Spaghetti fries, charcoal-grilled burgers at Wham!

MANILA, Philippines – Whenever burgers are mentioned, an episode from recently concluded TV series How I Met Your Mother comes to mind – an episode where the gang spent a whole night trying to look for the best burger in New York City.

Here in Manila, the searching for the best burger may come as a chore with all the burger joints in the city and tastes that are always subjective. Ranging from foreign-owned to Filipino-owned establishments, a great burger might be elusive but still, there is comfort knowing that it exists here in the Metro.

Wham! Burgers is one of the local burger joints that has been around for quite a while. Though it hasn’t been making too much noise about its presence, it’s had a steady stream of customers since opening in the year 2000 in Katipunan, Quezon City.

The burger joint’s concept was the product of good friends Tony Yap and Dondi Lazaro’s experiments for an affordable gourmet burger that will appeal to the Filipino taste buds.

Their burgers incorporate what the two friends thought an outstanding burger should be – “huge, hearty, and tucked with impeccably good beef.” Patties are never frozen and are cooked with their unique grill that’s an electric and gas hybrid with charcoal on top. 

The charcoal-cooked 1/3 pound juicy beef patty ends up with a savory, smoky flavor – just the way freshly grilled burgers should be. 

The owners of Wham! also make sure that the patties are extender free with 80-20 lean fat, setting their burgers apart from a typical fast food concoction. It’s gourmet, without the hotel-lobby price.  

Here are a couple of things we loved on the menu:

Spaghetti fries

This is not on the menu but you can always ask the staff for it. Spaghetti fries remind us of a Filipino birthday party as the omnipresent sweet-style spahetti sauce is smothered on top of thick-cut fries and is generously sprinkled with cheese.

It may sound weird at first but this is definitely worth a try.

Bronco Burger (P200, US$4.50)

Bacon, sweet onions, cheese, and a huge patty. Oh, and it comes with sauces too like barbecue and blue cheese. Careful not to put too much though as it can overpower the patty’s flavor.

Sliders (P250, US$5.70), Onion Rings (P80, US$1.80), and Pepper Poppers (P82, US$1.80)

If you have difficulty deciding which burger to get, the slider trio is a wise choice. It contains a serving of cheese burger, Wham! Burger, and a bacon burger.

They’re slightly bigger than the usual sliders so it’s actually good for sharing. Other treats you can share with friends are the onion rings and Pepper Poppers – fried poppers with melted cheese and a hint of spice inside. Don’t worry they’re not too spicy and go well with the burgers.

The Whammer (P195, US$4.45)

It’s Wham!’s flagship burger. A marvel to look at due to its size, the burger can be quite intimidating but a bite into it is all you need to start digging in. Before you know it, you’ve finished the whole thing despite knowing that you’ll have to pay for it at the gym later. Like all burgers in Wham! (except for the slightly smaller sliders, of course) the Whammer comes with 1/3 pound, charcoal grilled pure beef patty, cheese, tomatoes, bacon, and lettuce. It also has sweet-salty deep fried onion strings on top.

For those trying to shave off a few calories from their meals by sticking to white meat, Wham! also has chicken sandwiches that are as big and tender as their regular burgers.

Have you tried Wham! Burger? Which ones are your favorites? Let us know in the comments section below. – Rappler.com

Wham! branches are at Katipunan QC, SM North Edsa The Block, Molito Alabang and Mall of Asia