_Is a bigger burger really better?  For me it depends on what you made it bigger with.  Now, if you're making that burger bigger with more real, high quality beef, then yes, a bigger burger definitely makes me happier!  If Pergola Mall were on my way home from work I'd probably be eating here more often.

My usual order here is the One Third Pounder, no cheese -- gotta watch the calories, and also because I usually want to enjoy the beef without diluting its flavor.  Normally this burger's enough to fill me up, so I don't even have to order sides unless I'm really starving.  BBB's burgers are thick, juicy, have the crumbly texture of an all-beef patty, and because they're grilled, have a lightly smoky flavor.  You may have to wait a bit for your burger on a busy day, because they grill each order fresh; me, I consider the wait worth it!

Taking Cat here for the first time -- she was in Davao when BBB opened -- we got the One Third Pounder, a side of Potato Wedges, and the Chicken Parmigiana rice meal.  We loved the potato wedges, nice thick slices of potato, skin on, crisp outside and perfectly cooked through inside.  Cat says if she can't have mashed potato, her fave potato dish, she'll gladly settle for this any time.  Me, I think my next order of burger will have to include this.  There goes the calorie count!  We also liked the Chicken Parmigiana, the sauce was nice and savory, and there's a generous topping of melted cheese on top.  I'm a sucker for melted cheese on rice, so again this dish is a winner for me.

_Still, if you're coming to Big Better Burger for the first time, you should be here for the burgers.  Yes, they're that good.  BBB's patties compare very well with the product of a classic Filipino chain we who're old enough to like retro stuff know well, but because it's grilled I'll have to consider BBB's even better. 

Big Better Burger is an up-and-coming chain with 10 branches already throughout Metro Manila, the Pergola Mall branch being their 8th.  The chain is owned and operated by the Teotico family, and interestingly enough is totally home-grown--it's not a US franchise at all.  Eric Teotico, who loves to cook, came up with the idea of opening a burger chain based on his own recipes.  Learning this story, I'm motivated to patronize BBB even more -- I like it when my peso goes to a local entrepreneur instead of a foreign corporation, and my palate tells me I'm getting value for my money. 

He said:

While admitting it inevitably betrays my true age, I just have to say that if there's one burger I think of when I'm nostalgic, it's Tropical Hut's Classic burger.  We rarely feature chains here in Good Living BF, since our focus is on 'homegrown' restaurants and enterprises, but we decided to do this as a fitting tribute to our favorite burger since the 1970s.   

Tropical Hut was a burger chain way before McDonalds came in, or Jollibee morphed from ice cream parlor to fastfood giant.  The BF Homes branch is up to now one of the longest-running Tropical Hut outlets in the country -- if I remember correctly it's their second or third branch.  When I was a kid studying at La Salle Zobel, I'd often badger my dad into taking me there after school before we made the long drive back home.  But Cat and I don't go to Tropical Hut to eat history.  We go because, very simply, Tropical Hut still serves the juiciest, most meatily fragrant burger we know.   

The Tropical Hut Classic stands out because it's cooked quite differently from other fastfood chain burgers.  I often find the meat patties from other chains rubbery in texture, probably from a combination of extenders and the dry cooking method they use.  In contrast, Tropical Hut's burgers tend to fall apart on you while you eat, while the buttery, utterly beefy juices run down your chin.  The secret is in the thickness of the patty and the pouring of a special sauce over the burger as it cooks.  As the outsides of the burger seal from the heat, the sauce gets trapped inside, keeping it tender and packed with flavor.  I'm drooling as I write this!  

Unfortunately, Tropical Hut was never managed with the same level of marketing savvy as its newer rivals, and the quality of its products can be uneven.  I've been to Tropical Hut branches that were badly maintained, that stank (I didn't eat at those!), and been disappointed with various menu entries.  The fries can be bland and soggy at times; at best, they're crisp but still rather plain, when compared to say McDonalds' fries.  Sometimes the staff are not as well-trained as they could've been.  

I hope one day to see Tropical Hut undergo a management renaissance.  Better training, better marketing, investment in more effective advertising.  But please, please, if ever this happens, do not change the Classic burger.  It's the reason why, despite all the warts, I still keep coming back to Tropical Hut.

She said:

As I am a few years older than Dariel, my memories of Tropical Hut burger go even more way back, back to where I think it started in Ortigas in the 70s.  But here I plead a senior moment because I cannot exactly recall the name of the place or the building.  But what has stayed indelibly in my mind was the experience of my first taste of the burger that was then making waves all over town.  
Simply put, it tasted like no other -- not that I could compare it with a MacDonald's or a Jollibee's because as Dariel said, they still had to hit town or hit it big at that time -- but that it had its own very distinct taste.  A taste that, thankfully, to this day has remained in the Classic Burger.

Part of its appeal was its bigger-than-normal serving size -- rivaled only by the equally famous Dayrit's hamburger -- which the Classic has kept; and part of it was the de luxe way it was served, with chips and potato salad if memory serves me right.  .

Over the years, as its rivals overtook it in popularity, availability, and visibility, it has tried to hang on stubbornly, sometimes perhaps too stubbornly for its own good as when it seemed to resist upgrading its branches, making them look like holdovers from the past century.  But at the same time, that stubbornness is what may have kept its loyal followers like me coming back for the Tropical Hut burger taste--it had kept the flavor that had made it an institution, a go-to for a burger fix, and a must-have for those midnight cravings.

The relatively few places it had branches in became my landmarks -- in Greenbelt and Crispa in Gil Puyat opposite the Makati Post Office; the Greenhills branch was another favorite stopover.  The first two are now gone; I haven't been to the latter in ages.  So I am happy that although as whimsical as the food industry can be, Tropical Hut has endured.  And that the Classic Burger is still a classic.

Now, my only quibble is why don't they have a branch in Davao?

"As a wife and a mom above everything else, I'd never feed anyone something I wouldn't feed my own family," says home baker-turned-entrepreneur Ria Ortega.  "So everything that goes into my baked goods has to be fresh and first class.  I wouldn't substitute to cut down on cost."  This uncompromising stance on quality is evident in every bite of Ortega's fine desserts, from her blueberry muffins to her traditional Ilonggo ensaymada.  That maternal attachment also shaped the name of her new business, Apron Strings - a name connoting strong and lovingly maintained family ties, and a long tradition of baking only the best.

Indeed, baking is in Ria's blood.  She recalls watching her Lola Rosita making ensaymadas and fruitcakes from her earliest childhood, an activity she thought so much fun that when finally allowed to mess around in the kitchen at age eight, Ria took to baking like the proverbial duck to water.   

"My father wouldn't allow me into the  kitchen before I was eight.  Since to a child whatever is forbidden just seems more enticing, my interest was really piqued.  Finally when I reached eight, my mom enrolled me in a baking class with Lorrie Reynoso, and I knew I loved to bake because I would wake up in the morning, already looking forward to going to my classes," Ria says.  Even now the ensaymada recipe she uses is her Lola Rosita's; thick, fluffy, buttery without being oily, the top fragrant with freshly grated queso de bola. "Eating that ensaymada just takes me right back to my childhood," Ria grins. "Heaven!"

Through her years growing up and later going on to a career in theatre and music, Ria maintained her ties to the kitchen.  "Ever so often I would bake again, trying recipes from books and magazines or sometimes trying to formulate my own.  I would want something, like a particular texture and flavor in brownies that I just couldn't find in commercial ones, so I ended up developing my own brownie recipe," she says.  

On marrying and getting pregnant with her first child, Ria discovered that her version of 'nesting' was to spend even more time in the kitchen, and took more classes with Sylvia Reynoso-Gala.  "That's when I began to realize my love of cooking and baking could be deep enough that I could turn it into a career," she says, and now she's finally making that leap of faith.

Apron Strings is starting out in the classic manner of homegrown businesses built with love -- on a shoestring, but with a ready and familiar clientele of friends who've known what Ria can do for years.  Working out of her home, Ria takes orders for brownies, cookies, ensaymada, and cinnamon rolls, and is developing new recipes in her spare time.  

One product we're watching out for with breathless anticipation is her cinnamon rolls with mango.  She'll be participating in the Cuenca bazaar at Ayala Alabang Village and is hoping to get into Mercato Centrale in Fort Bonifacio.  "When the demand gets big enough, I'll consider opening a bakeshop or cafe.  Slow but sure is the way to go for me," Ria says.  "Anyway, whatever happens or how long it takes, this will always be a labor of love for me.  Baking isn't just about producing breads or cookies or cakes. It's about creating memories as we enjoy our goodies, whether it's in the process of making them, or eating them."

To order products, you can email me through [email protected], or text (0917)854-5143