ISLAMABAD: Fast filling up with food outlets, Beverly Centre now has a new burger joint by the name of Street Burger, which must have popped up on everyone’s Facebook feed by now.

The eatery is located in the basement at the back of the plaza.

The wall of the corridor which faces Street Burger has a mural of an American city skyline, as if you were looking out the window of a high rise.

A few seats line the length of the restaurant on the outside, which are fenced in by tall heaters and three or four servers hovering about.

The outside seating is separated from the inside by a glass wall.

According to Sofia Ali Umar, the owner, the restaurant was designed by her husband to look like a New York City street and was meant to give the feel of sitting on a pavement in the Big Apple.

The space is designed so it looks like seats have been placed next to a number of large containers. Orders are placed at the front desk, where customers are greeted by a Gigi Hadid quote that reads: “Eat clean to stay fit, have a burger to stay sane.”

The menu includes burgers, sandwiches, various fries, desserts and a few drinks.

Most burgers are served on the outlet’s signature black bun, referred to as the ebony bun on the menu.

Now, though the world has lately been fascinated with charcoal-flavoured buns, believed to add to the flavour of a grilled meat patty, these buns are just coloured black with natural food grade emulsions brought in from Canada.

Ms Umar said the emulsion is added to the dough, which means the buns have to be made in house.

The buns are flaky, which may be due to the added colour and light, which complements the heavy burger patty.

The signature burger, the Street Burger, is a beef patty, lettuce, tomatoes and cheese on a black bun along with the ‘XYZ’ sauce, one of the many sauces developed by the owner’s son, who is a professional chef.

The patty is grilled medium rare and is juicy and tender, though the sauce is too light and is not that noticeable.

The mushroom and Swiss cheese burger, also served on the ebony bun, does better taste-wise, as the creaminess of the sautéed mushrooms comes through.

The downside of the restaurant is its small portion sizes and its prices, with mains costing between Rs600 for a sandwich, up to Rs1,000 for a burger, and that is without the taxes.

The mains do not come with any sides, which have to be ordered separately.

The triple fried fries, which are unseasoned wide cut potatoes, cost Rs145 and a salad costs between Rs300 and Rs600.

The Halloumi salad contains slices of the cheese, lettuce and pomegranate seeds with a drizzle of mustard, priced at Rs595 which goes up to Rs700 with taxes, and the serving size is just enough to go on the side with a burger.

However, the salad is also too salty to enjoy with a burger.

Asked about the exorbitant pricing, Ms Umar said the restaurant uses the best quality ingredients, for example instead of using sliced cheese in the burgers, the eatery orders in cheese from the United Arab Emirates, which hikes up the production costs.

The service is a bit slow, though the servers do come in to ask you how your food is often. That said, the drinks were served long after the burger was done with. Hot drinks are served in takeaway cups even if you are dining in, the lids on which do not fit well.

In terms of flavour, the burgers are fairly standard and do not offer anything that burger joints across the city have not already done.

Asked what makes Street Burger different from other burger joints in the city, Ms Umar said the eatery uses premium cuts and grinds the meat in house to make patties as well as the various sauces. She said the restaurant was started with the aim to serve good quality burgers.

Published in Dawn January 23rd, 2017