Doon goes big on burgers

Whether it’s using unique ingredients, customised breads or various kinds of sauces, Doon cafes are experimenting with the burger to come out with different variations of the fast food. For most Doonites, it’s the famous shop, Buffet at Astley hall, where they would have tasted their first burger in town. A basic burger priced at `30, it became an instant hit, be it among school kids or grown-ups.While this used to be the case even three years back, in the last couple of years, a number of eateries came up, serving the burger. And in the last few months, the humble burger has got a major makeover with cafes innovating with their tastes and ingredients.
A taste of Australia in Doon
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After returning from Australia, Naman Raj Jolly, now the owner of BakeMasters, badly missed the delicious Aussie burger, that he would have Down Under where he did his cooking course. So he recreated his own version of the fast food here. "After returning from Australia, I introduced this burger here in Doon. Our special burger comprises char-grilled chicken, mutton patties and is loaded with pepperoni slices, cheddar cheese slices and special mayonnaise made in-house. This is most popular among college students and the pricing too has been done keeping them in mind - they cost '275 a piece."
Experimenting with flavours
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Aneesh Singh, who was in Merchant Navy, came back to his hometown Doon and started a cafe of his own. The cafe, Monkey Fist, has a wide range of burgers, which have, in a short span of time, become a favourite of city's youngsters. Says Aneesh, "Dehradun is a small town with lots of cafés serving a large variety of food but we still felt that there wasn't any place where we could go to for a variety of good juicy burgers. That's what got us started! I've always enjoyed cooking and creating new flavours, so I sat together with my family and we designed our first burger using flavours that we loved. We made sure that they were all homemade and handcrafted. We have some 14 different types of burgers, which are all unique in their own ways."
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Customisation is key
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Avantika Chaudhary, who has been in the food industry for more than 10 years, has made use of her experience to come up with this special burger for Doonites. "I love travelling and exploring different types of food. The various types of burgers that I have tasted inspired me to come up with innovative burgers at my cafe, Mussoorie Lights. Our speciality is the shrimp burger which is made of in-house made spicy garlic sauce, iceberg, tomatoes and onions with lots of cheese, the chicken patties and of course shrimps," says Avantika. She adds, "A lot of new cafes that have opened up in the city are now experimenting with the right ingredients to make the burgers from good to great. From getting freshly made customised buns to making their own indigenous unique sauces, Doon cafes are experimenting with this fast food and coming up with some amazing burgers."
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Burgers for the health freaks
The cafes in the city are also trying to come up with burgers which are not just tasty but also healthy. Nishant Takyar, owner of Dope, says, "We never wanted to use oily, deep fried patties. So we thought of offering something healthy which has a unique taste. So we came up with this burger which has special chicken tikka with our special marination; we use oregano buns making it more healthy. The burger is loved by people of all age groups and specially youngsters in the city."
Yummy fast food for vegetarians
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A burger with cheese filed patties is a big hit with youngsters in the city. As Anup Singh Rawat, manager at Just Cafe, says, "The patties in our burger is not just made with vegetables but is also stuffed with liquid cheese and paneer tikka sauce making it a real treat for veg burger lovers. We have huge demand for these burgers in the cafe."