Tommi's Burger Joint

Tommi's Burger Joint opened it's doors in the summer of 2014 after a couple of months of serious burger anticipation. Wooing the masses with quality fast food burgers, milkshakes, craft beer and some Icelandic flair, this eatery has quickly established itself as on of the city's top burger destinations.

Tommi's was probably the most anticipated restaurant opening of 2014, nobody really seemed to know why but if you ask, everybody seems to have heard rumours of a semi-famous burger joint from Iceland and London coming to Berlin. And as everybody just fucking LOVES burgers and loves to talk about the BEST burgers and where to find them, the wait for Tommi's to open was hardly bearable for us Berliners. Welcome to the burger frenzy everybody, it has finally and properly hit Berlin and I'm sensing that this just marks the beginning, 2014 will go down in history not as the year of the horse but as the year of the burger.

Which leads me to Tomas Tomasson. Tomas, or Tommi as he likes to be called, also is a true burger aficionado. A bit more than us other burger mortals actually, he loves burgers so much that he spent three decades in dedication to creating what he believes to be the PERFECT burger. This quest made made him a famous man in his home country Iceland when he opened up the country's first modern burger joint, he actually succeeded so well that he managed to boot old McDonald's right off the island where they came from (hell?) as the Icelanders preferred Tommi's burgers over the Big Mac. Nowadays he has six restaurants on Iceland and his recent opening of a London branch was so successful that he chose to expand further and take his concept to the city of Club Mate, unfinished airports and burger craving creatives: Berlin.

Tommi's in Berlin was supposed to open in the late fall of 2013 but due to several problems and predominantly the re-zoning of the exhaust for the ventilation, it all just took a lot longer than anticipated. Never underestimate German bureaucracy, oh no. On May 9th 2014 though it was finally time to open the doors of Tommi's and since then the place has been seeing a steady flow of curious burger eaters.

Tommi's quest for the perfect burger took him all around the world and when opening his first burger joint in the harbour of Reykjavik he had the perfect recipe in mind. The burger patties are made from Scottish Angus beef and are cooked on a customized grill with extra high temperatures. The bun is the result of thousands of tests and is a classics wheat bun with no seeds. Salad, a slice of tomato and some onions is all you will find on a classic Tommi's burger and cheese and bacon are the extra toppings you can order. There is also condiments corner where you can pimp your burger with some tasty sauces and pickles.

The burgers at Tommi's are simple and tasty, that's the absolute best way to describe them. Because one thing you really have to understand, this is by no means a fancy gourmet burger place with fancy toppings and all kinds of weird ass burger varieties on the menu. This is a scaled down, simple ass burger joint focusing on perfecting the original burger. And really, I love that. There is a bit too much fancy stuff going on in the Berlin burger scene at the moment, people "running before they can walk", messing around with burger recipes all over town and not focusing on the essentials.

This even makes me want to go to McD's to get a simple bloody cheeseburger, because sometimes that's just really all I want. With Tommi's in town I luckily never have to go back to McD's again. A cheeseburger at Tommi's is like a McD's cheeseburger on crack, the meat thick and juicy, the bun perfectly soft and never-crumbling, the ingredients playing in harmony like the Philharmonie. The bun to meat ratio is actually so perfect that you won't pay attention to it. Because it's just as good as McD's, with the important exception that this burger is home-made from the best produce and you can eat it without messing up your body and karma. Weirdly enough the fries taste very similar to McD's fries, they have pretty much the exact same size and taste. They do the job, but really, you don't come to Tommi's for the fries.

Another great thing about Tommi's is their selection of craft beer from Iceland and Germany, they all go perfect with your burger. And if that's not enough they also offer some of the best milkshakes I've had in town, made from Icelandic ice cream and super creamy these shakes are a killer and the perfect end to a meal at Tommi's.

In my opinion Tommi's Burger Joint is simply one of the best burgers this city has to offer. It fills an important niche I've been fearing to disappear completely, which is the quality fast food burger. Sometimes I just want to come to a place and quickly grab a great burger and be on my way. I don't want to reserve a table or stand in line, I mean it's a bloody burger we're talking about. Tommi's offers just that and they have won the heart of us Berliner's with this scaled down concept. And the staff is ridiculously friendly by the way, look for Gummi, the Icelandic manager who's rocking the exact same beard as Tommi himself.

My tip for a brilliant summer night: Go to Tommi's, grab a burger to go with a tasty craft beer and a milkshake and sit down next door in Weinbergspark for your feast. BAM. Go Tommi's.