The Handburger Singapore 313 @ Somerset Restaurant

August 6, 2010 | 17 Comments

The Handburger Singapore

I was pretty excited when The Handburger launched last year. They were among some of the new burger places in Singapore that claimed to serve gourmet burgers. With creations like tandoor chicken, and duck confit burgers – you can’t blame me for being enthusiastic.

Their original location at Raffles City was closed for renovation, and when I walked by their branch at 313 @ Somerset, the huge promotional signboard for their set lunch was screaming at me: “come in and grab a burger – you know you want one!”

The lunch special (available till 4.30pm) of a burger + side + drink is just $8.80. I’m not sure if you are aware, but The Handburger restaurant belongs under the same management as the popular Soup Spoon franchise.

If my memory did not fail me, the burgers used to be priced much higher. But apparently, they have re-adjusted the prices – making it more affordable for the mass market.

The name of “the handburger” was an irony as everyone in the restaurant was using utensils instead of hand to consume their burger. It’s so wrong to eat a burger with fork and knife. The best way to eat a burger is to grab it with both hand and wolf down the sexy devil. Now there, you don’t really need me to write a guide on ‘How to eat a burger‘ do you?

Burger, is meant to be a messy affair.

The Handburger Original

For the sides, there’s salad or fries to choose from. The former was earthly and clean, nothing sophisticated — just simple fresh greens with crispy bacon streaks and mini tomatoes. On the other hand, the fries were passable and came with a garlic sauce to dip in. Give me my tomato and chili sauce!

There’s the Handburger Original with a grilled 120g of N.Z ribeye beef patty; the Chicken Caesar burger which has a single baked chicken thigh; the fascinating Pulled Pork Burger with slow-cooked fork tender pulled pork filling; and the Battered dory burger that is made up of a single battered pacific dory fish.

We had the Handburger Original and the Pulled Pork Burger. Resting on a seabed of lettuce, the Handburger Original’s beef patty was grilled and topped with a layer of cheddar cheese. I love that they were really generous with the lettuce in the burger – so much so that I’d advise to choose the fries over the salad for your side.

I didn’t really enjoy the beef patty though, it was somewhat flavorless and had a rubbery taste. Go for the Pulled Pork Burger instead. Strips and strips of pork came with handmade barbecue sauce and it was really delicious! On a side note, The Handburger’s menu stated that the buns were toasted, but it was a little too oily for my liking and tasted more like deep-fried.

* * *

For just $8.8, I felt that The Handburger set lunch is pretty value for money considering that a meal at MacDonald probably costs around $6-7 nowadays. Has anyone tried their duck confit burger? I’m a huge fan of duck confit, and if you ever see me back in The Handburger, I will probably have a duck confit burger in hand!

Restaurant Review
The Handburger
313 Orchard Road #B2-17/18/19
313 @ Somerset Singapore
Tel: +65 6509 6214

252 North Bridge Road #B1-77/78
Raffles City Shopping Centre Singapore
Tel: +65 6334 4577

Comments

17 Responses to “The Handburger Singapore 313 @ Somerset Restaurant”

yvonne
August 6th, 2010 @ 9:37 am

I just went there recently too! My friend had the duck confit, I had the portobello. Trust me, the portobello is one burger to be eaten with knives. It’s THAT juicy and THAT messy. The mushroom is filled with a spinach-cheese-tofu filling, very interesting, ought to try that. My friend comments that the duck confit is good, but I’m not a fan of duck.

I love Soup Spoon, and yay for the same management!
Daniel
August 6th, 2010 @ 10:43 am

I just had their duck leg confit burger for dinner two days ago, didnt impress me with its dried edges and less-than-tender meat. Portion was rather small too. Combination with mandarin orange hit off rather well though. For the same price, their Works Burger is a better choice!

Yup I think they cut down on the portions as well, the accompanying fried for set meals used to be a lot more!
Eli
August 6th, 2010 @ 12:27 pm

I agree; fries are important. A lackluster side can ruin the tenor of a whole dish. But the simple burger in the photo looks very enticing! I am a sucker for simple ingredients, and those look very fresh and well-put-together. Duck confit sounds very strange, but pulled pork sounds lovely.

Are you sure that isn’t a brioche bun? Because it looks like one to me.
jiaying
August 6th, 2010 @ 1:56 pm

been wanting to go !!!! i like !!
Chong
August 6th, 2010 @ 3:32 pm

One of my favourite places to go to whenever I’m in Singapore. I’d normally go for their The Works or Chicken Caesar. Can’t wait to visit them again!
jiaying
August 6th, 2010 @ 3:33 pm

eh no more colesaw stuffed tomato ?
J2Kfm
August 6th, 2010 @ 4:41 pm

Just that sometimes the burgers are so huge, patties after patties stacked with many sides sandwiched between, it’s almost impossible to not use the cutlery to cut up the layers!
Regina
August 6th, 2010 @ 5:01 pm

I was really not impressed with that place when I was there a couple of weeks ago. The salad I got was a brown at the edges, and the burger was just plain boring. If you get the urge for a good burger in that area you should head to Botak Jones at the Orchard Youth Park instead. They got awsome garlicy burgers to a very decent price.
Daphne Maia
August 6th, 2010 @ 7:45 pm

i love The Handburger! I wouldn’t go so far as to call it gourmet burger, but it’s pretty decent for that price. And oh, i think the set it’s available for dinner too, cos Nick n i have had it for dinner before, just a couple of weeks back. Haha.. Pretty awesome for fast food (and they do serve fast). So far i’ve only had the original Handburger on both times i was there. i like it, but it makes me yearn for my friend’s home-made burgers! He makes super awesome burgers.. U can ask him for recipe if u wanna try ur hand at it.. He’s @insightr on twitter.. Hurhur..

Anyway, i won’t complain abt their quality cos it’s way better than overpriced tiny Mos Burgers, but i’ve definitely had better burgers, at a higher price too. At this price, no complaints, n in fact, pretty good deal!
Margaret
August 7th, 2010 @ 11:52 am

the milkshake’s awesome too! you’ll find soft chocolate lumps in every sip (or gulp!)
Shirin
August 7th, 2010 @ 9:15 pm

The burgers look pretty cute! (:
dweam
August 8th, 2010 @ 11:49 am

I’ve seen the Handburger countless of times at Somerset 313 and Raffles City. The Raffles City one opened first of course, but both outlets always have a long queue!
Jeanne
August 8th, 2010 @ 11:51 pm

OH! I was dang excited to see a post on Handburger but alas, I’m a tad disappointed that you didn’t try the sides or desserts. They frigging have waffle fries!! I’ve tried the Duck Confit burger and I love the little mandarin oranges and the meat was simply delectable (for that price anyway). The portobello burger was as Yvonne said – JUICYYY. I can’t wait to go back to the Raffles City outlet, the 313 outlet didn’t feel that “good” to me.
ladyironchef - Singapore Food Blog
August 14th, 2010 @ 11:20 am

yvonne: the portobello was so good? haha but it’s just mushroom only right? I’m not such a health conscious person, give me the duck confit anyday! maybe i should find a friend who will like mushroom burger, so that i can sneak a bite : p

daniel: Works burger > duck confit? Got it! i saw the photo for the works burger, it looks really huge! yea if i didn’t remember wrongly, the duck confit burger used to be around 17ish?

Eli: Yeah fries are the one that make a 9.5/10 burger a perfect 10 burger! heh

jiaying: did you go in the end? was it open during weekend ma?

j2kfm: BUT BUT, burgers are meant to be eaten with hands! haha

regina: had botak jones burger a long time ago, didn’t really impress. but i guess for the price it’s okay. I want to try the bench burger & bar next! heh

daphne: the $8.8 set is available during dinner too?!? whoa, home-made burgers are always the best! you can add as much ingredients as you want :p Yeah you summarized everything very well. Not complaining for the price, it’s pretty decent burgers

Margaret: OH REALLY? i have been wanting to find a good milkshake! roger that!

shirin: hahahah burgers are more like sexy to me : D

dweam: yeah i first saw the handburger at raffles city, not sure if that branch is reopened already.

jeanne: hold on a second, waffle friees? how’s that like? you mean they fried their waffles? or they put fries into waffles? lol! okie dok i want to try their portobello burger next!
ilovetojot
August 16th, 2010 @ 12:40 pm

We were curious why it was called Handburger… and so we asked the staff as we foot the bill. The cashier told us the food items are all hand-made!

Went home to google for their homepage and voila… Their philosophy…

“Everything at the Handburger is made with these dear hands of ours”
ladyironchef - Singapore Food Blog
August 22nd, 2010 @ 6:26 pm

ilovetojot: whoa, i didn’t know that! hahaha thanks for sharing the story : )
Jyoan
August 27th, 2010 @ 12:29 pm

I had the salmon one and I found it pretty nice. But I didn’t find it a must go back. =)