Smugglers was the last burger joint I visited in Sofia, Bulgaria. I had one of the tastiest burgers in the region and I really recommend the location.

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How tasty is the Motherf*#$&r? – 8/10

I decided to try the Smuggler’s Burger. It looks like signature one yet it has standard gourmet burger with twist. I need to say it now. I believe this is one of the best burgers of had. It is fairly simplistic in its recipe but everything tastes great, it is high quality and the balance is almost perfect. With burgers of score nine and above I’m always going to confirm my rating at least one more time… For Science!

The burger had:

• Beef Patty
• Cheddar
• Onion Jam
• Bacon
• Smoked Mayonnaise
• White Bun

Beef patty was amazing, it wasn’t falling into the pitfall of other Bulgarian burger joints and it was full of spices and well grilled to be full of flavour. This is exactly what you expect from a nice beef burger. Now this strong taste wasn’t masking the bacon or the other way around. The bacon was tasty, salty and very delicious adding a great balance between beef and pork. It was easy to chew and very tasty.

The mayo was keeping the simplicity intact yet keeping your burger bites juicy. Normally you don’t but in this case you could feel the smoke in the mayo and that is because of the classic flavoured ingredients.

The cheddar was one of the few examples I’ve tried recently where it was the right amount. A nice red cheddar that was slightly melted and had full flavour through each bite.

Onion jam was a great addition, every time I’ve had it on a burger I haven’t been disappointed. You get to balance out acidity sweetness and that lovely onion flavour in one place. Not sure if it is a chutney or a jam recipe ( apparently there was a difference) but the blend with the other tastes was amazing.

And as I’ve mentioned before the white bun was really good. Crunchy on the outside soft on the inside and slightly toasted. I think it is a better choice than a brioche bun due to it’s plainness.

I’m not saying anything bad about the burger. It was delicious from a lot of aspects, however I didn’t have that special moment from that one bite while eating it (I’ll revisit that as I said). That is why I’m staying away from the 10 for now.

Burger joint venue and overall experience? – 6/10

It has a typical diner atmosphere and this is atypical for Bulgaria so props for the classic style.

The fries were good they had herbs and parmesan cheese so they were really tasty but it was more the combination of the addons then the fries themselves that made the side delicious.

Sadly the selection of beers and ales is not numerous and I didn’t get one because  I couldn’t find one that would fit the taste. However, they do have good milkshakes which is a classic drink with your burger. I recommend them.

Quirkiness level of the experience? – 8//10

It is not every day that you have a recipe like  that for a burger. Is it quirky yes, is it tasty yes. I would go back to try the other burgers!