Friday, September 14, 2018

Fatburger Singapore : disappointing experience

Fatburger, an iconic burger from Hollywood that founded by Lovie Yancey in 1952 has recently opened its door in Singapore. Moe Ibrahim, CEO of Deelish Brands tied up with FAT Brands, a US franchise company to secure the franchise rights to bring in the Fatburger to Singapore. The first location is Kinex Mall, the former OneKM Mall and the other location is Velocity in Novena Square at the end of September. 

Every burger comes with mustard, pickles, relish, onions, mayo, lettuce, and tomatoes, which is part of "The Works". It can be customized by adding beef bacon, cheese, onion rings, eggs, BBQ sauce, thousand island dressing, and even American-style chili. It was mentioned by the CEO during his interview with the lifestyle section of The Business Times that they work with a local butcher to prepare the ground beef according to their specifications. They also import high-quality beef and grind it twice to achieve the desired fat content. It was also mentioned that every Fatburger is lean and they are also working with a local baker to deliver fresh brioche and wholemeal buns daily. Every meal is supposed to cook-to-order using the freshest ingredients and traditional cooking methods using the chilled and not frozen beef with a ration of 80 percent lean meat to 20 percent fat. You are able to choose from brioche, wholemeal and gluten-free buns.

The burger comes in different sizes from Single ($7.90), Double ($10.90), Triple ($13.50) and Quad ($15.90). There is also Skinny Burger ($7.50) that replaced the buns with patties and Western BBQ Burger ($9.90) that came with onion rings and beef bacon with BBQ sauce. There are choices of Fat Fries ($3.90), Skinny Fries ($3.90), Sweet Potato Fries ($5.90), Onion Rings ($5.90) and Chili Cheese Fries ($5.90) for sides. The add-on items like beef bacon, cheese, onions rings, and eggs are available at $1 each. An option is available to top up $4 to make it a meal which includes free-flow of soft drinks and a choice of fries.

Fatburger is co-branded with Buffalo's Express for its chicken wings and sandwiches. There is the selection of Bone-In Wings (from $5.90 for 6 pieces), Boneless Chicken (from $8.50 for 6 pieces), and Chicken Tenders (from $6.50 for 3 pieces). There are Crispy Chicken ($7.90) and Grilled Chicken ($7.90) for sandwiches. There are a total of 7 sauces to go with starting from Death Valley, Hot, Cajun, Thai Sweet Chilli, Teriyaki, BBQ, Lemon Pepper or simply have it plain. 


We ordered the Single Burger with Sweet Potato Fries and Soft Drink and Double Burger with Onion Rings and Strawberry Milkshake as well as Bone-In Buffalo Wings (6 pieces) for a total of $39.10. The service was personalized. They asked for your name and even have it printed on the receipt and they will call you by name when they served it to your table.

The Strawberry Milkshake is made with hand-scooped ice-cream but it is not as thick and creamy as expected to be. The other flavors are Cholocate, Vanilla, and Oreo. 


The first bite was a disappointment. The patties were so well-done thus it tasted dry. Having paid so much, I expected it to be better. Shake Shack has always cooked their patties at medium when it comes to the degree of doneness, which is different than most of its competitors. 



My dining companion said, "It reminded me of the Double Whopper that I had at Burger King just recently. The patties were equally dry. This type of quality is more acceptable at a cheaper price. It does not quite make sense to pay so much for such a lousy burger." He continued to say, "I would rather go to Macdonald's and order one of those burgers listed in their Signature Collection, it is cheaper and tastier." He said, "This is so not worth it and probably one of those overrated meals that I had had."


The Double Burger was equally disappointing. I have tasted it before when I was in Macau, it was much better then. I hope this is a one-off due to the probable inconsistency as they are newly opened and still adjusting. 



The onion rings are made from scratch daily, it is dipped into their special batter and fried to perfect crispiness but a little too greasy. 


When I asked for the recommendation, I was told that Bone-In Buffalo Wings are the classic choice. I opted to have it with the hot sauce. The heat was quite mild and it was tasty, the carrot and celery sticks that served along were a bit dry though still crunchy.


Overall, this newly opened burger joint somewhat reminded me of Wendy's and they did not quite make it in Singapore. 


FAT BURGER
11 Tanjong Katong Road #01-70/71/72 Kinex SINGAPORE 437157
Operating Hours: 10.00 am to 10.00 pm (Daily)

2 comments:

  1. Try the impossible burger for a change. U won't regret. Now that's thinking out of the box. Triple challenge for all carnivores out there

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