Fatburgers : Not So Fat

fatburger.

the name itself seductively beckons a burger junkie like me. is there anything more worth chomping down then a good juicy burger that is ALSO fat in size? hailed from california, it proudly claims to be 'the last great hamburger stand'.

oh, great. first, it's 'the world's greatest hamburger' at fuddruckers. then just few days later, 'the last great hamburger stand' at fatburger. i think i can flush down that 'i'll lose some weight when i hit 31' resolution!


for some reason, fatburgers are also known to be a very expensive burger. the burger patties are 'fat' and you can choose from 1/3 pound to a monstrous size one!

a standard burger comes with mustard, relish, onions, tomato, lettuce, and mayo - and the waitress will ask you which one you'd like to hold, or otherwise - custome made the way you like it. when you buy a burger, you have to pay for all the 'add ons' like cheese and some other stuff. and that does not include what you pay to get some fries and a coke as well!

it's still my birthday week, so i ordered the signature fatburger, quarter pound, with EVERYTHING.

the fatburger counter @ mirdiff city center food court

again, as a burger junkie i had always wanted to try the fatburgers since noticing the branch in dubai, after years of loyalty to the 'golden arch' and the 'king'. there's an actual restaurant in dubai mall, but we went to the fatburger counter in the food court of mirdiff city center instead.

we didn't plan to eat here - a football match was on between korea and one other country (i couldn't care to remember) and mirdiff city center generously used the entire half of the food court to put up a huge screen to show the match.

we noticed a fatburger counter at the foodcourt, so decided to give it a go. one amusing thing about making orders at fatburger was that when i finished my order, the one at the cashier repeated my order in a sing-song manner, while the kitchen crew at the back joined in - together, and aloud!

not exactly singing, but berirama. it was really cute, and new!


usually, at a food court, food are not always sent to you. you order, wait for your food, or pick a seat, and then come back to claim your dish. however, that's another nice thing about fatburger - patrons do not need to wait at the counter for food to be ready, or come back yourself to pick up your food.

they gave me a 'road cone' with numbers, indicating my order. and they sent my burgers right to the food court table.

and the toy car that kahfi was playing? it's a not free toy with a kids' meal. it's simply complimentary, just for making me wait for my burger. nice, huh? hihi.

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...and making its appearance into syigim's tummy is the...FATBURGER!


...that did not look THAT fat to me! it should be called CUTEBURGER, for its petite size (for a burger) and round balled-up shape!


okay, to me, for a burger to be worth eating, and worth eating A LOT, it has to have these criteria :

• the bun used must be sesame seed bun
• the patty must be so juicy that with a bite, a lil oil comes out. NOT healthy, but irresistable!
• now this is the MOST important - the bun to meat to condiment ratio must be in perfect proportion with each other.

paham tak? contohnya kalo burger tu nipis, salad tak bole banyak sangat, nanti rasa salad tu akan menutupi rasa daging. kalo daging tu gemuk pulak, kena la mayo ngan tomato sauce pun banyak baru sedap. cheese walaupun sedap tapi kena berpadanan dengan kandungan mayo. inilah namanya 'undang-undang ratio bun-meat-condiment syigim'.

all size-talk aside, the fatburger DID NOT meet any of my criteria!

masalahnya fatburger yang aku order, burger dia kecik sangat tapi salad, mayo, mustard dan benda-benda lain kat burger tu banyak sangat jadi aku tercari-cari rasa sebenar daging burger dia!


true, i was the one asking for EVERYTHING to go with my burger, but i didn't expect the condiments like mustard and onion would overwhelm the taste of the burger. and this is because, my burger is NOT FAT!

and it's certainly NOT JUICY!

the salad, and other stuff on my burger were super fresh, yes - unlike some burgers yang salad pun dah ade hitam-hitam sikit! and the fries was also crispy on the outside, and sweet soft potatoes on the inside - however, all that doesn't matter if the fatburger you'd expect is NOT FAT, and not juicy too!


fatburger tastes good, don't get me wrong - but when it's boasted with that 'great hamburger stand' tag, and serving expensive burgers - they didn't meet my high expectation.

my verdict - tasty burger, but highly overrated, and definitely overpriced!

i guess i should've taken the 1 pound burger in order to appreciate the 'fat'ness?


oh, just a quick spin on the world cup match we watched. we were supporting korea (being asians) and happy to note that most of the people around us were also with the korean footballers.

sebenarnye seronok tengok bola ramai-ramai walaupun dengan strangers. semangat betul! be it near-hit or misses for the goal post, cheers would erupt. i love the atmosphere. tambah-tambah tengok kat dubai ni, ade pak arab ngan family dia. ada pak arab teens satu gang. ada pakcik-pakcik kerala india. ada satu gang filipino.

bersatu atas nama gila bola!

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ok. time to start eating ONLY 'skinny' food. whatever that is!