A Fancy Hamburger

Fancy A Hamburger? 
Jerome and I love our burgers. However, he loves his burgers to be fancy. I am less demanding. I just need my patty thick and juicy, and my burger must arrive without the bun. I am on a gluten-free diet remember?

Jerome paid a visit to Opus at the Hilton recently. We all know that Australians do take grilling pretty seriously and this forte is well-demonstrated at the Opus with a kitchen managed by Aussie-born chef, Nick Philip. Imported charcoals are used in the grilling process and meat is stored in specially commissioned Himalayan salt tile cabinets.  


A Simple Hamburger

Jerome does not spare a dime when it comes to enjoying a simple burger in a fancy way. In my home, grilling means stuffing a bird in the oven. Charcoal is bought at the neighborhood provision shop with high hopes that the charcoal pieces at the bottom of the bag is not dampened by a leaky roof at the provision shop uncle’s store room. Meat for me, is stored at Cold Storage in styrofoam boxes ready for me to purchase when it is marked “sale”. When I want fancy, I will treat myself to a slice of Monterey jack cheese and sauté onions on my burger, and stacked it all together with a toothpick. When I am too lazy to prepare a hamburger myself, I usually visit The Handburger at Raffles City where they were accommodative enough to serve their burgers bun-less. At The Handburger, the original hamburger was my choice. It did come with that slice of Monterey jack cheese and some onions which could have been sauted a wee bit longer. Preferring a low-carb meal, I often ordered my burger with a side of salad even though a burger without chips is like a toilet without soap. I comforted myself with the notion that my body is my temple.


A Not-So-Simple Hamburger

At Opus however, the hamburgers are served hot off the barbie in an open concept kitchen strategically located within the dining hall. According to Jerome, a hamburger at Opus had to be the "mother of burgers". Served with hand-cut fries, Opus’ hamburger was a well-marinated juicy Wagyu patty with a slight hint of herbs, cracked pepper and it had a hint of smokiness in the meat. The burger was elevated further to near perfection with toppings of caramelized red onions, a grilled portobello mushroom, a sunny side-up egg and melted Fontina cheese.


My take on the hamburger at The Handburger? – Belly Average

Jerome’s take on the hamburger at Opus? – Belly Awesome



About The Writer:

This blog post was co-written by my brother Jerome and I. Although we are siblings who grew up 11 years apart, shaped by differing experiences to see the world from different perspectives, we do share a common obsession – FOOD. We celebrate our passion for life with food. However, our attitudes to food are quite different and the way we celebrate our love for food are also quite different. Jerome lives to eat and hoovers everything edible that crosses his path. As he shovels food into his mouth with that fork in his right hand, he takes photographs of what he eats, and posts pictures and notes up on Facebook with his left. Often, his beautifully written prose about what he had eaten would be 7 paragraphs in length and would not have any punctuations in between because he had been too busy multi-tasking. 


I, on the other hand, eat to live. It is not just about my attempts to eat healthily. As I am a “cam-whore” and “social media hussy”, I spend about half an hour styling my food, taking photographs, writing notes and posting them across my social media platforms before eating them, right after the hubby has paid for the bill and is about to head out of the restaurant. I enjoy reading all my posts about what I had eaten because I know that I had lived fully in spite of watching what I eat. Welcome to the foodie world of the quirky Ong siblings.

 

 

The not-so-simple hamburger at Opus

The simple hamburger at The Handburger