After the delicious truffle burgers from The Burger Republic that we ate at the second street food festival a few weeks ago, The Burger Republic jumped to the top of my list. If you've been following along with my search for a good burger in Stuttgart, then you know I finally found the right type of patty at the [m]eatery. They had some pretty solid, simple burgers that I really enjoyed. However, at 12-18€ per burger, they're not really an anytime kind of meal. And so, I was super excited to finally have the chance to check out The Burger Republic on Friday night.
The Burger Republic has a great location on Marienstraße at the end of the Konigstraße in the pedestrian area before the new Gerber shopping mall. Though the restaurant with its all-black, stylized front has a counter seating and a second floor with standard tables, we chose to enjoy the nice weather and sit at the family-style benches out front.
I really like their menu. They have eight different styles of burgers, or you can choose to create your own. They also have a short beer and cola list, including Fritz colas and lemonades from Hamburg, and they offer both hand-cut fries and sweet potato chips, which I love.
After some deliberation, I decided to try the American BBQ burger with caramelized onions, bacon, and a smokey BBQ sauce, plus gouda cheese (which I added). Matt chose my second choice, the Los Cojones Mexicanos with cherry tomatoes, chili-mayo, chorizo, and a chili sauce and some additional jalapeños. We also got an order of the sweet potato chips with truffle mayo and the fries with parmesan truffle oil (yup, we like truffles).
We ordered at the counter, and our burgers came out about 10 or so minutes later to our table. I'm not going to lie -- I was a little worried when I saw the thin burger patties. However, one bite and I was in heaven. The meat was super flavorful and juicy, and they know how to cook it at a proper medium. I saw a picture somewhere on either their website or Facebook page of them grinding the meat fresh, and I believe it! It really did taste like I was eating some of the freshest beef tartare. The sesame buns were also nicely toasted, and the homemade smoky BBQ sauce was also incredibly tasty and of a good consistency on my burger. According to their Facebook page you can buy some of their sauces, as well as the sweet potato chips, to go which I meant to inquire about, but was too busy enjoying my meal to remember.
Of the two burgers, I preferred the caramelized onions and BBQ sauce on mine, though the crispy chorizo on Matt's burger was excellent. And though I really liked the fresh-fried sweet potato chips, the hand-cut fries were awesome! They reminded me of boardwalk fries -- crispy tips and soft insides.
My one, very small, problem with the burgers was that I don't think the patty-to-toppings ratio was quite right. Granted, the burger patties were of a very high quality, but I think they could have been about twice as thick to really show off the taste better. Luckily, The Burger Republic allows you to add a second patty for an extra 2€, which I will be happy to do next time.
All-in-all, The Burger Republic reminds me of some of the innovative burger places that I've been missing from the States. They're still somewhere between a pub burger and a Five Guys, but at just 5-7,50€ per burger and with so many great topping combinations, they're definitely the best I've had so far in Stuttgart. I should also note that the servers were really friendly, and I was just overall impressed by their attention to detail with their restaurant design and homemade sauces. The Burger Republic is definitely worth your time this summer!
The Burger Republic is located at Marienstraße 22 in Downtown Stuttgart. They're open from noon until 9:00 on weekdays and later on Fridays and Saturdays. They're closed on Sundays. Remember to ask for two patties on your burger, if like me, you prefer a thicker burger-to-topping ratio.