The Bite of your life

MANILA, Philippines - Not all burgers are created equal. The Bite Club will prove its stone-grilled, pure lean beef patties are superior — so superior that one of its bestsellers is called Triple X, a bold yet successful attempt to perfect a one-pound burger that oozes with its own juice as your teeth sinks in it.

The Triple X, by the way, can be shared by four friends, granting that partitions will be fair and equal among them. This burger selection is tender, meaty, heavenly — truly worthy of a triple-X rating, if, by any means, that is the highest grade you can give to a burger.

Lording it over in the kitchen of Bite Club — whose location is sandwiched in the corners of J. Abad Santos and V. Cruz streets in Little Baguio, San Juan City — is the unassuming genius of a chef known to many as Kenneth Cacho.

Reigning in the dining area, on the other hand, are three lovely queens — former Poveda grade school classmates and good friends Xandra Olivares, Vien Uy and Jessica Martinez. They are in charge of the daily operations of their cozy 42-sq.-m burger joint whose tasteful interior design was executed by Xandra’s architect husband, Michael Olivares.

It may be a small restaurant but it surely is big in promises of not letting your taste buds down when it comes to comfort food. Bite Club, whose original location was in Katipunan in Quezon City (a hit among true-blue burger eaters of the nearby Ateneo de Manila University), is famous for its grilled burgers and sandwiches. Aside from Triple X, Bite Club is also home to the utterly mouthwatering Bombarella, a half-pound burger stuffed with mozzarella or its smaller version, the Burgerella, a 1/3-pound Mozzarella-stuffed burger.

Also on the restaurant’s list of nirvana-inducing burgers are The Bomb, a half-pounder, and the Club Burger, a regular-sized but glorious meal in itself. Everything is served in a brown paper bag on a tray, which serves as your plate.

Each order of burger at the Bite Club comes with your preferred sauce or topping: cheddar cheese sauce, hickory smoked barbecue sauce, roasted garlic and cream cheese, roasted mushroom and pepper gravy, spicy New Orleans Cajun barbecue sauce, chili beef stew, caramelized rosemary onions and American cheese slice.

Word of caution: If you opt for the creamy Danish blue cheese sauce in your burger, you will forget your name. The faint after-taste of the blue cheese that beautifully marries the flavor of the stone-grilled pure beef leaves a sensation in the mouth. You chomp on your burger knowing fully that your stomach is not the only thing being satiated in the gustatory exercise. Your soul gets full, too.  

If it’s regular sandwich that you like, you will just be disappointed because there are no regular sandwiches at Bite Club. Take for example the gorgeous, lip-smacking Chili Dawg, a spicy Hungarian sausage grilled to perfection and sprawled on a whole-wheat roll with chili beef stew and cheddar cheese slice.  

Ahh, the glazed barbecue chicken fillet sandwich is also divine for it is both savory and sinful with its crispy bacon strips, battered crisp onions and American cheese slice. It helps that this dish is served with lettuce and tomatoes.

If you’re palate craves for fish, the crispy fish sandwich is for you. It could have been an ordinary sandwich, except that Ken’s ingenuity comes in handy that he will suggest you order it with the wasabi dressing and some teriyaki glaze.

There’s that sweet and tangy kick that lounges in your taste buds. But if you want it really, really hot, you can opt for the diabolically spicy Insanity Sauce (Dave’s Gourmet), which is only available in the restaurant upon request. But beware.

The three queens of Bite Club lavish the king of the kitchen with words of adulation for his wizardry. “Ken is everything in Bite Club,” says Xandra. “He’s a kitchen genius,” adds Vien. “He’s got the talent and the soul,” says Jessica. To all these, Ken, a multi-awarded chef instructor, simply says, “They inspire me to better my craft.”

The three ladies have always been supporters of Ken’s kitchen creations. When, many moons ago, Ken opened his Big & Bigger restaurant in Parañaque City, Xandra, Vien and Jessica would always find themselves there every week. They so love Ken’s food that they decided to partner with him in Bite Club. So, it’s branch in San Juan City opened last February to the delight of its “cult” following — because even those who live far away from San Juan but know the quality of the restaurant’s burger troop to Bite Club. (It has an older branch in D’Mall in Boracay.)

Bite Club’s stone-grilled burgers are meant to drive serious burger lovers crazy. Its following has formed a cult of sorts. After all, they have taken the best burger bite of their lives.

* * *

Bite Club can be reached at 239-3786 and 401-1943. It is open every day except Monday.