Alright, under Andre's influence.
All for the Toriyama Wagyu burger that was crowned crème de la crème by all four food critics from Straits Times at a blind taste test.
Three representatives from Toriyama Wagyu joined us too. They were excited and so was I – Toriyama Wagyu is one of the best Wagyus we have at Huber's and I wonder how it would taste like as a burger patty.
Ken Loon, the young and cheerful owner whose brainchild includes NakedFinn (the "senpai" of BurgerLabo), took it upon himself to share with us more about his menu. Under his recommendation, we went for the Basic Burger and took the single-patty option for the optimal bun-to-patty ratio.
And we were not disappointed.
Contrary to its name, the burger was nowhere near basic.
It had a 170g patty that is a blend of two quality beef – grass-fed Black Angus beef neck and the premium Toriyama Umami Wagyu A4 tenderloin and brisket.
And the "best burger in Singapore" certainly lived up to its reputation.
The patty was well-caramelised –owing to the a la plancha style of
cooking it– and yet balanced with the tender umami-filled Toriyama beef tenderloin. The charred surface also added an extra oomph to the beefiness of the beef neck. As if the burger did not have enough flavour, an extra kick came from the bone
marrow butter that was used on the buns. In fact, the buns were so soft that for a moment I thought my cheeks were on fluffy pillows. Oishikatta desu! (‘It was delicious!' in Japanese)
Yet, while I enjoyed the burger, I would not have named it my favourite. It was really tasty but it was lacking an X-factor for me. Something that could punch me in my face and knock me off my feet. But I can't quite put my finger on it.
Perhaps it is because they cooked the patties to medium/medium-well in consideration of food safety standards. It would have been better if there was some pink inside and I could enjoy that unique melt-in-one's-mouth experience of Wagyu, which is what separates them from others.
Andre and the Toriyama Wagyu representatives loved the burger though!
The special burger we tried that night was very different from the Basic Burger.
It was made with 100% Toriyama chuck. This resulted in the patty being much more tender and bursting with juices from the higher content of Wagyu fat while still providing a good level of sweetness and umami from the Japanese beef.
This was topped with caramelised onions to further drive home the sweetness and providing some texture to the burger. The umami fat was also used to make the burger buns this time.
I fell in love with their Connecticut-style lobster roll.
I added a tinge of lemon juice to it against my usual preferences, and... voila! The best-tasting lobster roll I've ever had. Instead of adding acidity, the lemon juice enhanced the buttery-but-not-greasy taste of the unsalted butter they used and the result was a wonderful synthesis of all elements in that lobster roll.
Certainly would be going back for it again and next time, I won't be sharing!
