Classic Cheeseburger @ Snooze, Luxembourg

Hello burger lovers,

I am about to review a new burger place in Luxembourg, Snooze. The sportsbar opened a week ago and feedback seems to be positive so far. I decided not to review Snooze on their very first days as I usually leave that part for friends and family, it’s always good to have a head start before the critics hit. On the other hand, I was eager to see whether I could chime in the praise or not.

So what’s Snooze? To me, snooze is a button that lets my dreams live by hitting it.

The Concept: Two young Luxembourgish entrepreneurs opened a burger and beer place in the middle of the city of Luxembourg. This sounds perfect to me. In addition, they have a huge screen where they show all major sports events. As an after work treat, they offer a selection of Gin, Rum and Whisky.

The location: The perhaps most commonly recited marketing dogma when planning or opening a business is – location, location, location. Being in the heart of the capital, I guess they solved that part quite well.

The clientèle: Supposingly they will have family and friends tying and testing during the first weeks. Bloggers and journalists will also show up during the first days as they always seek new cutting edge content for their blogs and need to follow the buzz (a free meal or coke is often a nice incentive to write an on demand review). During lunch breaks, you will see everything from stressed out pencil-pushers on the quest to a diversified lunch break to burger lovers, trend followers, tourists to people just wanting to have a quick bite. The lunch break is the most important part of the day for a restaurant in the city, this part pays the restaurant’s staff and rent, the restaurant needs to be full. To be full, the service, speed and quality must to be on top. On the other hand, so many restaurants are full during lunch breaks without being on top in any of these categories. To be sure, just book in advance to have a guaranteed seat. (Snooze has a very nice online booking system)

The menu: The menu is a dream for every burger lover. With about a dozen beef burgers, they have easily the widest choice of burgers in Luxembourg. Four different veggie burgers for our meat-free friends, fish and chicken burgers, there should be something for everybody. I want to point out the very intersting range of side dishes: sweet potatoes, twisters and onion rings. Big up for that! Snooze also offers alternatives aside from burgers such as Argentinian Rumsteak, Tartar, Fish’n’Chips or Caesar’s Salad. In addition to their already big menu they offer several desserts. I promise to be back for a milk shake.

As Snooze states that they prepare everything freshly and at home, they must have an enormous kitchen. Quite a challenge. I would not be surprised to see a reduction for the second release of their menu.

The interior: The restaurant consists of a narrow room which is adorned by wooden pannels and black walls. The seats are black too, and the light is dimmed. The wooden bar has a nicely shaped metallic beer tap (seen before in other bars in Luxbg.) and striking green bottle wall. As far as I’m informed, the restaurant hosts around 50 seats. During the summer months, their terrace will be a huge plus and surely add some more seating possibilities.

The burger: In order to compare burgers, I need to put them on a level on which they are comparable. In my case it is quite often a cheeseburger. For 14,5€ you’ll get one with a 200 gram beef patty, Cathy Goedert buns, cheese, a pickle, lettuce, mustard, ketchup and a slice of tomato served with a bowl of fries. I skipped the raw onions (I am not a fan) and added 2 side sauces, Curry mayo and Chili Mayo. As usual, I ordered my burger medium rare, they didn’t ask but told me that this would be possible. These are the things I like to hear.  

The Rating:

• Buns: You know that I am hypercritical regarding the buns and several restaurants changed them due to my critics. In this case, I was eager to taste the buns produced by Cathy Goedert (which I find a genius collaboration).  Good news, good buns! A great balance between being soft and crisp, maybe a tad too muche sesame for my gusto.
• Toppings: The vegetables were fresh, I would reassemle them in a different way though, lettuce and the slice of tomato on top of the meat in order not to squish them, not under the hot meat as it is now. The mustard had a particular taste, next time I’ll switch the sauce and try the snooze sauce. The cheese was creamy and nicely melt around the meat patty, definetely nice to watch. My extra sauces had a good taste and were definetely home made. I wish they were a bit less liquid as it was difficult not to make a mess. The chili-mayo could have been a bit hotter too.
• Fries: They were surprisingly good. When I saw a picture on Facebook they looked a bit pale. Mine were really tasty, warm and crisp.
• Meat: The biggest downside of my burger was the meat. I ordered it medium rare but it didn’t come that way. The color was red, but there was no juice at all in the patty, just the opposite actually, it was very dry. I’ve seen this phenomenon before, I think that the meat has been precooked (no doubts about freshness). This system has the advantage that it allows to serve burgers more quickly with the disadvantage of drying them out. Cooking them to minute would be the perfect option but it’s a huge challenge if you don’t want to keep your customers waiting.

My opinion: All in all, Snooze is a valid option to have a burger. Their huge menu, especially regarding burgers, should satisfy everybody. Unfortunately, the burger that I had wasn’t any better than the ones the competition around town offers. I think that the burgers are a bit on the expensive side, considering the fact that burgers are a basic food product. This comment is not only targeted to Snooze, but for nearly all restaurants that serve burgers.

For me it is already clear that I will be back to further explore their menu and try some more of their burgers. Don’t forget that they’re only open for a bit more than a week, and that they’re still learning every day. I hope this review as given them new ideas on how to improve. I wish them best of luck!

K