The Great Burger: Traditional Gaijin Cuisine (Tokyo, Japan)

First of all, yes, these reviews will have no order to them whatsoever. That being said, as you will see, I love to travel. One of my favorite places to go is Tokyo. No, I am not some Anime nerd or anything. I love Tokyo because there is always so much to see and do there. One of the best things to do there, is drink and then wander the streets aimlessly. It was during one of these wanderings that I came across The Great Burger. I’m glad I did.

The Great Burger is located in a small sub-alley, of a larger alley, of a side street of a major road. It was on this major road where my friend and I were drunkenly high-fiving strangers when we got hungry. Just as this hunger was brought up, we both noticed a small cardboard sign saying, ” ^#^^*^ Burgers *##^*”( I cannot read Japanese). Having spent the day eating noodles and such, a burger sounded good and we headed the direction the sign’s arrow pointed. After turning down alley after alley, we finally arrived at the little corner place.

In keeping with their burger theme, Great Burger decorated the inside of this small twenty seater with old American food containers. There were shelves filled with soda cans, pancake mix boxes, and bean cans. I liked the look, it was clear the people that designed it believed that Americans live in places where they are entirely surrounded by food at all times. This is, of course, entirely correct. The three people working there were all no more than 30 years old, and you can tell this was sort of a hangout. In fact while I was sitting there, a dog walked in by itself and was greeted like a friend by the employees. This lax atmosphere did not affect the service one bit though, and as it seems in most restaurants in Japan, the staff was friendly and quick.

The menu was all burgers, they did not play around. No veggie option, no side salads. Just burgers and fries. Of course, there were many options of burger. They had the traditional, cheeseburger, bacon cheeseburger, cheeseburger with fried egg. Then of course, they had their own spin with the burger. These originals included, the “spicy sauce burger” and the “seafood plus burger”. I decided to try one traditional, one original. The traditional I had was the bacon cheeseburger, and it was amazing. I could tell in a few bites that everything was extremely fresh. The bun was definitely baked on site or very close by, and the burger patties were hand formed. Even the lettuce and tomatoes seems extra crisp. It was clear that Great Burger cared about quality. Next I tried an original, the “salty butter pumpkin balsamic vinegar burger”. This, was not so good. It actually was terrible, they just really packed on the balsamic vinegar. This made eating the thing a sloppy mess, with juice squirting and the burger and pumpkin slices sliding everywhere. It was also incredibly salty. I mean, I realize “salty” is in its name, but this was nearly unbearably so. I was near choking for water on every bite.

After eating, my friend and I sat there people watching and discussing our meals. We both thought the traditional burger was better than most burger places. I had to explain the taste of the balsamic burger, my friend was afraid to try it. As we sat there, I noticed that no one else in the filled to capacity restaurant had ordered anything other than what would be considered a traditional burger. So I figure, these original creations might not be a matter of cultural palette differences, maybe they are just nasty to everyone.

It feels weird to tell a burger place in Tokyo to stick with what they know, but I’ll say exactly that. The regular burger is a marvel there; fresh ingredients, perfectly cooked. The service was as excellent as you can come to expect in Tokyo, and it was a fun atmosphere. As for the original creations, before you consider ordering one, there’s probably a reason you’ve never seen it anywhere else before.