We’re continuing our celebration of #nationalhamburgermonth here with Burger Month 2024 and, honestly, while I usually prepare for this months in advance, I kind of lost the story this week. Things just kept on popping up and, before I knew it, I kind of had to rush through this week’s entry. So I did what most people would do: wander around until some kind of inspiration hit me. Thankfully, I was in the right place to be walking around as I was at SM Megamall for another chore anyway. Now, for those who don’t know, SM Megamall is one of the biggest malls in not only the Philippines but in the entire world.

But you know what’s the funny thing about me trying to find a good burger in SM Megamall for Burger Month? I’ve already done practically all of the burger places there! I had to get a bit creative so I scoured the menus of some of the restaurants there that aren’t known for their burgers. That’s when I came across PAUL.

Paul is actually a boulangerie and patisserie, which is a fancy French way of saying they make bread and baked goods. Even so, they do also serve meals there and not just sandwiches, mind you. But that didn’t matter to me as I needed something to check out for this week’s Burger Month and PAUL’s PAUL burger caught my eye. So, I decided to walk in, get seated and order one PAUL Burger to see if it was anything good.

But before I did get served my PAUL Burger, they did give me a good choice of breads. Makes a whole lot of sense. After all, PAUL is first and foremost, a fancy bakery. So bread is kind of their specialty but this did mean I had to give a quick review of the bread. Suffice to say, they were really good. I’m not a fancy bread guy so I wouldn’t know exactly what I ate. Texture-wise, they generally all had a crisp crust but very chewy insides. It does taste fancy, especially if you involved the whipped butter they serve on the side.

But I didn’t go to PAUL for their bread, despite it being incredible. No, I was there for the PAUL Burger and, when I did get it served to me, there were some nice added suprises with what I got. Not only did it come with a side of fries, it also came with a garden salad. So, not only do you get a sizable burger with the PAUL Burger, you also get a pretty sizeable meal if you include the fries, salad and bread. Considering you get everything for around 450 Philippine pesos (not including service charges), which is less than $10 US. That does seem like a good enough deal, right?

For right now, though, let’s just focus on the actual reason why I got the PAUL Burger. Like with the side order of bread from earlier, the bun of the PAUL Burger was really good! It looked like it was going to be too thick but, because it was so good, it actually added to the experience. I will say it held up well, especially with how difficult it was to handle the actual burger! For some reason, everything inside was just sliding all over the place. And, no, it wasn’t from the sunny side up egg, which was also really good, by the way. I know because it felt I had a good grip from the top but not the bottom! And since the egg was perched on top of everything, it can’t be from the egg yolk dripping from the sides. It may have contributed to it but it wasn’t the primary factor.

All of the other fixings were also top-notch for the most part. I do like that the pickles were sliced lengthwise, making it possible to get a little bit of a sour tinge whenever you go for a bite. The lettuce was pretty crisp and the cheese, while I would’ve wanted the slice to be a little bigger, was still adequate for the burger.

Sadly, while all of the other components were pretty excellent, the biggest downside of the PAUL Burger is the actual burger patty! I wouldn’t say it was dry but it wasn’t the moistest meat patty I’ve ever had either. They also mixed in a bunch of herbs into it so, while it did add some flavor, it also took away from the beefiness as it was more distracting than enhancing.

Probably the most disappointing thing about the beef patty was that it didn’t have any char on it. I can’t really say how it was cooked but I will say it was cooked through. However, the lack of any char on the burger made it come off as rather… sad. This is doubly so as, like I mentioned earlier, everything else was just superb and the only thing that wasn’t was the actual burger part of the PAUL Burger?

Coming to the fries, they were surprisingly great. Despite them being on the thicker side, they were incredibly crispy on the outside but still retained a nice and soft inside. I will say the salad was just kind of there. Oh, the lettuce did come off as fresh and crunchy. And the vinaigrette did give it a nice tang. However, it just lacked something else to make it from just okay to good. Maybe it there were croutons or something? I think that would be a good idea since PAUL is a fancy bread place.

Despite PAUL’s PAUL Burger beef patty kind of a letdown, I will say it was still worth the price. I mean, the burger patty wasn’t terrible but it was simply overshadowed by the quality of the rest of the other components. They don’t exactly totally make up for the rather lackluster burger patty as, well, isn’t the burger patty the primary reasons why you order a burger in the first place. I still can’t take away from how good everything else is at PAUL. Maybe if you do visit the place, get something else because, if the bread is any indication, their other stuff should be excellent.

Have you tried eating at PAUL? What did you think of the place? Let me know in the comments section below!