What’s in a burger? More than meets the eye, says Burger Bistro owner

At most restaurants, burgers are included on the menu as an afterthought, but at Burger Bistro in Pierneef Street, deep in Moot, Pretoria, you will find burger royalty that customers are prepared to travel distances to enjoy.

The eatery recently won the Uber Eats best-rated restaurant in Gauteng award.

To serve the perfect burger, however, takes a lot of research and trial-and-error, says Corne Read, who embarked on the Burger Bistro journey with his friend Jan-Hendrik van Staden 12 years ago. Van Staden now owns the Burger Bistro in Clubview, Centurion, while Read runs the original restaurant on Pierneef Street.

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Read says he dreamt about running his own restaurant for a long time. Early in his career, he managed the well-known Cynthia’s in Hazelwood, Pretoria, which has since closed. He also worked as a representative in the wine industry, dealing with many restauranteurs.

One day, when visiting his parents in the Moot, he noticed an empty business premises in Pierneef Street and decided to start his own hamburger takeaway.

With Van Staden and using their own money, which required Read to sell his car, they fitted out the shop over three months. They also worked on developing the ideal patty and bun combination during this time.

“I must have tried a hundred different patties,” says Read, and it shows!

Burger Bistro opened in April 2012 with seating for 50 patrons. The staff included the two owners, who also worked in the kitchen, one dishwasher, and a cashier who doubled as a waiter.

The burgers were an immediate hit, and they had to appoint more waiters and enlarge the kitchen.

Each burger that left the kitchen was a product they were proud of.

Although the first prize is for customers to come to the restaurant, takeaways are an important part of the business. “We have seating for 50 people, but on a Friday night, we can feed 400,” says Read, thanks to platforms like Uber Eats.

What makes a good burger?

“The most difficult thing to perfect was the patty and the bun,” says Read. They learned about butchers who add ice to the mince to add volume, just to see it shrink when cooked.

Today, they buy all their meat from a butchery in Brits in the North West, which consistently delivers quality. Only 20% fat, salt, pepper and “one other secret ingredient” goes into the Burger Bistro patty.

Following a secret family recipe, the buns are specially baked in a 12cm ring for Burger Bistro at the Van Staden family bakery in Derdepark, Pretoria.

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The patty and bun must be the same size, “otherwise, you get two bites of bread before tasting any meat. Unacceptable. At Burger Bistro, every bite must be a perfect experience.

Burger Bistro’s chips are hand-cut using only Mondial potatoes and fried in a specific way using a peanut oil blend. “Potatoes differ, and the frier must adapt accordingly while preparing the food.”

Takeaways

To succeed on a platform like Uber Eats, giving each client the best experience is essential.

Burger Bistro’s burgers are too big for normal polystyrene containers. They come in cake boxes.

The menu currently boasts 35 different burgers, and new additions are made all the time. It includes the Naas Botha (who also grew up in the Moot) with loads of biltong, Bruce Lee for the chilly lovers, Elvis with peanut and bacon sauce, and Black sheep with a lamb patty and fresh tzatziki sauce. An all-round favourite is the oxtail burger with melted Emmentaler cheese.

January will see the introduction of the Vegan burger.

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Burger Bistro’s marketing makes the most of social media, and they have posted burgers being enjoyed in various unexpected settings. Van Staden was even shown eating one while skydiving!

Read is extremely proud of the Uber Eats award and his team of 12 who made it possible. “To imagine we have beaten all other restaurants in Gauteng, those with big-name chefs, all the Joburg eateries …”

He makes a living out of the restaurant, but what he enjoys most is “when you put a burger down in front of someone, and he sits back and takes a picture, and you know, he is going to enjoy this meal!”