Smokin’ Joe’s Knockout Burgers
Where: 54 Problem Mkhize Road, Berea.
Open: Monday 12.30pm to 7.30pm; Tuesday to Thursday and Saturday 11.30am to 9pm; Friday 1.30pm to 10.30pm, Sunday noon to 7.30pm.
Call: 031 309 1568
Durban’s been making waves on the food scene. Last month The LivingRoom was named the top restaurant in South Africa and just before that, Smokin’ Joe’s was voted the 12th best burger joint in the world.
I’d chatted to owner Yunis Bassa at the time but hadn’t had one of his burgers in a while. Neither had food writer Ingrid Shevlin, so we both went along to see what the fuss was all about.
Durban has always been big on burgers. They’re on most menus, even in restaurants where they shouldn't be, and range from the mass produced fast food horrors to the positively gourmet. A cheffy friend describes Durban’s culinary tastes as BBC ‒ burgers, bunnies and coffee. He has a point.
Neither Ingrid nor I are big on burgers, but for this we had to get our hands dirty.
We arrived a little early for lunch on Monday but Bassa quickly declared the kitchen open and invited us to lunch. We took a seat on the terrace not a moment too soon as the heavens opened.
Smokin’ Joe’s has a fairly simple menu ‒ mostly a selection of burgers, mostly named after boxing heroes. Bassa is a fan. There’s the lightweights for kids, like the Baby Jake ‒ a single patty in a roll with cheese and tomato sauce. Then there’s the heavyweights like the Rocky Marciano which is a 180g patty with secret sauce, sriracha, mature cheddar, jalapeños, roasted tomatoes and mushroom sauce. That sounds like you’ll need more than a napkin to mop up with afterwards. The Raging Bull, for boxer Jake LaMotte, has the large patty, cheese, secret sauce, barbeque fillet, jalapeño and onion rings. There’s also the Golden Boy, a fillet steak roll with all the trimmings.
If you like your burgers even bigger, you can load them up with a whole range of stuff. Fries, too, can be loaded with cheese sauce, truffle and thyme, or chilli or macon.
We start with a basket of jalapeño poppers and some onion rings. Both are very good. I’m not a fan of jalapeño poppers but these were the best I’ve had in Durban. A nice crisp crumb that stays on the popper, the popper properly cooked, the cream cheese rich and cool and topped with a drizzle of good chilli sauce to add a little more fire. The onion rings, too, are nice and crisp in a light tasty batter ‒ no mountains of stodge which is a case of find the uncooked onion ring in the middle.
Bassa suggested I try their newest addition ‒ it’s not on the menu yet ‒ the Gypsy King. This was two smashburgers, fillet, roast tomato, red onion, mature cheddar, a jalapeño popper and secret sauce, which is a spicy mayonnaise. It came with good crispy French fries, also a plus. The fresh home-made burger patties have flavour, they’re light, and with all these other cheesy, tomato and chilli flavours going on around them it was a great lunch. And, yes, I needed to wash my hands afterwards.
Ingrid went for a pizza option, a good cheese, tomato and basil, that speaks to good ingredients properly made. What’s not to like?
Smokin’ Joe’s offers a range of shakes ‒ Nutella, cookies and cream, strawberry and so on ‒ as well as coffees, teas and cooldrinks. There are no desserts as such, but if we’d had more time, I might have tried a Vietnamese Coffee. They were great on my last visit.
Food: 4
Service: 3½
Ambience: 3½
The Independent on Saturday