Taipei City - Bing Burger

*Invited*

Bing Burger is set among the winding backstreets around Taipei City Hall MRT station. The restaurant has only been there for around 10 months, the owner coming in to open it up specially from San Francisco. It was created as a beer and burger restaurant for people to hang out at in the evenings, with a relaxed feel and a comfortable atmosphere. 

The road outside is a very busy one, however, inside the restaurant there's less of the busy and bustling atmosphere. 

The restaurant is clean and well presented. However, it is a little dark. 

There is a more than ample selection of beers on offer: some amazing Belgian beers, American beers and also some other beers from all around the world. 

One thing that really excited me was the Tea Beer combining two of my favourite things, however by the time I noticed it we had already ordered the Pizza Port, and I was driving :-(, Next time! 

Here's the menu, and here's what we ordered:

1. Nacho beer cheese burger 

2. Beef tongue burger (a special, which can be seen on the picture above)

3. Ox-tail gravy cheese fries

4. Pizza Port beer

1. Nacho beer cheese burger 

 The burger is presented well, with a brioche bun, jalapeno's, nacho cheese, burger patty, tomato salsa and tortilla chips, rounded off in the brioche bun. It was certainly new for me, having never had nachos in burger before. But it was pretty good, actually! The spicy salsa and jalapenos give it a nice kick, with the crunchy tortilla chips adding texture. Nacho cheese isn't my favourite thing in the world, however, nothing mattered when this patty got involved! The beef was fantastic: it was juicy, it was cooked medium rare being crisp on the outside. It was seasoned well and it had a great depth of flavour.

2. Beef tongue burger 

Again, it is well presented and almost a carbon copy of the previous plate. 

The burger is built wonderfully with brioche bun, tongue, patty, tomato, lettuce and onion. The tongue lifts the burger to the next level. Just as the salsa and tortilla chips elevated the previous burger, this was the rich and irony taste of tongue. Anyone who hasn't had tongue before, may be put off for the simple fact that it doesn't often occur on western menus, or in fact, eastern. I feel like tongue is very close to liver in both flavour and texture. It has a rich, creamy texture to it, but where it differs from liver is that it has a slight chewiness that liver often doesn't have. Tongue is high in iron, vitamin B, potassium and sodium! So it's a great alternative if you do want to switch up your meats. However, don't go too crazy, it is high in fat! The tongue in this burger compliments the wonderfully cooked patty and makes the whole dish that little bit more rich. Half of the burger is, in fact, rich enough. So we split the burger and had half of each. 

3. Ox-tail gravy cheese fries

A generous helping of fries, secreting away a chunk of oxtail, topped with nacho cheese, a fried egg and fine shavings of smoked and dried red chili peppers. It's a lot in one dish! Oh, and some red onions for good measure, too. There is no doubt that this is a dish to share, however, you already get fries with the burger, so I guess only order this if you're really really hungry. The best bit about this dish was the dried and smoked chili peppers: they were short-lived bites of spice that were delights to compliment the thick cheese and the nice fries. The fries were cut with some of the skin left on, which for me, is exactly how I like them. They retain some earthiness and they work well with the light, sweet taste of the red onion.

4. Pizza Port beer

(No image, sorry, you can see it in some of the other food images)

The Pizza Port beer is from a craft brewery in California well-known in that area for its great beers. It's a light golden colour and it looks fairly weak. Taste wise it is quite bitter; it seems to start a little sweeter and it finishes with a big bitter bite. It's not to my taste, as I prefer a slightly sweeter beer. 

There's not doubt about the fact that Bing Burger can really challenge any other burger joint in Taipei for its Beef quality and it's flavour. They are all skilfully cooked and very well executed. However, my main gripe with Bing Burger is the price: it's a lot. I understand that with great quality, comes great cost, however, this comes with a very great cost. For two of us it cost over $1,000. This is more than I even pay at DingTaiFeng having a greater variety of foods on offer. Whilst I do not begrudge paying for great food, I do not think that this food warrants the hefty price-tag. There was no given price for the Beef tongue burger, which we only found out costed $439 when coming to pay...

The bottom line is: If you are looking for a really good burger and you're wanting a good beer to wash it down with, then this could be the place for you. However, if you are on a stricter budget and want a good burger for a reasonable price, then you may be better suited to Burger Fix . I certainly feel like the quality is very good at Bing, but the prices at Burger Fix are much more reasonable and the burgers are still pretty good. 

Best dish: 2. Beef tongue burger - It was without a doubt the best dish. However, I do not feel it warrants the price tag set on it of $439.

Dish I wouldn't order again: 3. Ox-tail gravy cheese fries - They tasted great, the ingredients were great and I really liked them. It is totally not about the flavour, in any way. I just question why I would order extra fries when I already get fries with my burger. If I order a salad next time, then I would without a doubt order these. 

台北市信義區基隆路1段147巷5弄9號

No.9, alley 5, lane 147, KeeLung road, section 1, XinYi District, Taipei City

Bing on Facebook

Happy Eating!