A World Class Gourmet Burger Restaurant in Taipei, Taiwan: Burger Lab.
Most of you know that I am from the USA and have traveled to all 50 states, and all around the world. All American men love to eat hamburgers and so does most children and adult women. There are so many places to buy a hamburger from the many fast food chains, to exclusive hotel restaurants and many neighborhood restaurants/bars/taverns in the USA and all around the world. So, at my age it is fair to say that I have eaten many thousands of burgers in my lifetime, and I surely know a great tasting burger when I eat one.
At the Cosmos Hotel in Taipei there is a new and excellent
restaurant that prepares some of the best burgers, sandwiches and side
dishes. Frankly speaking, the hamburger
that I ordered and ate was one of the best I have ever eaten around the world.
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| Courtesy of Burger Lab website on line (Not my photo) |
A World Class Burger Restaurant in Taipei....Almost to hard to believe, but you have to try it to become a believer!
Senior chef JJ Wei, in charge of Western food at
the hotel, believes Burger Lab. is “where gourmet burgers are experimented,
conceptualized and created into mouth-watering finger foods that are full of
surprises.” Believe me I was surprised
that this burger was so good!
You can enter from the street sidewalk or from the lobby of the hotel.
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| Entrance from the Cosmos Hotel Lobby |
The restaurant is small and designed for takeout,
with a modest size dining area.
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| Dining area at Burger Lab. |
Their
menu is simple. Select the type of
sandwich you want, how you want it prepared and with what additions to the
sandwich, and they prepare a custom sandwich just for you.
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| Burger Lab.'s menu/price list |
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| Order here...as easy as 1....2....3 ! |
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| These gourmet burgers are hand crafted right in front of you. |
You also get included with the sandwich a small
buffet that includes French fried potatoes French fried sweet potatoes, and taco
chips, as well as individual servings of salads, steamed cooked vegetables, a
very special condiments including wonderful salad dressings all made at the
hotel.
We ordered a Golden Cod Fish Burger and a
Michelin Wagyu Beef Cheese Burger.
The fish sandwich was a crisp outer and delicious
inner piece of cod fish. So much more
taste than any fish sandwich at a fast food style restaurant in the USA. But the burger I had was so very special and
worthy of being a gourmet burger that I wanted to eat another. I love Wagyu beef steaks in fine steak
houses, but never have I had this scrumptious meat on a hamburger
sandwich. The bun tasted fresh baked,
and was covered with grains. Inside the
sandwich included finely chopped onions, cucumber slices, crispy lettuce, bean
sprouts and more.
The salad and cooked vegetables comes in covered
“plastic drinking cups". The salad had several varieties
of fresh lettuce, whole bean sprouts, long alfalfa sprouts, etc. But let me tell you, we tried the Japanese
dressing and the Passion Fruit yogurt dressings with our salads, and these
dressings are fabulous…..absolutely wonderful.
If the Burger Lab. sold the dressings by the bottle, I would have bought
several of each. Even the fries tasted
better when dipped in the passion fruit yogurt dressing! Believe it or not!
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| Buffet, all you can eat, salad, vegetables, fries, and of course their wonderful salad dressings! |
If the management of the hotel and restaurant
read this blog, bottle these dressings and sell them at the restaurant. When people use them at home, they will want
to come back and eat more great Burger Lab. sandwiches.
One small note, the French Fries sand Sweet Potato
fries were very good, but not as hot as I had hoped. They are placed on the buffet and not kept as
hot as they should be to enjoy their real flavor.
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| French Fries, Chips, and Sweet Potato Fries |
If you love great Burgers, and visit Taipei, then
you simply must put the Cosmos hotel’s Burger Lab., on your “TO DO” list!
Burger
Lab. @ the Cosmos Hotel
No.43, Sec. 1, Zhongxiao W. Rd.
Phone
: +886-2-23617856
Email : cosmos@cosmos-hotel.com.tw
Directions: Take the Blue or Red line to Taipei
Main Station and exit at M3. Once outside,
the hotel is on the left.
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I told you this was a great place to get a gourmet burger. I am heading back to the USA in a few days, and I just had to go back to the Burger Lab. one more time.
Today I met Mr. Dinor Lin, a Food and Beverage Manager at the Cosmos Hotel. As we talked about his restaurant, I learned a lot more and I was able to taste several new items and one of the most special and uniquely different burgers in the world ...... THE BLACK BURGER !
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| Michelin Wagyu Beef Cheese Burger |
Today I met Mr. Dinor Lin, a Food and Beverage Manager at the Cosmos Hotel. As we talked about his restaurant, I learned a lot more and I was able to taste several new items and one of the most special and uniquely different burgers in the world ...... THE BLACK BURGER !
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| Mr. Dinor Lin |
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| The Black Burger Special !!!!!!!!!! |
So if you take a close look, both the beef and the bun is black, as is the special sauce. I am told that they make ALL of there bread fresh in the hotel, and this black bun has bamboo charcoal powder added to the grain to give it the special black color. NOTE: This burger comes with two beef patties, but I ordered only a single patty.....
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| Look at this bun! |
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| This Black Burger has an incredible taste....OMG is it good! |
This bun was soft and very flavorful and it was a great addition to the sandwich. In addition to sauce, they add grilled onions, grilled yellow and green zucchini, soft dried tomato slice and BLACK BEEF! I found out that the chef actually uses a small amount of black squid ink to the beef to give it the color, but I could not taste it at all. It was simply a delicious thick beef patty! This is a limited time ONLY item, so go their soon to sample this great sandwich.
I also tried another special side dish baked potato. They thinly slice the top and add cheese, lite tomato sauce and a sprinkle of ground beef and parsley. This baked potato was moist and tender inside and baked just the right amount. I wish they had some sour cream to add on top!
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| YUMMY !!!!!!!!!!! |
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| Look at the delicious cheese an toppings on this Baked Potato |
I also learned that they try to add at least three different salads and/or vegetables every day. Today they had a salad topped with bacon slices and the one I chose had radicchio and romaine lettuce with clear noodles, Chinese celery sticks, and chunks of fresh apple and guava fruit. Of coarse, I added the passion fruit yogurt dressing on my salad. I also took pictures of all their dressings and condiments. This time I also noticed an array of many herbs and spices you can sprinkle on your burger, fries or salads. One special one I tried was a plum salt on my salad. Very wonderful taste.
So, remember, Burger Lab. really is a gourmet burger restaurant, and to experience their variety of specials, go back often.......I am glad I did!!!
Bon Appetit Readers !!!!
