Well, it’s May again and, for me, it’s the start of another Burger Month! Yes, I’ve made it a tradition to devote a single month to just writing about one of my favorite foods: the burger. I love it because, while the concept of the burger is pretty easy to grasp as it’s some meat patty sandwiched in between some carbs, there are so many takes on it. There are burgers that use sticky rice in place of buns, burgers that use lettuce instead of buns, burgers using very expensive beef and even burgers that don’t use real beef. There’s a plethora of variations and I’m so eager to try them all out if I can.

To start off this year’s Burger Month, I’m actually taking it rather local. I didn’t have to go to a fancy mall or some high end place to try out a creative burger. This time around, I went to a place that’s just walking distance from where I live. It’s a quaint little restaurant/coffee shop called Kape-Mily. I’m not sure if they really concentrate of coffee because they do have a really extensive food menu. Honestly, I do like that because I’m not too big of coffee myself.

I will say I do like the setup inside as there are two levels to Kape-Mily. The first floor is where you order your food and whatever drinks you want but there is seating there as well. The second floor does have a very cozy vibe as it looks down towards the first floor. I really wanted to take a few pictures of the interior but the place was kind of full and I didn’t want to disturb any of the patrons who were enjoying their food and drinks. I mean, who wants some weirdo taking pictures of you while you just want to relax, right?

Anyway, I was eagerly awaiting this year’s Burger Month because, like every year, I do a lot of scouting in advance so I already know what places I’m going to visit. I look around and try to see if there’s a new burger joint in town or if some restaurant is carrying a burger that’s unique. Well, Kape-Mily did have something that immediately caught my eye. It’s called the Hashbrown Knockdown and it’s a quarter pound burger with bacon and special sauce. What makes the Hashrbrown Knockdown special is that foregoes the bun and replaces it with two hashbrowns! The instant I heard about this, I wondered why no one else had thought of this before!

So I went to Kape-Mily and ordered myself one Hashbrown Knockdown as well as an iced coffee because who wants hot coffee with their burger? I will say I do love Kape-Mily’s overall presentation of their food as they don’t serve their dishes on plain looking plates. What they do is serve them in little ceramic pans and it adds a nice touch of charm to what you’re going to eat. The coffee came in a plain ol’ plastic cup but who cares about the iced coffee? Look how cute the Hashbrown Knockdown looks!

Like with every burger I check out for Burger Month, I did a little dissection of the Hashbrown Knockdown just so I know I’m getting to bite into. It does look a little bit small but it’s much taller than I expected. I guess they kind of had to mold the burger patty to fit the shape of the hashbrowns. It additionally has some nicely melted cheese as well as some kind of barbecue sauce in it as well. The Hashbrown Knockdown also has two strips of bacon folded on top. I will say I was a little disappointed that the bacon didn’t look crispy as I like my bacon to have some bite to them. However, in retrospect, that might be an intentional choice but I’ll get to that later.

Of course, the main crux of the Hashbrown Knockdown are the hashbrown “buns” and they were delightfully crispy. I did the trite thing and scraped the top with a fork just so I could hear the crisp scratching as I ran my utensil along it. The hashbrown looked like it had a lot of structure to it as it was pretty solid to the touch. Not flopping around or soft enough to break when held. Or so I thought.

The biggest problem I had with the Hashbrown Knockdown became apparent when I took my first bite. You know how, when you’re eating a hard shell taco and you bite into it wrong, the shell just break apart, leaving a mess in your hand? Well, the same thing apparently happens when you use crispy hashbrowns instead of something soft like a bun. While I did get an very satisfying crunch from the hashbrowns and got a good chew on the beef patty, the Hashbrown Knockdown lost a lot of structural integrity, making it practically impossible to eat like a normal burger, which is with your hands. I had to resort to using the fork and knife they gave me. I guess that’s why we don’t see that many burgers that replace the buns with hashbrowns?

Besides this issue, I will say I really liked everything else about the Hashbrown Knockdown. The burger patty was extremely good. It had a good amount of flavor to it even if it wasn’t all that fatty. The bacon, while not crispy, still tasted pretty good. It did make sense to not make the bacon crunchy because you already had the hashbrowns taking the command in the crispy texture department. The sauce they had on was a little more on the intense side but it wasn’t too overpowering to dominate the burger in any way. Honestly, two thumbs up on the taste department.

I guess I do have to talk about the iced coffee I got with my Hashbrown Knockdown. I guess it was fine. Like I said, I’m not much of a coffee guy so I’m definitely not the one to talk about the nuances of all the roasted notes or what kind of bean they used. The only real comment I can give is it did pair well with the Hashbrown Knockdown. Take that what you will.

Overall, Kape-Mily’s Hashbrown Knockdown was an excellent start to this year’s Burger Month. Despite it essentially falling apart during my first bite, the flavors more than make up for that issue. In fact, I’m now more willing than ever to go back and try the other items they have on their menu if they can serve a burger this good. Like I said, they have a pretty extensive menu for a coffee shop. Besides, the overall ambiance is pretty nice so it’s a good place to just have some quiet time for yourself. If you have the chance, I say visit Kafe-Mily… even it is for just the coffee.

What other coffee places do you know have really good food like Kape-Mily has? Let me know in the comments section below!