Kiosko Burger

A sunny Sunday in Ciutadella park is a fine family day out, not least because the Borne area of town is right next door. There’s a good choice of places to get a drink or snack when you tire of chasing footballs, pushing swings or sitting on giant plastic mammoths.

Today we fancied a burger so headed to Kiosko Burger (www.kioskoburger.com) that has taken the place of the Wushu Thai restaurant on Marqués de l’Argentera 1. Owned by the same Australian chef who ran Wushu, this is a “gourmet burger bar” that aims to raise the humble patty in a bun above the grim standard of the usual Spanish interpretation.

There are other burger bars in town and numbers seem to be on the increase. Pim Pam Burger’s nearby but while it’s certainly decent it’s never blown me away. It was, therefore, with some trepidation that I waited for the shutters to come up for the 1pm lunchtime opening at Kiosko with my pregnant wife and 2-year-old daughter impatient with post-park caloric deprivation.

The format’s simple — take a seat on one of the bar seats that line the perimeter of the restaurant or at the communal long table in the centre, circle the items you want on the printed paper menu then take the order to the till to pay for it and get your drinks.

Burgers aren’t complicated. Why it should be so hard to get good beef, bake some buns, make a few sauces then fire up a charcoal grill is beyond me. And yet it is so very rarely done well. Kiosko’s were hard to fault. Everything here showed attention to detail, from the delicious ketchups:

To the hand cut ‘rustica’ chips:

To the plain burger that my daughter loved:

The heat in my ‘Cayena’ chilli burger was supposed to come from the chilli chutney on it but it was a bit lacking in kick. That’s the only criticism: as a burger it was superb.

Even better was my wife’s ‘Burgos’ lamb burger with goat’s cheese. I’ve always maintained that lamb is a superior grilling meat to beef and this proved my point perfectly. Simple and sensational.

We chose the wholegrain buns which were light, well made and nicely toasted. The chips were crunchy on the outside, melting and fluffy inside. The chutneys and sauces were excellent. The drinks were moderately priced (Moritz beer at €2). I’m not convinced that any burger can be truly ‘gourmet’ but they can, when done well, be very good indeed. There was nothing at all to complain about at Kiosko and the next time I want a burger or a simple lunch in that part of town, this is where I’m heading.