help of my friends and yes the soldier was finally down. The quest for the perfect burger had finally ended. The Veg Garden Burger at TGIF is ‘the’ burger you want to eat.

And this is the story of I how I met the ‘perfect’ burger!!!