🍔 Review № 1328
🇸🇪 Vegabaren ★★☆☆☆
Vegabaren, located in Haninge just south of Stockholm, is Sweden’s oldest burger restaurant. Erik Engström started serving ‘flattened meatballs’ (since burgers were not allowed to be sold from grill kiosks) as early as 1957, and a year later he opened Sweden’s first drive-in. Vegabaren itself opened in 1964, and has since become both an institution and a historical landmark in Swedish burger history, and we actually reviewed them for the first time back in 2016. When we returned to the restaurant it felt like time had stood still, with old newspaper clippings, information leaflets and the typical colour scheme of the furniture. We tested their classic Sambalburger once again, where sambal oelek is mixed into the beef patty. The burger was served with lettuce, tomato, roasted onions and béarnaise sauce, and a menu with a soft drink and french fries cost 145 SEK (16 USD).
Our burger was served quickly on a large red plastic tray, like always. The burger was huge and we took a big bite right away. Just like before, the patty was pretty compact and quite chewy, but we appreciated the slightly sweet heat from the sambal together with the otherwise pretty mild flavours. The bun was quite crumbly, and had a hard time holding together throughout the meal. The shredded lettuce provided some crunch, even though we would have preferred to skip the wet tomato. The combination of roasted onions and béarnaise sauce was classic and worked well here, but there was almost too much sauce. The fries were crispy, and we appreciated the seasoning they were covered with, even though we would have preferred it to be more evenly distributed over the whole portion.
Everything at Vegabaren is the same, and even though we would have liked juicier beef, they still have earned their place in the history books of the Swedish burger scene. We respect Vegabaren’s contribution immensely, even though their sausages and classic Swedish comfort food might be a safer bet once you’ve tried the sambal burger.
#burgerdudes
Stockholm
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