Bakery & Burger JB's Tokyo

⭐⭐⭐

🍔 Hamburger / 📍 Yoyogi

📓 Visits: 4 (2021-2022)

Connoisseurs know that Aldebaran probably serves the best burger in Tokyo but with the basic burger now costing a whopping JPY 2,470 since their move, bookings required and a one-drink system it's neither cheap nor convenient.

Bakery & Burger JB's Tokyo opened at the end of June 2021 and bucks the trend of ever more expensive burgers, charging just 390 yen for a basic 1/4lb hamburger and the same for a fries and drink combo.  At this price your expectations are low but there's more love in the food here than at any chain.  They don't use buns but serve their patties in a sandwich loaf, which they bake themselves.  Mayonnaise is made in-house too.  No preformed frozen meat is used.  Only the ketchup is bought-in because they couldn't do better than Heinz (and who can blame them?)

There isn't room to swing a cat in the restaurant with kitchen and till on the first floor, toilet on the second and 9 seats on the 3rd.  I had to ask the staff how to enter the premises as I thought I would be walking into the kitchen.  This is not a place for restless children.  Sometimes you go to restaurants where no expense is spared on the decoration.  Here, it's like there was no expense spent and you might be wondering whether or not they've actually finished.  Anyway, you're not here for the decor.  There's been no queue on any of my visits and the food was brought to me within 5 minutes of ordering.

On my first visit I chose the basic hamburger and fries and on my second and third visits double hamburger, fries and the milkshake.  If you want salad or cheese in your burger there are separate line items for these.  The fries were good and on my first visit, like McDonald's on a good day, but a little greasier on my second.  The burgers are excellent: cooked all the way through, a real meaty flavour with properly ground beef, a punch of pepper and moist.  The mayonnaise that accompanies them was delicious.  Don't be mislead by that tower of a burger on their home page: even the 'double double' is not that big but the double hamburger was substantial.

The shake on visit two was not so good.  I wasn't convinced it was a real shake: it was much more just like unsweetened whole milk with a large dollop of cheap ice-cream in it left to melt a bit.

On visit three the shake was better and that's because since March 2022 they are completely homemade.  It was a little icy but properly thick, not very sweet but in a good way.

This isn't the sort of place you hang around for a chat but staff were polite.  No English was spoken on my visit but the menu, which you can preview on their website, is bilingual so if you can manage ii-to-in or tei-ku-auto you probably won't need any Japanese.  Unless of course you want to dine-in and all seats are taken (arghh!)  Should that be the case, there are a couple of public open spaces (I hesitate to use the word 'parks') nearby where you can sit down and eat your take-away.  You might prefer that anyway so you're not subject to the cooking fumes in the restaurant.  If you do dine in the ask for water when you order because it isn't self-service.

You're welcome to argue it's not a burger if it's not served in a bun.  But one of the original hamburgers was actually served using sandwich bread and this is from where they've taken their inspiration.  And since October 2022 they now make their own buns so if you request maru-pan and pay the 20 yen extra there's now no longer any argument this isn't a proper burger.

Bakery & Burger JB's Tokyo is hard to beat in terms of value and as long as it doesn't start getting rammed, convenient.  A Fuchu branch opened in December 2022 and a Shibuya branch in August 2023.

📌 https://tabelog.com/tokyo/A1304/A130403/13260771/ 

❓ My Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 3.6 (value: 4.2)

📱 Booking: No bookings.

📍 Location: 1-33-3 Yoyogi.

In front of the West Exit of Yoyogi station.  Dedicated street-facing entrance.

Map data ©2021 Google

📅 Visit: December 2022

Double burger 690
French fries 290
Maru-pan +20

💴 Damage: 1,000
⏱️ Time taken: 25m

📅 Visit: July 2021

Hamburger 390
French Fries Combo 390
+ Beef patty 250
+ Ice-cream milkshake 150

💴 Damage: 1,180
⏱️ Time taken: 20m

📅 Visit: July 2021

Hamburger 390
Fries 290

💴 Damage: 680
⏱️ Time taken: 15m