Burger de Ville is a pop-up burger van outside Bikini Berlin, a mixed use development, including shops, offices a cinema and hotel, currently under construction opposite the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche on Hardenbergstrasse.
The food caravan is being used to promote the Twenty Five Hours Hotel that will open at Bikini Berlin in Autumn 2013.
***Moved – Burger de Ville has now moved to Friedrichstrasse 48 in Mitte***
It was the eye-catching design of the Airstream ‘silver bullet’, aluminium and steel caravan, that has been converted to house a kitchen, that first caught my eye on a shopping trip to the nearby Ku’damm.
I’m a big burger fan so it was only a matter of time before I went back to eat there and that’s just what I did early on Friday evening.
I ordered the Jalapeño Burger (which comes with tomatoes, jalapeños, manchego cheese, lollo bianco lettuce, crispy bacon and a chilli mayonnaise), Pommes mit Meersalz (chips with sea salt) with ketchup and a Fürstenberg (beer), which came to €9.10.
For me, the chips were too salty but maybe I made the wrong choice, as there are three other chips options on the menu – I particularly like the sound of the Funky Pommes (chips with garlic and smooth parsley).
The burger on the other hand was very tasty. The meat was juicy and the jalapeños delivered a good kick. It was so good in fact that I’ve already been back for another one.
And I’ll definitely visit Burger de Ville again and see whether the salty chips issue affects the Funky Pommes
The biggest challenge facing Burger de Ville though, isn’t the saltiness of the chips, it’s the lack of an indoor eating space. With the Berlin nights already closing in and temperatures in single digits, eating outdoors isn’t appealing to most people and in the coming weeks temperatures will struggle to climb above freezing.
In those conditions even the homemade Glühwein won’t be enough to make customers want to stand around at Burger de Ville for long.
***Update***
Burger de Ville now has a tent attached to the caravan that provides shelter from the elements during the cold Winter weather.
Also, Jürgen from Burger de Ville has been in touch about my issue with the chips (Pommes) I ate:
…if something like that is brought to our attention we will correct it immediately and would replace whatever it is without hesitation. I spent 10 years in the US and have the same customer orientated approach as most companies in the service sector in the US…
It is this kind of attitude that will play a big part in the potential success of Burger de Ville.
I spoke to the owner, Juergen, and he mentioned that there will be a heated tent to protect folks from the harsh Berlin elements. Should improve the overall experience.
Thanks for the info Nicole. That will definitely make return visits more likely for me.
Thanks for your visit and review ….Nicole came by today and told me about your blog …. We have a tent with heating now to give shelter from winter elements …. I take your comments about salty fries very serious… Seasoning fries is easy yet difficult …. We also had comments from guest that the fries needed salt …. I think it was just the loose wrist of one of my staff or myself that made the fries to salty …. Mind you if something like that is brought to our attention we will correct it immediately and would replace whatever it is without hesitation. I spend 10 years in the US and have the same customer orientated approach as most companies in the service sector in the US…. Please come back and give our fries another chance…. Happy Holidays Jürgen
Jürgen, thanks for your comment. It reminded me that I walked by last week and stopped to take a picture of the tent, which is a great addition.
Thanks also for your comments about the fries. I understand that getting the seasoning right on food isn’t easy as everyone has different tastes. It’s great to see the attitude that you have to your customers and I’ll certainly be back to eat again next year.