Review of The Burger Project (Taft Avenue, Manila)

Yesterday I hanged out with two of my best girl friends since college, Gianne and Henshel, who I call by the first letter of their names, G and H, respectively. We always have conflicting and busy schedules. Thank goodness I did not have work this Saturday, hence our wonderful meetup came to pass.

H recommended The Burger Project. When I learned that it’s a vegan-friendly restaurant and it has a branch near our alma mater, I was really very excited to give it a try.

After graduation, we had visited DLSU at most only five times. So we are not familiar with new restaurants and buildings in the area anymore. In fact, we were not sure how to get to Grand Towers where The Burger Project (BRGR) is, despite the handy guidelines advised by people on the web and access to online maps. So the three of us said we’d first meet at the South Gate before walking to the venue.

While waiting for my two girlies, I entered the school with my sister and reminisced sweet memories around every hall and corner in the LS building, the Marian quadrangle, SJ walk and the main library. Oh, everything is still sublime, indeed. This place (in the picture) used to be my sanctuary whenever Planet Gox stresses me out.

I stayed at the cyber nook and went to the DLSU Alumni Association office to inquire about the renewal of my alumni card. Gosh, the card costs PHp 500 for a year and PHp 3,900 for a lifetime. Benefits include entrance to the school, free use of swimming pool in the Sports Complex, discounts at some affiliate stores and subscription to the Rektikano magazine. I thought I won’t have the luxury of time to visit often so I’d rather spend PHp 500 on other more important stuff.

Finally at lunch time, we made it to The Burger Project easily!

Review of The Burger Project (Taft Avenue, Manila)

Ambiance: ★★★★☆

There are many burger joints in Manila. The Burger Project is one among the many that stands out, as it offers customers personalization — the freedom to choose ingredients to add into the burger. The atmosphere was friendly to youngsters, with colorful walls and accents, big, helpful signages and creatively decorated menu on the wall behind the counter.

Nice tunes, perfectly dim lights and the sense of modernity added to its all-embracing appeal. Yet what took the rating one star down was the lack of optimal air conditioning in some areas of the restaurant.

Service: ★★★★☆

To order food, we had to fill out an order form where items to complete the burger are written already with prices.

The cashier only had to take the sum of all the ingredients, mention them to the one preparing the food, stack the form to the “finished” pile and take the payment. Food was served to our table after a few minutes. The waiter was friendly and accommodating to take our pictures.

Food: ★★★★★

Yay! I can now vouch for a vegan burger in the world — to be specific, this one at The Burger Project. Originally, I ordered the concoction of: tofu BRGR, oatmeal bun, garlic cream cheese with pesto sauce. But the oatmeal bun was unavailable, so I chose the potato bun as its substitute. Did it taste like potato? No. That was sad. On the bright side, the put-together ROCH burger (yup, I had to name the burger after me) was immensely satisfying! It tasted beyond the regular vegan-style burger. It’s not fake meat made of gluten but made of tofu with spices and sauce.

I’m not any bit of a burger harlot, but I have tried burger hither and tither. So far, The Burger Project’s tofu BRGR is first in my list that has actually stood up to its acclaim. I purposely did not choose to add many frills because I wanted to test the tofu, pesto with garlic cream cheese only. This burger, in taste and texture, uniqueness, and presentation, turned out to step up from other fast food type burgers. I bet G and H’s burgers were as fantabuulous! Sizes were big, too, especially G’s.

Price for Value: ★★★★☆

Nicely proportioned, perfectly charred, juicy, the right bun, and everything else A+. There’s no more questioning to it; burgers here are the best for the cost. I shelled out PHp 140 in exchange for a great burger, great experience and great catching up with my best pals.

About Rochkirstin Santos-Sioco

Health and technology freak. Food and lifestyle blogger with a large appetite for food and travel.