Burger Bench & Bar

Not too bad~

Dropped by for an impromptu visit just to check out the place but ended up eating dinner there. Might as well. Occupying the space vacated by Subway, the seating was small, perhaps about 30 pax will fill up the place nicely.

As the name suggests, seating is all benches alongside equally stark tables, a little like canteen style where you have to slot yourself into the seat. You order at the counter which has the menu, pay, take your number, and wait. The chalkboard provides for easy browsing too.

Soft-shell crab burger ($8.20) - the sauce tasted like real chilli-crab sauce, and the piece of crab was the actual thingy and not some paste etc. Good start! The cabbage was fresh and provided a very nice crunch to the burger. Bun was soft although not wow.

Potato crisps ($1.00) - You can add this one to any burger order for $1 which is recommended because otherwise the burger alone looks quite sad. There was a slightly different crunch to it as opposed to mass market chips and was still quite warm when it reached us. It is supposedly home-made from scratch although my dinner buddy mentioned that fresh potaotes should be a bit softer and not too crisp.

Wasabi butter-fish burger ($8.20) - Nice! Big slab of actual fish with cabbage and a slice of sweet tomato. Nice dose of the wasabi sauce, although there was no hint of the usual wasabi 'kick' and the bitterness of it came across as a little strang. We later found out that the bitterness came from the addition of mustard and roasted saseme seeds; and they adjusted the original level of spiciness after feedback from other customers. Taste are subjective I guess.

Actually the burgers were much smaller than expected; perhaps they had to adjust the prices to accommodate the younger crowd at Cineleisure, and hence accordingly the portion.

Service was quite haphazard, with only 1 staff taking orders, another serving the tables, and I think a 3rd making the burgers. We could see the staff serving the wrong orders a few times despite the small seatings; and our request to hold the mayo was overlooked, although it was replaced with a fresh one after alerting.

You'd also have to cut your own if you'd like to halve your burgers to share, as the staff advised that the kitchen is typically to busy for such extra requests, and they give you a pair of knife and fork (the orders do not come with these and most eat with their hands). Chilli sauce also came in fastfood-style packs.

Kudos to the staff who asked for our feedback and the 'chef' who came out of the kitchen to speak to us personally. I thought it was quite receptive of them to hear from us.

Prices may be pricer than say Mos Burger when size of the burgers are very close, so that may turn some teenagers off. But if you feel like a tiny splurge without having to go all the way to Relish, this is perhaps the mini-alternative to it.

They also have a little 'introduction' about the ingredients they use on the tables, which after reading will make you feel that your little splurge may be worth it after all.