Black Cat Cafe down Rosmead Place used to be known as the cafe that didn't just have cats on its signboard but had actual ones you could gush over while you wait for your food. But, that was a while back.
No cats have been sighted since our first visit there, unfortunately.
Nonetheless, upon hearing that they had introduced a brand new set of burgers under the title, Black Burgers, amongst much anticipation to see if the burger was actually black or not, we decided to grab some lunch.
The Ambience
In terms of the ambience, not much had changed really. Apart from a couple of tweaks here and there including some colourful as hell artwork, everything seemed to be intact. With plenty of various kinds of seating options, Cuban style music and a whole shelf of books for you to go through, the ambience at Black Cat Cafe screamed a sort of post-colonial tropical and we liked it.
Black Burgers
We regret to inform you that Black Burger, is not, in fact, black but very much resembles the ordinary burgers we're so very used to. That being said, their newly established set of burgers comprise of 6, and one of them is a Voodoo Lady, which is essentially the vegetarian option.
This is the Southern Belle (Rs. 1499). Two brioche buns trapping a piece of fried chicken, cheese and lettuce, it was lovely. A fancier version of the McDonald's Mc Spicy burger, but there was nothing to rave about, really.
The bun, moist on the in, was beautifully shiny on the top and the chicken, albeit crispy, hadn't been marinated in a promenade of spices, or oil, like the usual fried chicken that we're used to. It could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on how you like your meat. If you prefer your burgers to be more on the spicy, oilier side, you might want to get something else.
No, we're not saying it was bad. In no way was this bad, just, falling under the category of people who like their burgers to go all the way in terms of being packed with flavour and such, this wasn't as good as expected.
The Chilli Salt Fries they serve on the side were quite nice. Coming in as thick-cut, golden brown french fries, covered in powdered chilli and a dash of salt, it was as good as Chilli Salt fries could get.
The Big Lebowski was more up our alley. Clocking in at a whopping Rs. 1799, the Big Lebowski was comprised of double Australian Beef patties with triple layers of cheddar, BBQ sauce, pickles and French Dijon mustard.
Big, with lots of elements that almost seemed to fall off the patty, this was very much a happy affair. Particularly for those of you who like a lot of meat in your burger.
The bun was nice and moist, while the patty was big and very meaty. Like the fried chicken in the Southern Belle, this wasn't overloaded with spices, so you're bound to just tasting a lot of meat, pickles, cheese and BBQ sauce.
The Parmesan Fries were a wonderfully golden affair of thick-cut fries with a fine sheen of dotted parmesan coating its exterior. Adequately salty and coming off as quite nice, we loved it. Of the 2 kinds of fries we got, we suggest going with this.
Going to Black Cat Cafe and not getting their Homemade Ginger Beer is a sin, or so we're told. Thus, we got ourselves an Oreo Milkshake (Rs. 605) and a Ginger Beer (Rs. 440).
The Oreo Milkshake turned out to be a not-too-sweet jar full of super creamy Oreo'd milk. I happened to like this one, but, my lunch partner thought the whole thing a tad too milky for the liking.
The Ginger Beer, unfortunately, didn't live up to our expectations. While we had previously loved it to the point of dedicating a whole YAMU Loves to it, this didn't reach that level this particular time. Coming off as far too watered down to our taste, this was a bit of a letdown. Nonetheless, it was very refreshing so if you're looking for something to get you out of the heat, this is a worthy option to look into.
Service
Black Cat Cafe's service is always top-notch, and even this time around, it wasn't any different. The staff was lovely throughout and managing to even bring our food within 10 minutes of ordering.
Conclusion
Black Burger certainly has room for improvement. It's not bad, but considering the pricing, it would be much better if they can enhance the seasoning counterpart, a little bit.
