Review of Burger, Fountainbridge

Burger is a new burger joint in Fountainbridge. Other than saying the place offers burgers and hotdogs; why go there expecting anything else (as the people in the queue in front of me seemed to) I want to talk about location.

The Burger website accurately lists the location as Fountainbridge Park. That’s not the same thing as Fountain Park – as our taxi driver thought. Fountainbridge Park is just a block along Fountainbridge, before Gardener’s Crescent, Cargo and Loudons as you walk along from the top of Lothian Road. It’s only a few minutes walk. In fact, from that corner of Lothian Road and Fountainbridge; Burger is closer than Wagamama.

We hit up Burger a few days after opening. You wouldn’t have known as the place ran like clockwork. It was busy, though. I went for a double classic burger. I’m not a fan of gherkins, pickles or even tomatoes in my burger put am prepared to pluck them out. My partner, however, has food intolerances and has to be more careful. Burger stepped up to the simple (but often beyond capabilities) request and provided a Chicken Katsu Burger without the tomato, pickle and wasabi mayo.

A big hit for us was the presence of soya milk shake in the drink list. If you can’t have lactose then a milkshake is a rare treat. It can’t be chance that that option happens on the menu. I hear too (but did not test) that Burger has gluten free bun options. All good signs. The soya shake was lovely.

I didn’t see any knives or forks at Burger. That doesn’t bother me. Not even with my double burger. I did, however, notice that the burger juice splatter from my double was enough to soak through the wrapper and moisten the table. I certainly assisted that by pulling out the pickle and tomato.

The food was tasty. I think my burger came top, followed by the fries with the chicken burger tailing in behind. A word of warning/highlight about the chili sauce for the fries; spicy!

The food arrived fairly swiftly. We’re not talking McDonald’s fast (thank goodness) but I’ve experience of London burger bars in which you have to wait ages for your food. It’s as if you’d ordered a steak. Burger finds that happy medium.

Burger has a fun way of serving food too. You hit the counter first and order from the blackboard. You’re not then given a table number. You’re given a mini UFO with your order number. When your food is ready the UFO flashes with lights, vibrates and … well, it might not take off and fly around the room, but’s still unusual for Edinburgh … and you go up and collect your food. I nearly ran out of hands carrying the tray and all the condiments

Would I go back? Yes. Easily. In fact, I might even go to Fountain Park more often knowing that Burger is a walk way. Alternatively, for film festivals in the Filmhouse that last more than one trip to Illegal Jacks there might be gaps between films long enough to allow a trip to Burger.