Hekkan Burger Bergen — Restaurant in Bergen

Tldr, i was a little underwhelmed.

First impressions: I walked in, I was not greeted and was just standing there like a lemon waiting for a clue if this was seated or a free for all affair. I ended up asking someone who was clearing a table if I should just find a place; they said yes. I found my place, I sat. No menu was given so I had to find that, there was a box by the bar/till. The table was also dirty, with crumbs, greasy marks, and water marks from glasses.

The place was maybe a quarter full. I think it sits 42 people at capacity, just doing a quick count of chairs. There were 4 people working front of house, as far as I could see.

I'm not sure I really understood the concept if there was one. I just wanted burger, fries, and a coke. There was a "Hekkan Edition" burger that had no description and no price. No one came to take my order so I went to the till. I asked about the Hekkan Edition burger and got something about parmesan. I said fine, I'll take it; the answer I got back was so kinda weak and lacking any kind of passion I just didn't want to fight it. I also asked about the "Meny" because it seemed that if you were getting fries, soda, and a dip on top, it was most economical. Price 107kr. I asked for that with "French Fries", which should have potato skin on, and a coke zero. Total cost - 335kr. I thought this burger better be something cause if the menu thing cost 107, then the burger most cost 228.

The coke arrived fine. After 10 minutes the burger and fries arrived. I asked for French Fries but it was the regular fries that arrived. On top of that, the burger was tiny. I couldn't believe that this thing cost 228kr and I couldn't even taste the parmesan. The regular burger, which I think was 164kr or thereabouts, would have been a better deal. It tasted good, but I just think you're not getting what you pay for at all. I was really disappointed.

I should also note that they don't have any cutlery. They provide single-use, black, nitrile gloves instead so that your hands don't get dirty. I don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand it is great but also if seems incredibly wasteful and un-environmental.

There appears to be only one bathroom. It's got the "industrial" look, which I think equates to the "anything will do as long as it's quick, cheap, and easy to set up". It seemed to be clean at least.

For those who also need to know this kind of thing, there is a small step up into the restaurant, so it's not perfectly wheelchair friendly although being only about a half step, I think a wheelchair user could overcome that. I think it looked like a standard door size at the entrance, so watch out for that. The toilet was also not built with disability in mind, but it was an ok size and no stairs in the way (only small ramp).

So all in all I felt like I paid a lot for very little. I won't be back unless I'm with a friend who desperately wants to go. I think I'd rather visit Royal Gourmetburger, which is...

Burgers are merely mediocre, always full of gristle and chewy fat bits, I've tried Hekkan many times, both in Stavanger and Bergen, always the same low quality meat patty. The Bergen location is exceptionally slow, they forgot to make our milkshakes and then made the most watery pure liquid shake, (milkshake doesn't mean it should be the same viscosity as milk fyi it should never be runny as water). Special burger had barely any pineapple, a complete disappointment. And the dirty/kinky fries just stick together into one lump from using regular grated cheese instead of nacho cheese sauce. Then there's the strange wastage of latex gloves to eat a burger?? Why? There's napkins, you don't need to generate more waste to eat a burger. Such a hipster trash joint, Flamme burger Strandgaten is faster, better, cheaper and never has gristle in the meat plus better fries with cheese sauce. Only thing Hekkan has is charbroiled charcoal grill and toppings, the actual burger is junk and one was still completely pink/red medium rare which should never be the case unless it's fresh ground from a single cut in house daily, otherwise it should be cooked to at least med well. Wouldn't recommend and probably won't get...

Besøkte stedet for første gang, en torsdag ca kl17:00. Stedet er ikke særlig stort, men det var nesten helt fullt. Bak disken/på kjøkkenet så jeg ca 5-6 personer.

MAT: Gikk for en Kinky burger, med Hekkan fries ved siden av + chili-mayo dip. I glasset testet jeg Lervig Ginger Beer og Lervig Premium Pilsner.

Burgeren var helt ok. Friske ingredienser, mye dressing og en del "røyksmak" (akkurat dette kommer jeg tilbake til senere). Hekkanfries, som koster 10kr mer en "vanlige" fries (uten at jeg vet hva forskjellen er for det stod egentlig ikke i menyen) med chili-mayo dip var egentlig høydepunktet av maten jeg fikk servert. Virker som de kanskje er dobbel eller trippel fritert. For de var sykt crunchy, samt at de hadde god temperatur da de ble servert. Akkurat passe varme. Helt ok, blir konklusjonen. Hadde håpt på en bedre matopplevelse siden det er KNALLHARD konkurranse innenfor "burger"-segmentet i byen for tiden.

SERVICE: De ansatte holder seg nesten utelukkende bak baren. Fikk ikke levert meny på bordet av servitør, men det gjorde gjengen som hadde booket bord rett ved siden av meg. Forskjellsbehandling på drop-in og reservasjoner? Ikke vet jeg... Men uansett; vi fikk bestilt likevel (må bestille og betale i kassen). Etter 40 minutter gikk vi for å høre hvor i all verden maten ble av. Den kom 2-3 min etter vi spurte. Det er altfor lang ventetid etter min mening, spesielt i et lokale som tar så få gjester.

En annen ting var at lokalet var gjennomsyret av røyk fra ovnene som de bruker til å grille burgerne i. Avtrekket tok ikke unna mengden, og man kunne se røyk sive ut i lokalet. Istedenfor å bruke tid på å yte service, observerte jeg at en av de ansatte stod og tok bilder av all røyken som lå oppi himlingen på kjøkkenet. Ikke alltid det er triks å ha åpen løsning på kjøkkenet ut mot "spisesalen".

Altså det er nice at de griller burgerne over kull, for jeg liker litt BBQ smak på kjøttet. Men det kan bli for mye av det gode også. Det var for mye røyk både inni og utenfor grillovnen i dag!

PRISNIVÅ: De tilbyr noen "combo deals" hvor man kan få burger, dirty fries og en halvliter brus til rett under 300kr mener jeg å huske. Men om man ikke liker den burgeren de spesifikt har lagt inn i comboen, eller ikke vil ha dirty fries; ja da må man sette sammen en og en ting selv. Og det koster.

Burger alene ligger fort oppunder 200kr, fries koster fort en 50-lapp og litt til. Dip 25kr. Og da har man enda ikke fått noe å drikke i glasset.

Så jeg vil si det er på grensen til å være dyrt. Og er prisnivået høyt, så må kvaliteten på mat og drikke matche dette. Etter min mening må de enten redusere prisene, eller øke kvaliteten.

INTERIØR: Fint dekorert. Moderne stil. Rent og ryddig. I utgangspunktet liker jeg åpen løsning inn til kjøkkenet, men da må man sørge for at det ikke kommer støy eller dårlig lukt fra kjøkkenet inn i spisesalen. Her var det som sagt for dårlig avtrekk på kjøkkenet, og det luktet derfor litt for mye røyk og litt for lite burger. De har også en gimmick med at man har svarte plasthansker på bordet. Noen synes kanskje det er kult, men jeg skulle sett at de sluttet med det av hensyn til miljøet.

ALT I ALT: Hadde lave forventninger etter å ha prøvd kjeden i Stavanger, hadde et håp om at lokal avdeling skulle endre inntrykket. Helt greit, blir konklusjonen. Går jeg der igjen? Tvilsomt. Det finnes andre muligheter i byn, med bedre burger...