Ben's Burger@TSG: meals for giant burger lovers

Burger had evolved so far. The similar evolution that had taken over coffee drinker. From the humble road side coffee to the designer coffee nowadays which cost easily more than RM10 per cup. From the humble road side Ramly's to the multiple-choices-designer-own-produced patty's type of burger. That is how I felt when I step into Ben's Burger. Located on the ground of Ipoh Parade, one can easily locate this joint which can be reached by just exiting the complex via turning right after exiting the main entrance.

Being a new joint, the service is very tip-top and attentive. The workers are friendly and did not make us rush for choices. The setup are simplistic and practical. No old items hanging on the wall nor artistic graffiti here and there. It is to be sort of a fast food joint anyway. There is nothing else here but burgers.Yes, there are side dishes, but do not expect other food for main course except burgers. No pasta, not even sandwiches. I like the place for not being pretentious. If I wanted a healthy meal, I would not come to a burger joint in the first place. I am not sure though whether the menu will expand in the future but I really hope not.

shark attack

Looking at the menu, one would expect to spend more than RM20 per meal here. This is to be expected for any burger joint nowadays. No more cheap burger that I could get over in McD. There are a few choices, but expect variant of beef, chicken, shrimp, fish and vege burgers. Colleen ordered the Shark Attack (RM19.90) which basically is fish burger. The patty is rather nice, served with their dressing and 2 slices of deep fried onion in the middle. My order was Bacon Loaded (RM22.90). The beef patty is equally nice, though on the last few bite, it felt like Big Mac instead. The bacon is the highlight of the whole burger, and it did not disappoint. Similarly,it is served with deep fried onion in the middle. Seems like the whole set is nice, but there are few distracting issues at hand. If separated, the ingredients are really nice. The onion, the patty (beef or fish), the bacon, and even the bread is nicely done. However, once combined, they did not bring anything new. They just felt.... plainly nice. Not even great. Just nice. The other problem is the huge portion. Even for a big eater like me, I find it difficult to finish the whole set, which is served with lots of fries. There were another 2 tables having dinner at the same time as me and all of them could not finish each of their set. I should have heeded my friend's advice, 1 set to be shared among 2 rather than 1 set each. The last issue is the price. The setup would suggest designer style of burger, with their own self made patty, but the service and menu suggested more like fast food style of burger. The price would lean towards higher end of fine dining but the burgers, which supposedly to be the star, just felt short of expectation. It felt more like a huge portion of a slightly-better-fast-food burger.

bacon loaded

At the end of the dinner, both of us did finished our burgers, but none of us could finish the fries. It was nice, but I would still prefer the grilled chicken burger at McD or zinger at KFC. And the champion of all burgers, for me, is still the good old Ramly special with cheese. Then again, someone else may enjoy this so much that Ben would dethrone the good old Ramly. Worth trying, decent effort, especially on the patty.

ratings: 2 half poink~!
comments: it was stated that the idea of Ben's burger came from a young kid. Definitely not the size of the burger. It would last him a few days to finish the whole set.

Ben's Burger @TSG
lot G26A, Ground Floor Ipoh Parade
No 105, Jalan Sultan Abdul Jalil,
Ipoh
open 10am -12am