Warsaw’s Burger War
February 18, 2017In the space of a year, Warsaw’s burgers have gone from fast food to slow food quality. We meet the people behind the city’s new gourmet craze.
by Anna J. Kutor
It’s 11.50 on Friday in Warsaw, and crowd of young professionals and hipster types
are circling around Warburger, a little shack stationed on a leafy northern
pocket of town. Inside the black-and-white cabin, an energetic duo of
chef-cum-servers are bustling about, packing out the bins of grass-fed beef,
sliced Mimolette cheese, bacon and jalapeño peppers, not to mention large bags
of freshly backed buns. In ten minutes, the first of the midday masses will
stream through the glass doors to chow down on the city’s the hottest menu
item: gourmet burgers.
Gone are the days when street food meant gut-busting kebabs and greasy zapiekanka
(grilled open-faced sandwiches). Reaping the benefits of a culinary
coming-of-age, Warsaw’s eating landscape has embraced a higher-quality,
healthier and more adventurous philosophy at many levels – from fine dining to
curbside cuisine. A gaggle of like-minded gastropreneurs are now getting
creative with the classic American hamburger, dishing up overstuffed
between-the-bun creations with prime Angus, Kobe or locally sourced beef and
customizable or innovative toppings. By taking Slow Food principles to the
streets, these new-age burger kings have crafted super-sized tastes of triumph,
and local appetites are rising in lockstep.
There’s no shortage of specialty burger joints blazing the luxe beef trail. Some are polished, design-magazine
worthy places such as Charlie Food & Friends and Brooklyn Burgers &
Wings that cater to well-heeled beef-lovers. Others, including Burger Bar and
Mr. Pancake, are cozy neighborhood spots with a fiercely loyal following.
There are also a few on-the-go kitchens like Soul Food Bus and Bobby Burger
that take their juicy flavor bombs where the cool-kids congregate. Each
hotspot puts their own unique spin on the quarter-pounder, but what unites
their operations is a zealous commitment to fresh produce and customizable
options influenced by a gamut of bold flavors.
But with so many contenders and newcomers vying for the burger supremacy, the question is which is the
meatiest, most sumptuous bit of heaven between two buns. Happily, we’ve taken
an eat-and-run tour of the city’s edible riches and compiled the standout
warriors in Warsaw’s ongoing burger wars. Grab some extra napkins, loosen your
belt buckle, and let the digestive delights begin.
Warburger
“After eating good burgers in several European capitals, we realized that it was time to introduce them to
Warsaw,” says chef-owner Adam Zakrzewski, who together with Bartek Pirkel,
makes up the dynamic burger-flipping team at Warburger. What they brought to
the culinary table was a rocking formula: contemporary bare-bones design,
relaxed vibe and exceptional burger-building prowess. Traditionalist will enjoy
the tried-and-true classics served on sweet buttery buns, but there’s also an
arsenal of nouvelle variations aiming for the heavyweight title. The Giacomo
Burger, for example, is outfitted with pesto and fried eggs, while the Hangover
Burger comes slathered in American whiskey-infused sauce, and the top-rated
Wild Burger is made of venison and goat cheese. “The slow-food-fast movement
has really caught on in Poland and our burgers are a great example of that. We
source all our ingredients locally, focusing on seasonal products and
free-range gourmet meat, plus a custom-made bun that is a real hit with our
fans. All of that is mixed with passion and the inventiveness of our chefs, so
people can easily eat here several dozens of times without getting bored – as
the queue outside the door shows.”
“Really good burgers have a specific second-phase dirty taste that comes from beef with high meat-to-tallow
ratio mixed with a pinch of seasalt and freshly ground pepper before grilling.
That beef-dirty taste makes you go crazy,” enthuses Bogumił “Bobby” Jankiewicz,
proprietor and namesake of Bobby Burger. That so-called dirty quality, coupled
with a blend of informality and high-touch service, may be why Bobby has built
up a dedicated fanbase. You won’t find any whimsically-named burgers and flashy
extras here, just a stripped-down menu of four burger-on-bun creations each
with a succulent chunk of beef sandwiched between crispy buns anointed with a
choice of melting cheese, crispy bacon and sauces. “It’s important to let the
quality of the main ingredients shine.”
“Our goal has always been to sell quality burgers in places with lots of people and a lack of good food, which is why we started with a food truck,” explains Bobby. That mobile culinary dream
became such a runaway success with the late-night party posse that Bobby soon
doubled it’s operation by launching a catering trailer targeting the lunchtime
office crowds. By partnering with cultural trendsetters Norbert Redkie and
Bartłomiej Kraciuk of Grupa Warszawa, the movable feast rolled into a
brick-and-mortar premises in the hipster battleground of Powisle precinct and
is now primed from city-wide expansion. “To reach the widest audience possible
we set the affordable prices and follow our customers from their workplace to
their nighttime activities. We also have a delivery option, so we can also take
the goods to people’s doorsteps.”
“Slow food really stepped into
the focus last year and with that, the capital’s palate increasingly started
craving premium, always-fresh ingredients, even in burgers,” explains Jacek
Petryk and Maciej Folman, the brains behind Barn Burger. The downtown burgerie
– dreamt up during the kick-off day of the EURO 2012 Football Championships -
rocketed to foodie stardom with an edgy and inventive selection of
mouth-watering burgers that tickle pleasure receptors at every bite. Maybe it’s
the luscious hunk of beef, or the intriguing combination of condiments – think
grilled tofu, truffle sauce, cranberries and Highlander oscypek cheese - or the
soft mouthfeel of the bun that hold the whole messy package together. Whatever
it is, eating these robust patties is pure happiness. “It’s all about getting
the right meat. Each of our burgers, from the spicy Muppet Burger to the extra
Rockefeller Burger, have a blend of carefully selected Charolai beef that gives
exceptional depth of flavour. Then there’s the deluxe steak burgers made from
300 grams of ground rib-eye and tenderloin that have really caught on with
connoisseurs. We also make a point of coming up with a monthly rotation of
Limited Edition variations garnished with unexpected toppings such as caviar,
seafood, ginger and avocados.”
“It took some time for Poles to
realize that burgers don’t necessarily mean fast or junk food, but that they
can also serve as a decent quality meal, best shared with friends and a side of
cold beer,” highlights Kamila Dziudziek, Business Development Manager of
Charlie Food & Friends. The domain of Polish cafe chain W Beigu Cafe
creator Maciej Adamaszek and his team of like-minded visionaries, this modern
urban casual dining spot makes a striking statement not just with its location,
inside the grand Rondo 1 tower, but also with its design: lime green chairs,
LED spotlights and large photographs of urban landmarks that fill the pristine
white, semi-industrial space. But the menu is what really makes clued-in
gourmands froth at the mouth: rather than a choice of pre-constructed
sandwiches, you get to choose the buns, a pile of toppings, and the grill-time
of the meat - all of which contribute to the burger of your dreams. “Charlie’s
recipe for good burgers is making them personal. With over twenty different
add-ons, our Pick&Mix self-service menu has something to fulfill every
taste and desire. We also strive to add a little wit to our burgers by offering
non-trivial toppings such as cooked pears, tapenade, beetroot or parsley-root
in honey and herbs.”
SOUL FOOD BUS
“We were the first food truck serving original burgers in Warsaw or perhaps in
Poland which created a lot of hype and buzz about us, so the response was fast,
as evidenced by the amount of good and bad burger bars that sprung up around
the city,” says Michał Krzaklewski and Marek Ignaciuk, co-founding friends of
Soul Food Bus. Breaking free of their corporate shackles, the enterprising pair
set their red meals-on-wheels operation into motion in 2011 and proved that the
capital has quite an appetite for trendiness. Apart from the hipster factor,
what continues to pulls in hungry carnivores is their creative shake-up of
American and Mexican specialties, including several bun-and-patty combos
packing plenty of va va voom. The Bacon Cheese burger is an out-and-out
favourite, but more extravagant Jamaican (dressed with grilled pineapples),
Swiss (including Brie cheese and ruccola) and Pimento (with salami and pimento
sauce) variants are also knock-your-sock-off delicious. “The best burgers are
the ones where all the carefully-selected ingredients work together
harmoniously, but at the heart lies the meat, which has to be unique and original
to stand out. We source ours from a farm in Podlasie, one of Polands cleanest
regions.”
