Brand X Burgers: This Time, Brand X Wins!

Brand X Burgers was first introduced to me by my boyfriend since the founder of the said burger restaurant is his friend in Lipa. The grilled pattied of Brand X Burgers started in a garage and my boyfriend is proud to be one of its pioneering customers there. I kept hearing the brand in my university in Manila because I think they opened up a branch near Barn MNL. But it was only this year, 2019, when I personally got to taste their burgers because they brought Brand X Burgers in Calapan.

My boyfriend speaked highly of Brand X Burgers’ food items so much when he was still in Lipa. So, I had high expectations on their burgers. But I still want to set a scope for this review since I only visited their Calapan branch. Therefore, I’m assuming that the issues I’m about to tackle were caused by this branch only.

Kickflip

We first tried the basic cheeseburger so we would be able to analyze the fundamental ingredients well. Visually, it’s looked messy because of the sauce. When it comes to burgers, that’s actually good, but not if the cheese part of the cheeseburger is just a cheese sauce. Hence, I couldn’t recognize authentic cheese flavors from it. The bread wasn’t fresh. I got no problem with the patty because it purely tasted beef. Therefore, it didn’t have much difference from Olli, their classic burger. If you want a cheesy burger, I recommend the Puckdown.

Puckdown

Since we now have a doubled patty, I got to appreciate the consistency of the patty. It was truly mouthwatering. It was full of juicy beef flavors, blended flawlessly with irresistible bacon and cheese. However, they were also consistent with the bad bread. It didn’t just taste old. It also felt old. The fries was kinda tough to chew so I assume they weren’t fresh as well. Everything would be perfect if only they put the right bun and newly-cooked fries. Anyway, I love that it was presented nicely, making it easy to capture, especially for frustrated photographers like me.

Grind

I told you. The presentation is always on point! I looked at the Grind’s picture on the menu and I looked at the burger in front of me. There wasn’t much difference! After all, cheeseburger and hashbrown together appears really appetizing. However, this would be a great combo if they cooked hashbrown well because it was fried for too long, making it overly crispy to the point that I couldn’t taste the potato starch in it. And then again, the bun was stale. I could feel the strands of the bread separating already. 

Goofy

With the presence of Spam and egg, apart from the burger patty itself, this is an ultimate breakfast burger indeed! The slice of Spam may be thick but it didn’t dominate the flavors of the patty. It seemed that they choose the right flavor and kind of meatloaf for this because I actually find Spam salty. I’m also delighted that the scrambled egg was Japanese-style so it was more convenient to eat. The lettuce, which was super soggy, seemed like it was soaked in a lot of liquid. Thankfully, it didn’t affect too much on the overall flavor of the burger.

Standy

I think it’s time to try their sandwiches outside burgers. The Standy seemed scrumptious, especially when I heard that they’re using angus beef for their hotdog sandwiches. The first thing that caught my attention was the mushroom toppings. It was abundant. It complemented the cheese sauce and bacon bits. The cheese was to die for. It has a hint of heat that went well with the sandwich. However, I think the sausage itself came out quickly from the grill because it was a little undercooked and it wasn’t satisfyingly hot yet when served.

Nachos

I just noticed that this is a vegetarian’s nachos as there was no meat at all. Vegetarians, this is for you! It only has nacho chips, a few tomato slices, small amount of lettuce slices and a little drizzle of mayonnaise and cheese dressing. Yep! I keep mentioning few because the amount of toppings was so little that its flavor didn’t reach the chips at the bottom. I can’t see anything special with it. Anyone can make this. Maybe, I’ll just commend it for the vegetable’s freshness and the chip’s crispiness.

Carbonara

Just recently, Brand X Burgers started to offer pasta dishes so we immediately tried the Carbonara. Honestly, I already set a standard for carbonara and I must say that this one is almost there. The white sauce was savory and creamy at the same time. If there’s no bread, I’m gonna lick the bowl. It’s a good thing we have a burger bun to wipe the excess sauce and eat. I’m also glad that they put toasted bacon bits instead of just a fried bacon on top. In this way, I could feel a crunch in every forkful of the pasta. 

Wintermelon Milk Tea

Following the trend, Brand X Burgers also released their own line of milk teas. I had the Wintermelon and sadly, the sweetness overpowered. It has too much milk and wintermelon flavoring that it covered the flavor of the tea, which should be the most important thing in th cup. And since we’re talking about drinks, I’ll also say something about the lemonades we had with the Nachos. It looked like they were using Nestea powder for these juice drinks. It may not be made with real lemons, having Nestea is a good choice since they are indeed delicious.