I have in the past been criticised for my blog being too burger focused (well that is just one of many criticisms, but we won’t go into that 🙄).  Wine posts I could understand, which I love (although, I have to say, that love has waned a little of late) but clearly bores the pants off you lot, but burgers not so much. Prior to this post, I have a solitary post on burgers this year (back in May). 

Bearing in mind I post pretty much every week, that doesn’t seem excessive to me to be honest. On the plus side is does show someone reads it (or at least they used to) 😀.

I am not sure where the ire for “not another” burger joint (good ones at least, bad ones deserve all the shxt they get) comes from. No one complains if a new Italian place opens up and you can hardly argue that burger joints outnumber Chinese or Indian sub continent places in Cardiff and its surrounds (even if you take into account the burger conglomerates, which I don’t frequent – don’t think I have been in a McDonalds or Burger King for 30 plus years and have no plans to do so in the next 30 years, if I last that long).

Anyhow, this is a burger post based on a diversification of the menu, over and above their toasted cheese sarnies, at Canton’s Ffloc.  This diversification is into the current on trend “smashed” burger (I await the “rare” revival, when the oppressive rule of our H&S overlords comes to an end, with a bloodythirsty eagerness). My days of getting otherwise smashed of a lunchtime are long gone (probably for the best that).

I have to say what really drew me in was the price, a very commendable (in this day and age) round tenner for a burger and fries.

Of course whilst cheap can often be good, I prefer value as cheap rubbish is still a waste of money in my book. It is a hard balancing act to achieve quality at a cheap(ish) price, especially when looking at a premium product like beef and with raging food inflation to take into account.

A previous visit to a place which touted cheap smashed burgers was a crushing disappointment in the form of the now defunct “Smashed” in Cardiff market and I can’t say I am really surprised that is didn’t succeed (they didn’t do a particularly good job of their raison d’etre “smashing” and the chips were an absolute abomination).

This looked all together more promising, with Ffloc already a dab hand at applying pressure to stuff on a hot flat top via the process of producing their grilled cheese creations.

The place was pleasingly busy on my lunch time visit and I notice they have expanded their little space

by adding a lean-to.

In addition to the lean-to and a general tarting up inside, since my previous documented visit, the menu seems to have had a bit of a revamp.

Cheese is clearly still the focus, but other options have been added.

Of these, the burger menu was of most interest to me.

I rather liked the simplicity of it, with the standard a basic “no frills” double cheese burger. There is the option to add, but again these lean towards simplicity. Being a man of simple tastes (or, as Mrs. SF might say, just a simpleton) I rather like the lack of a bazillion topping and the inability to make your burger 35ft high that this menu offers.

Because I like simple (and mainly) because I am a tight arsed git, I just went for the straight tenner, with no additions, option.

What arrived was a fine looking beast,

with the bonus of a rather large pickle slice (very partial to a pickle me) and fries.

It had bun overlapping burger frills, with a decent crust and caramelised nobbly bits (the technical term) to the duo of patties.

Love a bit of plastic American cheese, but it could have been a bit gooier (get that from a cloche and steam, which I doubt was used here) on the top patty.

The beef itself was very nice, with a good flavour and a nice yielding texture (nothing worse than an ice hockey puck patty), although I think a bit more instant ferocious heat on the grill would have provided for a more crusty thrill

to the patties’ exterior (especially the bottoms, which I would say had had too little access to the direct heat of the flat top surface by the look of them).

I tend to find veggie extras (bar pickle) an unnecessary and boring distraction in a burger and lettuce is (after the heinous tomato) one of the worse offenders. It added nothing here, although I did like the sharp, raw, white onion slices (which delivered a welcome acidic punch as against the fattiness of the meat and cheese). 

A good, properly tart, burger sauce added nicely to the mix.

In terms of the bun, it played its structural role admirably retaining intregrity until the very end. On the negative side, it was just a touch on the dry side. A potato roll is, by far, my preferred bun for a burger and a brioche bun is some way down the list.

I do somewhat rile against the Ryainairification of certain restaurants, with everything extra (i.e. if you want anything other than the barebones protein, you have to pay extra). Can an extra charge for plates, seats and cutlery be far off I wonder? Here, rather gratifyingly, basic (as in the best, don’t need to be mucked about with – e.g. loaded bxllocks, in my view) fries are included in the £10 price.

Not the biggest portion, but perfectly acceptable size wise, these were nicely crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside, piping hot (a must and sadly an all too rare occurance), with a liberal dose of salt (again a must – people who don’t salt chips, alot, are just plan – as are their chips – weird)

Booze wise, they certainly seem to have upped their game. There are a few not half bad wines (Spanish, I approve of course)

and prices are far from unreasonable. The Cuatro Rayo Sauv Blanc retails at between £9.50 and £10 and is on the list here for £22 and the Inurrieta Norte Tinto retails (again) at just under £10 and is £21 on the list here. Pretty fair pricing that.

Being a Friday and having nothing on that couldn’t wait, I had a cheeky beer (just a half) from the on tap selection

I plumped for the Helles Belles,

which was a nice crisp and refreshing number. Good burger beer, I thought. 

I seem to favour smaller volume glasses these days over a pint (volume seems to defeat me as I get older, not wanting to go to the loo 28 bazillion times) and the stigma of the half (in a toothbrush glass) from my youth has thankfully passed.

The verdict

It is nice to see a place seemingly doing well and able to expand its offering. It is a rare thing in these trying times for hospitality, but here it certainly makes makes sense with a flat top (for their cheese sarnies) to exploit it for burger making purposes,

The burger here is probably not up there with the very best burgers I have had or indeed the best in Cardiff (think down the road Ansh holds that title, followed by Hench and I have yet to try the highly rated Tom’s Smashed Burgers), but it is a pretty decent effort (a few niggles aside),  is good value for money and it has the benefit of being open weekday lunch times.

Good option this if you are looking for a good value, good quality, burger and fries (parking easy too, with first two hours free in tbe opposite Glamorgan Street Carpack).

The details

Address: 327 Cowbridge Road East, Canton, Cardiff,  CF5 1JD