First there was Sugar Burger, and it was good. Then, or thereabouts, there was Burgers King. This evolved to a roadside cart to a sign the size of the cart to an enterprise that would made Jughead drool. Then Sugar Burger went commercial and set up shop with Odel while an old employee set up shot as Daddy Burger, working the lonely corner outside Lush (or Omnipotence, or Irrelevance, or whatever they’ve renamed Bistro Latino), just away from the horrid cart outside R&B which once made me throw up violently and an already old friend lost ten years off his life. Which is to say, there are quite a few places to get a Burger now, [insert requisite Burgher joke here].
Places not to get a burger include Summer Garden which, despite having a genocidal mixed grill, does not actual serve hamburgers, but rather just a generous and, quite frankly, horrifyingly naked beef patty. This comes with a fig leaf of vegetables to cover its cholesteral shame.
Places one could theoretically get burgers include Union Bar And Grill, The Hilton, and any five star hotel, but eating anything at these locations is both overpriced and deeply uncool. There is of course McDonald’s whose uncoolness goes without saying, though the non-burger McRice is quite novel, spicy and good. I have heard that Bars Cafe is good.
Personally, I think the best burger is at Daddy Burger on Duplication Road, just past Rhythm And Blues. There one can get a great, fresh beef burger with fresh pickles, tomato, fried onion and a special spicy wasabi sauce on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights. Sugar Burger used to be orgasmic but perhaps that was because it was right outside the, now defunct, Sugar nightclub. Now it has relocated to more commercial digs and reasonable hours outside the Odel outlet in Colombo 7 (Lipton Circus) and Mount Lavinia (near the St. Thomas’s turnoff) and has lost much of its bite.
Burgers King is probably the most reliable, though one should note that the standards there are chicken – the Charley Burger and Cordon Bleu. I recommend avoiding the hot dog, which comes sans bun. That new ghetto standard is on the Slave Island corner, next to a bright green tenement that Elephant House has thrown up upon, as one turns the corner into hotel row.
This is what I know from a short history of casual eating. Any burger joints you know?
Charlie burger….the best damn burger in CMB.
You need to try the best ice coffee in Colombo …its at Loon Tao’s Rs 125!
Even though I have only experienced “uncool” burgers, which I find boring, I have not ventured out to the places you mention, perhaps next time. Then again, when in Sri Lanka, who needs burgers other than my my Burgher friends.
I haven’t tried Daddy Burger, but I think the Sugar daddy is probably the best in Colombo. The Cajun Burger at Cricket Club isn’t bad either.
I’ve never eaten a burger here. :(
How about the DBU? …sorry! You asked for that!
Seriously though my pick was always from Garfields (on Reid Avn) run by Don Stanleys…both sadly defunct I assume.
Back in the day rehersals at the Lionel Wendt meant Hot Dogs from Garfields. And when I used to return home from Med School, their “Burger Tower” was a pre requisite waiting for me!
oyster’s double burger in negombo for me, on the beach rd, opposite jetwings blue oceanic
I would like to eat a Burgher :)
haven’t you tried the burgers at R & B itself? they are yum – though admittedly the last time i had one was about five years ago so i don’t know what they are like now or if they even make them any more.
sam mr Dilan
Bumbped intot this page searchng for burger joints in Colombo. I am looking for new burger joints. I have tried lots of places and all of them have disappointed me. Most places don’t even know how to create a burger patti. Urban Kitchn burgers have small hard fat pieces in thier burger. And Chatz had small pieces of, believe it not bone inside the patty. I stopped going to these places now. Any new places to try out? The really shit thing about SL is, new joints are Ok,but only for a couple of months. After that the standards go downhill.
Don’t even think of going to Burgers King. It’s unhygenic and useless. It comes with the dirt, smell and pollution of Slave Island……