The way Delhi likes her burgers
Burger, the quintessential feature amongst the list of Dude food is a dish made hugely popular by casual dining restaurants. A good cut of meat, cooked perfectly and sandwiched in a bun along with sauces, cheese and veggies makes a perfect snack.
Once considered a roadside snack that was easily affordable, became fancier overnight the moment it started featuring on the menus of upmarket casual standalones. The leftover meat, keema etc, which was used to make a deep fried patty to sandwich inside the bun along with mayonnaise among other things was replaced by the the best meat, well thought of seasonings, fresh salad and wedges on the side. These burgers were nothing like any burger served at various Burger joints like McDonald’s or KFC. The burgers started giving you an experience of a proper meal where one ate fried chips, meat and bread all at once.
With the arrival of Burger King, Johnny Rockets, Wendy’s, Carl’s Jr, it is certain that India, is amongst the highest consumers of burgers, despite the fact we don’t really get to experience the real deal. One of the major reasons for this is that, largely we’re not beef eating population. And, essentially a ‘cheese burger’, must have a beef patty.
Although, it won’t be wrong to say that we’ve managed to Indianise the burger, with much élan. Our cheese burger can have mushroom, paneer or even aloo patty. Or we can even put a rajma patty inside and just be as happy to eat it, as much as we would enjoy a chicken patty. So much so, that even an international chain such as Carl’s Jr was forced to put a paneer tikka and tandoori chicken Burger on their menu.
The buns are increasingly becoming smaller and the size of the patties are getting fatter. Put as much sauce and even give us extra ketchup, we’re happy as long as it’s filled with our comfort flavours.
It’s almost amusing, how a chain, once famous for it’s doughnuts, is now hugely popular for serving one of the best burgers. They in fact, spend a big moolah on designing their advertising campaigns around their burgers more than the doughnuts. Yes, we’re talking about Dunkin Donuts here.
It won’t be wrong to say, that being one of the biggest country with young population, it’s the youngsters who’re the highest consumers of this dish. Kids or teenagers, we’re growing up on burgers more than greens or proteins, which could be a huge cause of concern.
Hence, many eateries like Lean Chef, Gyms Kook etc are making healthier versions of burger, by using wheat buns and grilled patties. These burgers have no mayonnaise and one can relish the taste of low- calorie sauces, such as mustard or vinaigrette in this. These are served with a large portion of salad and no chips.
So healthy, cheesy, fatty or just desi, today, one can’t escape burgers. It doesn’t matter if you choose to eat a Ramen burger or an Agnus Steakhouse burger, you just need a bite of it to go insane about it’s comforting flavours. Something, as Indians, we’re all accustomed to.
By Neeru Singh, Buzz Bureau
