Freshness Burger  

I've always walked past Freshness Burger in GCP but never had the chance to sample any of their burgers. However, I finally had a chance to go as my friend and I were craving burgers but wanted to avoid the unhealthy and repetitive McDonald's menu that we are so used to.

Their set lunch menu and a la carte items are plastered at the front of the restaurant and over the cashier's desk making it easy to see exactly what each burger has in it. Their set lunch menu is not too bad and provides customers a range of different burgers (and one hot dog) to choose from. Some of the burgers were quite unusual (one burger boasts a mushroom patty instead of a traditional beef or chicken one) and there was quite a lot to take in.

After a couple of minutes, we decided to go with:

Classic cheeseburger set lunch. This included a drink and criss-cut fries (approx. $70)
Menchi burger set lunch which included a a drink and criss-cut fries as well (ingredients for the burger include cabbage, Menchi sauce, mustard, a pork fillet instead of a beef patty on a pumpkin bun) (approx $60)

I have to say that the criss-cut fries I had were probably the freshest I've ever had. They were cooked as we placed our orders and came to our table roasting hot. They were incredibly crunchy and were seasoned just right. I enjoyed them so much that I had to go and order another side of fries! They were that good.

The cheeseburger was also very tasty. If you've ever been to Mos Burger, the burgers in Freshness are quite similar in taste. Yet I found the burgers to be bigger and the serving size to be far more generous in Freshness. Once again, our burgers were served to us piping hot and, as the restaurant name says, fresh I also didn't have that guilty feeling I usually get after eating at places such as McDonald's and Burger King as the ingredients used in Freshness are a higher quality and more healthy.

My friend enjoyed the Menchi burger, although he did say that the Menchi sauce was a bit strange tasting as it tasted a bit like sweet and sour sauce. Apart from that, he was satisfied with his meal.

As for the atmosphere, it is tucked away in one of GCP's ground floor areas near one of the lifts to the carpark (and is ironically a five second walk to McDonald's!). It was quite quiet and peaceful, apart from the school kids who were there to have their burgers for lunch. The seating area is half indoors and half outside in the general vicinity of the mall which provides customers a choice between getting an even more peaceful atmosphere, or enjoying watching the small stream of people walk by. Either way, the ambience is a nice way to spend a lazy and quiet lunchtime.

I would definitely recommend this restaurant to those who want to sample a different approach to traditional burgers and who want to try something new and slightly exotic. While it might appear to be a bit pricey, it is worth visiting at least once.

I will be going back to sample another burger in the near future

Really good vegetarian burger!. Their vegetarian burger is actually tofu, not just rice (which the few other vegetarian burgers in HK usually are) and its flavoured nicely with barbeque sauce and avocao It's a very...luscious burger - that is, super messy- and a good size - not too big, not too small. It comes with mayo as well,but you can ask for it without as the burger is definitely creamy enough. The lunch set at about $50 is a pretty good deal - their orange soda is actually soda with pieces of orange, which is cool, and their salad is big and varied .

Portabello mushrooms are rare here, so when I saw pictures of it I just had to get it.

As with all burgers at Freshness, all the salad vegetables are too big and chunky, they make up for at least two thirds of the burger.

I think if the onion had been finely diced, it would have tasted much better as a whole, also the tomato was cut too thickly too.

Anyway I removed the tomato, onion, and lettuce and just had the mushroom sandwiched between the burger.

The mushroom was skilfully grilled in that it wasn’t dripping with oil or juices when served.
Although it wasn’t dripping, it was still very juicy at consumption.
The balsamic vinegar and mayonnaise complimented it very well too. The texture of the mushroom was meaty and earthy.

The last time I had a Portobello mushroom was at the burger joint in sheung wan, it was awful, it had been soaked in vinegar.

It is good that they have a vegetarian range too, the tofu burger and mushroom burger both taste nice.
The burger was 90% similar to its product shot, however there was extra mayonnaise, the tofu burger was a bit different to its product shot.

My earlier review on the tofu burger
http://www.openrice.com/restaurant/commentdetail.htm?commentid=2013443

I tried the classic burger set, fish burger set, and pasta set (add a piece of burger meat). The size is slightly bigger than MOS burger. It seems that it taste less better than MOS. Since the staffs are relatively polite than MOS and pasta is availabe, I prefer here.