COCONUTS HOT SPOT—Teddy’s Bigger Burgers has just opened on the third floor of Greenbelt 3 in Makati. If you need to plot that down your mental map, the 100-seater restaurant occupies the corner space where Mercks used to be, nearer Red Box than the cinemas.
Here’s the 411 on Teddy’s: it hails from Oahu, Hawaii. Ted Tsakiris and Rich Stula are the two guys who founded it in 1998, and the group behind Sumosam are the ones bringing it to the Philippines. It has a fleet of 17 stores, with the Greenbelt branch as one of only two international locations (following Japan). They proudly refer to themselves as “Hawaii’s best burger,” and they’re dead serious about the “bigger” in their name.
The small burger at Teddy’s is 5oz of ground chuck from 100% corn-fed cows. Each patty, handmade daily and charbroiled only upon order, has an 80:20 meat to fat ratio. You will notice the drippings.
Come to Teddy’s not for a regular pa-cute burger date. Come here when you’re super famished or when you’re up for a food trip. Everything’s big—even the onion rings look like mutants. That said, a hot tip for its opening weekend: The first 100 customers get a free Teddy’s Original Burger.
THE LOOK:
It’s a 100-seater restaurant that can squeeze 50 patrons inside and another 50 outside. Putting the indoor to its maximum have them feel squished and uncomfortable. The dark wood interiors will remind you of a laidback Hawaiian shack, complete with ’50s-style tin plaques on the walls, nautical paddles, surf boards, and all.
THE GRUB:
It’s almost like a DIY restaurant in which you choose how you want your burger; according to size (5 oz, 7oz, or the crazy 9oz) and then according to the toppings. A Teddy’s original burger (starts at 5oz, PHP265) has that signature special sauce that looks like mustard but is actually aioli. The cheeseburger (starts at 5oz, PHP300) allows you to choose from four types of cheese; the Teriburger(starts at 5 oz, PHP300) has that sweet teriyaki sauce. And the monster burger (starts at 10 oz, PHP400) is a double-patty serving of everything.
If you don’t feel like creating your own, there are several specialty burgers ready to be devoured—the Kailua Burger (PHP415) with grilled mushrooms, grilled onions, swiss cheese and peanut butter truly is special. There’s also the Western burger with cheese, bacon, onions and the BBQ sauce.
But because we wanted a pure beef experience, and taste the famed chuck, we opted for a regular cheeseburger. It didn’t feel any less special. In fact, it was such a winning burger, size alone had us deconstructing it just so it could fit our mouth. We even opted for a top down and used utensils; that’s how big that is. The special sauce was truly buzz-worthy, the dripping was insane, and best of it, the burger didn’t crumble. It was delightful experience.
Everyone was raving about the peanut butter milkshake (PHP120 for 12 oz), which we can imagine is a great addition to the burger and fries (or onion rings or tates) combo, but we were just too full to indulge.
Teddy’s isn’t kidding when they called themselves “bigger.” Size, taste, experience—all truly is bigger at Teddy’s.
NOTES:
Cost: It is competitive at PHP265 for the most basic of burgers. If you think you can handle it, the monster burger, 10z for just PHP400, is a steal.
Cleanliness: It’s newly opened so you can bet everything it’s clean!
Service: The staff is obviously nervous, what with Teddy’s principals still here and training them. We hope they can soon function out of their spiel and just enjoy it!
Sound level: Pretty alright, except, it seems like it’s in Teddy’s spiel for the staff to shout and scream your orders with that very American accent. So it can get crazy loud inside the burger joint. Opt for outside, if you don’t feel like hearing the staff call out “Order 522.”
Lighting: We do like how the natural lighting, streaming through the windows, bounces off the dark wood.
Teddy’s Bigger Burgers, 3/F Greenbelt 3, Ayala Center, Bgy San Lorenzo, Makati. Daily11am-9pm.
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