Life's a Grind...

I was quite excited when the Daily Grind opened up in Bangsar Village in December 2007. After all, the local restaurants should always be kept on their toes with a good bit of competition and really, I was getting kind of tired of the La Bodega burger (getting tired of La Bodega also).

I was also a bit curious to see how well this establishment would do, since they touted themselves as a 'Gourmet Burger Diner'. My previous experience with the 'other' gourmet burger place, Relish (located ironically round the corner at the car showroom opposite Bangsar Village) was decidedly poor. At Relish, we waited 45 minutes for our burgers - it was almost like they were looking for the cow, then slaughtering the cow, then grinding up the meat and the service was nothing short of appalling. Then came the crinkle cut chips! I expect a place with the word 'gourmet' in its name to make their own chips for heavens sakes. Hand-cut MINIMUM. If I want crinkle cut chips, I'll buy a bag of McCains and make them in my own oven!

So Relish is definitely on my Condemn List.

In any case, all seemed interesting when the day before they opened, I walked past and was told that the Daily Grind made it's burgers from Wagyu beef. Ah, this might explain the rather high price. However, this turned out to be misinformation (or an error perhaps) on the part of the staff. The Daily Grind makes its burgers from Australian-grain fed beef, not Wagyu.

So ahem, not quite the same moo.

I have been in twice, and by my reckoning and in gossip sessions with some other food aficionados, the Daily Grind's future does not look so bright. Admittedly in the first lunch I had there, there were some teething problems. Notably at the start they were having trouble getting the orders out quickly and in a timely fashion. This is common problem most restaurants have - opening week yips and teething problems from getting the staff to work with the kitchen folk. My burger arrived on time but I suspect it was also because two diners (who I knew) before me cancelled their orders out of annoyance.

All in all, the Cheeseburger I had was quite good. The hand-cut fries were also nicely made - crisp, and thick cut. But does it justify the term 'gourmet' and my RM42.55 cents bill? (respectively RM27 for the cheeseburger, RM10 for my cranberry juice, RM3.70 service charge and RM1.85 GST)

Me thinks not.

The obvious problem I had was with the perfectly formed burger patty. A gourmet burger should be hand-made and hand-shaped. It certainly should not be perfectly formed like it came out from a mold. And at RM27 it was about average-sized as far as burger's go. I've seen bigger.The burger bun was admittedly tasty, slightly sweet, but crisply toasted and buttery. Very more-ish. But again, RM27? I have a definite beef with that price.

Still, condemnation should not come after one try. So I went back again with some friends, and this time I had the chicken burger (waistline was dictating my choice). Impressions did not improve given that the first time around, my chicken burger was still flapping when it arrived (read:not cooked).

Now, if a beef burger is perhaps a little underdone or a bit pink in the center, this is quite understandable because beef does taste better under-done and burgers generally do not benefit from the charcoal treatment. But for a cook to get a chicken burger under-cooked (and it was cooked outside) is suggestive of firstly, a lack of attention being paid to the cooking process but also, indicates the burgers are most likely pre-made (my chicken burger was also perfectly 'molded') and more importantly, are possibly frozen when they arrive at the store. Thus, when it hits the very hot grill, the outside cooks quickly but the inside remains under-cooked.

Of course, they sent for another and this time it came properly done and cooked inside. And the policy of bottomless fries refills apparently had been instituted between my 1st visit and 2nd visit. The fries were still good of course, but my impression was certainly affected and since then, I haven't contemplated a return visit.

And it's not because I have an issue with the price per se. My view is, if the product justifies the price, then pay premium. But premium had better be premium. For RM27, I don't expect a machine molded burger, or just a nice bun. I expect maybe a burger that's big enough to be shared OR posh bread and maybe some sophisticated proprietary sauce that goes with it.

Speaking of sauce, the owners are proud of their home-made ketchup. I am not impressed again. It tastes more like tomato puree than ketchup (which SHOULD be sweet, not just spiced and tomato-ey), and it has a distinctly unpalatable texture and appearance. For the amount they have bottled on the walls, either there's going to be a lot of tomato puree (oops, ketchup) being thrown away, or the recipe isn't changing for a while. So if you plan to check it out, I suggest you bring your own ketchup or chilli sauce.

I'm told that the Daily Grind is modelled on a burger diner that the owners liked to patronise during their time in Australia (Aussies AGAIN!). From my two visits, I think a lot of work needs to go into the product to really give it a touch that justifies the description 'Gourmet'(which incidentally, Wikipedia defines as "meals of especially high quality, whose makers or preparers have used special effort or art in presentation or cooking the meal"). In short, that personal touch is essential to justify the use of the term 'gourmet'. Machine molding your burgers already violates this concept in spirit and in principle.

Of course, this is not just a problem we have here in Malaysia. Serious Eats has a lamenting post on the subject matters of 'The Sad State of American Burgers' - what I like about this post is that it delves into the question of 'What is a Gourmet Burger' and what qualifies as a gourmet burger.

The Daily Grind sure doesn't.

Postscript: I wrote this review around six months ago. Since then, I've observed that the traffic at the Daily Grind has been...well, hardly daily, and grinding to a halt quite possibly. This is despite their very attractive and well-done poster ads all around BSV. And I have not stepped foot into the Daily Grind since, preferring to eat my expensive burgers at Carl's Jnr - the subject another post, another day. At this point, it would seem that both the establishments that attempt to tout themselves as the place for a gourmet burger, namely Relish and The Daily Grind, are over-rated attempts at getting people to buy an expensive mediocre burger.

Perhaps we need a law against the random use of the word 'gourmet'.