1885 Burger Store was taking a big risk locating its recently opened premises a stone’s throw away from Evans Burger (reviewed here on Feb. 27). Evans packs in the crowds not only because of its prices and snappy service, but also with its relaxing colonial-style space.
Burger Store clearly did its homework before opening. Its interior of soft lighting, brick walls, wood finishes and comfortable booths matches Evans’ laid-back vibe. Also like Evans, this joint offers cola refills for free and there is no service charge. Unlike Evans, Burger Store is mainly interested in one thing: burgers. And when it comes to its daily burger specials (served during the week from 11am to 6pm), Burger Store is good value.
Monday’s offering is the cheddar and Swiss cheese burger (NT$190); Tuesday’s is the cheese and mushroom burger (NT$180); Wednesday’s is a grilled steak burger (NT$220); Thursday’s is the BBQ bacon and cheese burger (NT$220); and the week rounds out with a BBQ pineapple and cheese burger (NT$220). All burger specials are served with French fries and a drink. As it was Tuesday, I went with the cheese and mushroom burger.
Generous slices of fresh mushrooms, lightly fried, rested on a piece of melted processed cheese and thick beef patty on an open bun. The sliced tomatoes, red onions and lettuce along with three slices of pickle come on the side for patrons to add them if they so choose.
To set itself apart from similar restaurants, Burger Store has added some novel flourishes such as substituting plates with wooden cutting boards and placing the fries in cute metal pails.
For the price, it was an impressive display. The fries were crispy while the burger was juicy and tasty.
Less impressive, however, was the grilled steak breakfast (NT$290). It came served with two thin slabs of beef, two eggs (any style), a choice of cheese potatoes or hash browns and salad, juice and bread.
We were surprised to find a whole-wheat hamburger bun accompanied the dish. Is Burger Store too specialized in making burgers to offer sliced bread?
The vegetables in the salad consisted of those that accompanied the burger. Hiding them underneath a mound of canned corn merely added insult to injury. Even the cheese sauce that came with the very oily and flavorless potatoes tasted suspiciously like the same variety used on the burger. All that was missing from this burger-disguised-as-a-breakfast was the pickles and mushrooms.
The dish began to make sense only when my dining companion piled the egg and slightly gristly steak on top of the bun — burger style. Some baked beans here or fried onion there would have done much for this “breakfast.”
Burger Store won’t win accolades for originality or superior taste. But what it does do — whip up a solid burger — it does well.
Last week Joseph Nye, the well-known China scholar, wrote on the Australian Strategic Policy Institute’s website about how war over Taiwan might be averted. He noted that years ago he was on a team that met with then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁), “whose previous ‘unofficial’ visit to the US had caused a crisis in which China fired missiles into the sea and the US deployed carriers off the coast of Taiwan.” Yes, that’s right, mighty Chen caused that crisis all by himself. Neither the US nor the People’s Republic of China (PRC) exercised any agency. Nye then nostalgically invoked the comical specter
April 15 to April 21 Yang Kui (楊逵) was horrified as he drove past trucks, oxcarts and trolleys loaded with coffins on his way to Tuntzechiao (屯子腳), which he heard had been completely destroyed. The friend he came to check on was safe, but most residents were suffering in the town hit the hardest by the 7.1-magnitude Hsinchu-Taichung Earthquake on April 21, 1935. It remains the deadliest in Taiwan’s recorded history, claiming around 3,300 lives and injuring nearly 12,000. The disaster completely flattened roughly 18,000 houses and damaged countless more. The social activist and
Over the course of former President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) 11-day trip to China that included a meeting with Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leader Xi Jinping (習近平) a surprising number of people commented that the former president was now “irrelevant.” Upon reflection, it became apparent that these comments were coming from pro-Taiwan, pan-green supporters and they were expressing what they hoped was the case, rather than the reality. Ma’s ideology is so pro-China (read: deep blue) and controversial that many in his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hope he retires quickly, or at least refrains from speaking on some subjects. Regardless
Approaching her mid-30s, Xiong Yidan reckons that most of her friends are on to their second or even third babies. But Xiong has more than a dozen. There is Lucky, the street dog from Bangkok who jumped into a taxi with her and never left. There is Sophie and Ben, sibling geese, who honk from morning to night. Boop and Pan, both goats, are romantically involved. Dumpling the hedgehog enjoys a belly rub from time to time. The list goes on. Xiong nurtures her brood from her 8,000 square meter farm in Chiang Dao, a mountainous district in northern Thailand’s