The North Coast Courier Best of Ballito Readers’ Choice Awards have concluded, leaving readers with a wide range of familiar favourites and newfound options to try in almost 100 categories.
For everything from the best cake and coffee shop in town to your choice of the best schools and nail bars, visit bestofballito.co.za for a full list of winners and runners-up.
To give you a taste of the winners, the Courier newsroom are sampling some categories and reporting back on what to expect.
This week we bring you the top four burger outlets on the North Coast.
1. RocoMamas
Shop G3, Ballito Junction Regional Mall
When on the hunt for a decent burger, how refreshing it was to find a delectable burger from a franchise!
One cannot really go wrong with a bacon and guacamole combination, and this is the case with RocoMama’s bacon, cheese and guac smash burger (R103), topped off with an egg (extra, R11).
From the first bite to the last, this is a burger you’d be best off digging into using your hands as opposed to a knife and fork.
Be prepared though, things will get messy but you sure won’t mind when you sink into that first bite.
The delicious combination of the beef patty, bacon, aged cheddar, tomato, guac, red onions and smoked mayo are well complimented with the addition of an egg which ties this feast together.
The secret of this tasteful burger is however in the caramelisation of the patty, which seals in the flavour and prevents it from drying out.
Be sure to give this one a try, it sure earned its place as number one in The North Coast Courier Best of Ballito Readers’ Choice Awards for a reason!
2. Bird & Co
The Market, Lifestyle Centre
Delivering tender chicken atop a bed of fresh garnish and tangy chilli mayonnaise, you’d have to be clucking mad not to enjoy Bird & Co’s Thunder Bird burger!
If you are not in the mood for red meat, but still feel like a filling and delicious burger option, Ballito’s Bird & Co is a fantastic and reasonable option.
The Thunder Bird (R82) also offers something different to what you might expect from a takeaway, with the perinaise and coriander working in harmony alongside avocado, red onion, tomato and lettuce. If coriander is not your thing, don’t fret, it is on this burger as an accompaniment rather than a star.
Crisp, thick-cut chips also made for a nice side – and a great way to mop up any excess sauce.
A good, quick lunch or dinner option central to most of Ballito.
3.The Fig Tree Restaurant
Simbithi Country Club
When going to The Fig Tree Restaurant, prepare to loosen your belt a notch on the way out.
We sampled two burgers, the Monster Bonzo Beef Burger (R165) and a Classic Simbithi Chicken Burger (R115), topped with bacon, avocado and feta.
The Monster is everything it claims to be, with two 200g flame grilled beef patties smothered in chedder cheese and topped with bacon, burger relish and a rich mushroom sauce.
This is a meal and a half. The patties were huge, the ingredients fresh and the overall taste delicious. But for us, the king of this meal was the mushroom sauce. It was simply fantastic.
The classic Simbithi Chicken Burger was equally good and almost as large.
The flame grilled chicken breast was juicy and paired perfectly with the toppings, which were ample. Both burgers came with a side of thin, crispy chips.
4. Yami Rib & Burger
Shop 2B, New Salt Rock Shopping Centre
Under new ownership, some strings had to be pulled for us to be able to give this burger a test drive while the restaurant continues its refurbishment.
We’re happy those strings were pulled in time for this burger review to make it to print.
The burger (R129) is delicious and intimidatingly huge, and we savoured every bite.
Fresh is clearly the name of the game, with an in-house made patty that is juicy and delicious, complimented by fresh ingredients such as mushroom.
And oh, does the mushroom perfectly blend with the cheesiness of this big bite. Called Big Sam, this burger contains three patties, cheese sauce, a double portion of cheddar cheese and a mushroom sauce.
Give it a go, but go hungry!
