Riga – Street Burgers
The reviews of this burger restaurant were positive, and the photos on their web-site looked appealing, so I was sold. It doesn’t take much…..
The English version of the menu, with prices that I thought were rather reasonable for central Riga. It’s clearly all about the burger though, they don’t over-complicate the menu by adding excessive options.
The chips arrived first, and they were suitably hot as well as being crispy and appropriately salted.
This is the Ghetto Street Burger, with two burgers, lettuce, tomato, red onion, pickled cucumber, Cheddar cheese, bacon, red jalapeno and a street sauce. It arrived around three minutes after the chips and I liked the presentation. The bacon was crispy, the burgers were cooked medium as requested and everything was at the appropriate hot temperature.
As for the burger itself, it was juicy and there was a depth of flavour to it, which the restaurant puts down to the cows being grass fed. The bacon is what I’d call Canadian style, which makes it more appetising to me, and that added a lot of taste to the whole experience. The red jalapeno was present, although the taste of that was rather lost, and I liked the texture and crunch of the pickled cucumber. All in all, this was one of the better burgers that I’ve had, it exceeded my expectations.
The interior of the restaurant, it’s all very on-trend. The service style isn’t immediately obvious (it never is to me), but it’s take a seat and then order at the counter. The staff member at the counter was enthusiastic and keen to answer questions, so he seemed to reflect the modern style of service the restaurant was aiming for.
Total cost for the meal was around £9, which for a double burger, chips and soft drink is very reasonable given the restaurant’s location. It seems that there are another two restaurants in the city from the same owners, and it looks like they’re trying to franchise the concept. As franchises go, this would seem to be an entirely workable proposition, and I hope that they do well.