$185 goes up in smoke – but was it worth it?
Biting into the most expensive burger in the capital, food blogger Tim Yamat’s first sensation was of juice and fat dripping down his fingers and onto the wooden board below.
He had expected it to be a novelty – it’s not every day a $185 burger hits the market – but the gold leaf-topped burger turned out to be more than just a gimmick. It actually tasted pretty good.
‘‘First bite, all the juices came out, it was so good, it was luxurious,’’ said Yamat, who was trying Le Burger Bourgeoisie, created by the Sofitel’s Jardin Grill, on the opening day of the Burger Wellington festival.
Yamat ate more than 50 burgers during last year’s burger extravaganza, part of the yearly Wellington On A Plate food festival.
Stuff asked Yamat to give his opinion on this year’s most lavish offering.
‘‘The burger had a variety of flavours that were nicely tied together. I wouldn’t say it’s the best burger, but it’s up there. It was decent,’’ was his verdict. He gave it a 6.5 rating. ‘‘ Above average – my hands got messy,’’ he wrote on Instagram.
Le Burger Bourgeoisie is a Japanese Wagyu A5 beef patty with crayfish remoulade, free-range duck egg aioli, caviar, Kurobuta pork belly bacon, aged cheddar, kawakawa tea-infused cucumber and tomato, baby gem lettuce and whiskey barbecue sauce in a 24-carat gold-plated milk bun. It has an eye-watering $185 price tag ($195 when paired with its humble Garage Project beer match).
The burger’s creator, Jardin’s executive chef Royxeenn Giam, said he wanted to give people a ‘‘one-off experience’’ – a way to experience ingredients they couldn’t find at the supermarket. They had received a lot of backlash online, with people criticising the restaurant for offering such an expensive item as the cost of food rose around them.
Giam wasn’t bothered, he said. Nobody was forcing the haters to eat it, and they’d had 50 bookings for the burger already.
Burger Wellington is a festival in which restaurants create limited-time meals, burgers and cocktails.