Burger Up at Yishun 10 Complex, Singapore
The entire world knows about Singapore's fast and reliable transport system. Buses and trains arrive right as expected and should there be any breakdowns, announcements will immediately be made. That said, being late is really a non-existent excuse in the Lion City as everything can be well calculated for from point a to b and back. We also know that Singapore is a pretty small country with a land area of a little more than 700 km2. So, when Paul and I had to travel for more than an hour by MRT to get to our lunch destination, I guess that's considered to be quite far. On the way there, I was really crossing my fingers (and toes) hoping that the wait and travel was worth it.
Finally we got to Yishun 10 Complex for the grand opening of Burger Up. It's a purely Singaporean concept and I tell you, it's not your ordinary fast food / quick service restaurant system where you queue up, give your order and your food will be ready in less than 3 minutes. Let me walk you through the ordering.
First, you come face to face with the ordering kiosk. It's a touchscreen machine where you can customize your order from your burger patty (beef, chicken or fish), to the buns (sesame, wholewheat, plain), even to your sauces, toppings and add-ons! Paul took charge of placing our order on the machine and it was so much fun. Indeed, no two burgers are alike and this is perfectly customized to suit everyone's taste. For instance, my burger had no tomatoes and onions while Paul's was loaded with everything plus an extra beef patty!
The menu was pretty extensive with a wide selection of side dishes, burger combinations and rice meals! We couldn't decide on what to get so the best solution is to order them all! Oh yeah, look at our Burger Up feast. A burger for each of us and a Fish Rice Meal (S$9.45) to share plus we got Breaded Mushroom (S$4), Chicken Nuggets (S$4), Coleslaw and Fries (S$2) too! If you notice, most of their menu items are priced below S$10. Very reasonable, if you ask me.
Before I proceed, let me talk about their impressive high-tech system. So from the time that we've placed our order on the touchscreen monitor, a receipt will be printed out. We then have to queue up at the payment counter by handing over the receipt and after the payment has been settled, we will be given a queue number. By this time, our order has been processed and will be sent to the kitchen's monitor too. The wait is slightly longer compared to any fast food restaurant as each item is prepared on the spot. That way, you are assured of getting freshly cooked food/prepared all the time. How awesome right? Whoever designed this process must be an IT wiz!
Let me start by showing you our burgers. This is Paul's mighty and meaty burger! It's with the sesame bun, two beef patties, and the works (cheese, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, ketchup, mayo, bbq sauce and black pepper mayo). It's truly a hefty burger perfect for one hungry man. He had this burger with a glass of Iced Milo.
As for me, I kept it a bit simpler. Sesame bun with one beef patty, lettuce, cheese, mayo, ketchup and mushroom sauce. I purposely skipped the tomatoes and onions as I'm not really too fond of it. The beef was very juicy and tender. A lot of you may know by now that I'm not a big fan of beef or burgers so it really would take a special and extra flavorful burger to win my heart. Burger Up has successfully won me over with the fresh, delicious buns, the meaty burger patty and the creamy mushroom sauce. I just found the mayonnaise to be too much so I might choose to remove that next time since the mushroom sauce can contribute well to the creamy texture of my burger. Yum-o!!!
Asians love rice and that's a fact. I'm so happy that Burger Up has 3 rice meals to choose from -- Beef, Chicken or Fish. Exactly the same as the 3 types of patties available.
Okay, now here's the thing that got me swooning and giddy all afternoon long. Any of these three rice meals come with garlic rice. Having been away from home for two years, this is one thing that I've been so frustrated about. It's really really really hard to find good, flavorful garlic rice here. The closest I got was a cup of rice with really oily garlic bits scattered on top. Can you feel my pain? Then I tried the Fish Rice Meal which is a generous portion of breaded fish fillet topped with tartar sauce and is sitting on top of a pretty bed of garlic rice. I wasn't expecting this at all but the moment I had a spoonful of the rice, I squealed with happiness. This is REAL garlic rice, people. Fragrant rice cooked with garlic bits and every spoonful just gets better and better. I know the fish was really the star of this dish but I couldn't stop talking about the rice. Okay, well the fish was yummy too albeit having quite a lot of tartar sauce!
To go with our burgers and rice, we had the Breaded Mushroom as what was highly recommend to us. Yummy deep-fried chunky mushrooms which we happily dipped into the tartar sauce.
The fries were thin, shoestring style fries which were quite okay too. I guess I was blown away by the other things we had on our tray that this one was immediately overshadowed. For one thing, the fries stayed crispy and it wasn't overly salty too.
As for the Coleslaw. Oh wow, here's another winning side dish. Paul has been quite picky with his coleslaw since we moved here. Guess his benchmark has always been the one that we would have back home. For two years, no coleslaw has made the cut. That is until we tried Burger Up's Coleslaw. A good balance of sweet and tangy, this was really good that Paul happily gave his thumbs-up sign. That's two twinkling stars already and we're not even done!
Another sides was the Chicken Nuggets. It has a peppery kick which made it interesting. Might not be the kind that kids are accustomed to but it would go well with some garlic rice. Teehee. :)
What a filling meal! To help ease our digestion, we walked around the restaurant to check out the grand opening activities happening. There was the Burger Patty Making contest where teams had to make as much burger patties possible. The challenge is to ensure that each weight 160g, are formed within the mold and arranged neatly in the trays provided. Really exciting! They were also giving away Samsung gadgets, hotel vouchers and more all throughout the day.
Burger Up was indeed worth the "cross-country" travel and we can't wait to go back. It's really nice to note that this is a purely local concept and I look forward to them expanding all over the country soon. Hope they finally get to my neighborhood to save me from that long travels next time. For now, I'll surely be visiting Yishun every so often to satisfy our Burger Up cravings.
Check our Burger Up at 51 Yishun Central 1, 01-03 Yishun Ten Complex, Singapore. It's right beside Golden Village. Closest MRT is Yishun (Red Line).
Before I proceed, let me talk about their impressive high-tech system. So from the time that we've placed our order on the touchscreen monitor, a receipt will be printed out. We then have to queue up at the payment counter by handing over the receipt and after the payment has been settled, we will be given a queue number. By this time, our order has been processed and will be sent to the kitchen's monitor too. The wait is slightly longer compared to any fast food restaurant as each item is prepared on the spot. That way, you are assured of getting freshly cooked food/prepared all the time. How awesome right? Whoever designed this process must be an IT wiz!
Asians love rice and that's a fact. I'm so happy that Burger Up has 3 rice meals to choose from -- Beef, Chicken or Fish. Exactly the same as the 3 types of patties available.
Burger Up was indeed worth the "cross-country" travel and we can't wait to go back. It's really nice to note that this is a purely local concept and I look forward to them expanding all over the country soon. Hope they finally get to my neighborhood to save me from that long travels next time. For now, I'll surely be visiting Yishun every so often to satisfy our Burger Up cravings.
