Ordinary Burgers: No-Frills Buttermilk Fried Chicken Burger & More In City Square Mall

Despite being quite the American staple, hamburgers have undoubtedly found their way into most of our hearts. There is nothing more gratifying than sinking your teeth into a juicy, mouthwatering burger.

With the number of fast food joints offering up variations of this delight, we are definitely spoiled for choice. As such, I do consider myself quite the burger connoisseur.

When I saw Ordinary Burgers pop up in City Square Mall, you bet I went down for a proper burger evaluation.

Ordinary Burgers sits in the basement of City Square Mall and looks like your run-of-the-mill alternative burger joint. With the mighty Golden Arches lurking in the corner, the pressure was on.

Another thing that I liked about Ordinary Burgers was how their burgers are made-to-order. This way, freshness is guaranteed.

I was feeling quite ravenous that afternoon, so I did what any self-respecting hungry food critic would do — order nearly everything off the menu.

We began with the Classic (S$6.40) which as the name implies, is a classic cheeseburger. The burger looked pretty simple, beef patty wedged in between the usual suspects of lettuce and tomato and topped with cheese.

Ordinary Burgers also asked for the doneness of my beef patty which was a nice touch on their part; definite brownie points there.

I was quite impressed by how the beef patty had that trademark medium-rare pinky centre. The beef patty was juicy and tender, a promising sign.

As great as the cook on the beef patty was, I would have to say that the other elements were rather unremarkable. While I appreciated that Ordinary Burgers lightly buttered and toasted the bun, it was much too soft.

The bun became soggy after a while and made for a rather messy eating experience — and not in a good way.

Next, I went for the much-anticipated Buttermilk (S$5.90) burger. I was quite excited about this one, this burger featured a crispy buttermilk fried chicken patty slathered in a decadent buttermilk sauce.

My go-to order, this is basically your chicken sandwich with a very tasty glow-up. 

The chicken patty was fried well and was crispy to a fault, while the insides were succulent and juicy. The sauce had some curry leaves in it, so it could be easily mistaken for salted egg sauce. I did like the Asian slant that Ordinary Burgers went with for the sauce but it lacked that oomph. 

No doubt, the sauce was creamy but lacked seasoning and thus lacked that essential quality to tie all the elements together. Not to mention, I felt they were a little light-handed with the sauce.

Overall, still a pretty satisfactory burger but in need of a few tweaks.

To keep things interesting, I decided to get the Portobello (S$7.50) as my final burger of the day. This burger came with a huge portobello mushroom slathered with cheese, a good portion of caramelised onions and a dollop of special sauce.

Quite surprisingly this was my favourite burger of the lot. The portobello ‘patty’ was peppery and had a good smoky flavour to it.

Plus, the portobello also a good meaty bite to it, coupled with the caramelised onion the burger really hit the spot. I was satiated but not bloated. This is surely the burger for days when you want something a little lighter.

I can’t resist onion rings, so if I see it on the menu, I know I’m ordering it. The Onion Rings came up to about S$2.80 and portion-wise, Ordinary Burgers was pretty generous.

The onion rings were perfectly adequate, and for the price, I’m not complaining. Still, I wouldn’t have minded a side of crisp fries.

The quality of burgers at Ordinary Burgers are certainly a notch higher than those at a fast food joint. You get a burger that is less processed and much fresher. The burgers were not ordinary but they weren’t extraordinary either. There is much room for improvement and areas that need fine-tuning.

Not as refined as I would have liked but they make for a pretty good lunch if you are in a pinch.

Expected Damage: S$6 – S$9 per pax