Über-Freaky

Having read about the new gourmet burger joint Überburger at Millennia Walk, I decided to try it out on Saturday night, even though I didn't exactly have the budget for their infamous S$101 wagyu beef and foie gras burger.

Looking through the menu with its "look-at-me-I'm-so-alternative" presentation wasn't that difficult. True, having $14 written as 4teen$ might be perplexing to some, but it's not something that would faze most SMS-crazy folks today. It does get annoying though.

The drinks list was pretty comprehensive, and the one-for-one deal they had going on for their beers on tap was very welcome, especially since the beers were Stella Artois and Hoegaarden. And this is where the "freak" part of the title comes in.

Our burgers arrived after we'd been nursing our beers for a while. I quickly demolished half of my food, but decided to slow it down a little. I really do eat too fast for my own good. I placed my burger back on the plate and lifted my pint-bucket of beer.

At this moment, there was a loud CLINK as the entire bottom of my glass fell out. Beer exploded all over my food and clothes. And I was left holding an empty glass missing its bottom and staring wide-eyed and open-mouthed. What. The. Fuck.

Waiters hurried over, incredulous looks on their faces once they understood what had happened. We were swiftly whisked to another table and I left for the bathroom to try to clean up.

Which brings me to another point. Unisex bathrooms are fine and dandy, but not when you've just had a freak accident and beer just exploded all over your body. It's really not cool to be standing at the sink in your underwear trying to wash beer out of your clothes when someone of the opposite sex waltzes in. So I decided to dab at the beer with toilet paper instead, not very effectively, and gave up after a while.

A quick note on the mechanics of how the freak accident could have happened. To make a long story short, the frequent chilling and unchilling of beer glasses can cause stresses in the material of the glass. Fractures can develop as a result. In my case, the fracture went all the way around the circumferance of the bottom of the glass, and it was pure bad luck that I was holding it when it decided to give way.

By the time I returned to the table, they'd refilled my beer and replacement for my food was on the way. The chef brought the replacement burger himself, and swore he'd never seen such a freaky incident. I took a bite of the meat and found that it was dry as a sponge. My original order was for a medium-rare burger, and they'd just completely bypassed asking me what my preference was and gave me a well-done one as a replacement.

I don't like to waste meat, so I tried eating it. I couldn't get past half the patty because it was too dry, and because I was full. I swear, I almost choked on the meat due to the dryness. So obviously when the check came I bitched about it, and managed to get the entire S$29 burger taken off. So at least one good thing happened.

Anyway, foodwise Überburger wasn't that amazing. I think that the only real burgers are thick, juicy, and greasy as hell. Even my so-called decadent medium-rare burger with its bacon wasn't the explosion of flavor I expected it to be, and the little bucket of fries looked rather sad, a far cry from what the description promised.

There's another part of my story. I forgot to check what time it was when the freak accident occured, so when I decided to buy 4D, I had to buy a whole range of times. Two sets of numbers hit for the time range I bought. Unfortunately I didn't get a system entry (with all possible permutations of the numbers) and had also decided to buy the numbers based on a 24-hour clock instead of a 12-hour clock.

So yeah, nothing to show for the night except for clothes that still smell of beer and a free rather blah burger.

I think I'll stick to Carl's Jr. for now.