Oscar's Diner Luxembourg

When you move to a new city, in this case Luxembourg, often the best way to discover the local area, is to simply walk around the neighborhoods.  Doing this with very little plan or actual understanding where you are going or want to go. When doing this you bumped into so many little corners, shops, parks, and city neighborhoods that each bring out the charm or special atmosphere of what a city always has to offer. I had to run an errand to the post office which is not to far from the main train station of Luxembourg. In an effort not to walk back the same way I cut up a side street. I came up to some shops, eateries, specialist stores and quite a few bars and cafes. The street had a wonderful feel of people out and about, quite a few locals enjoying an afternoon coffee or drink, and with a few open fruit stalls a sense of a place alive and well.



I have over the years always enjoyed playing pool, and as I was heading by one shopfront I came up onto this place http://www.oscarsdiner.lu/

What I like about it immediately was the open windows onto the street it had from the store front. It was a hot summers day, so you could pop in through the entrance or just through the open windows from the street that came up onto tables that looked out on the street. I walked into a dinning area and in the back was a large play area full of pool tables, two snooker tables and a row of nicely set up dart boards. All around big screens showing sport. I walked in and met one of the bar tenders, Curtis, who let me look around, and shared that the best burger in town was available here. Hearing this, my curiosity peeked, quite a statement to make. He said it with such a casual and non arrogant manner, I was in my mind jotting the address and location in my head. Need to come back.

A few days later, I mentioned this to a couple of our friends, and they said Oscar's was had been a popular place with people from our new work place to come on a Friday to have a drink and catch up.  In my own mind I was thinking having a place with pool tables and claiming the best burger in town was quite a combo. I and my friend, Graeme,  made a plan for a Friday night out.  Shoot some pool and try the burger. Naturally I went with a little apprehension, and tried to have no expectations.



We ordered a couple beers on tap and then both choose the cheese burger. While talking to the bar tender we where told how the staff make all the ingredients fresh, and the meat is selected and beef ground on location. We here presented with a nice wooden board, fries in newspaper, with the lettuce, tomato, and onion on the side. There was the option for a couple other style of fries.  We stuck with the classic. The burger came with a special Portuguese style bun, from a traditional recipe. A interesting side note, there is a large vibrant Portuguese community in Luxembourg who make up one of the largest non Luxembourg groups in the country. Naturally having an influence of its own on Luxembourg culture, this seems to one of them. The bun had a more rustic look with a very very light coating of fresh floor, and a slightly harder crust on the outside, and then soft light white/ brown on the inside. The beef patty was fresh, juicy and was done medium rare. Interesting we where actually never asked how we wanted the meat done, and what was delivered was perfect. The meat was delicious, a fresh flavorful taste and enough redness to give you the full essence of the beef but cooked on the outer edges which provided a nice jacket coating, and lovely taste. The size was good, and the bun which had its on flavor. This added to the combination of the condiments and beef, a nice taste. Again one of my pet peeves is the buns that crumbles, but here having cut the bun in half the bun kept in all the ingredients, their moisture and flavor and with a more crisp outside did a nice job of acting as a trap for the meat and condiments. I must say I came in with much apprehension, and somewhat skeptical. There is no doubt that the time and culinary skill behind the meat, the grind and cooking was outstanding. I loved the idea of the Portuguese bun and the fact the meat had enough blood red freshness to bring out the full flavor and nicely complimented with the outer patty being nicely cooked.

Both bartenders were very friendly, great service, warm and up for conversation. The feel of the place had this "your local" atmosphere where you could see some patrons came here a lot, others just tourists, then your pool players, and me enjoying this new burger place. The down to earth feel, and the combination of people coming for good food, playing pool, darts or just to hang to watch one of the many big screens show sports, gave off a good positive vibe. Definitely a place I see myself coming back with friends. Restlessburger gives a 9 rating.

Snooze Luxembourg

Having just recently moved to Luxembourg I was excited to explore some the burger places, which are quite prevalent here. To be honest in the last three years in my travels around Europe there has been a huge growth of burger bars, restaurants, and bistro's. Ranging from the very fancy to the more mundane or the simple food stall. I think there is now a hipness about eating burgers and they have become quite fashionable. With this there is now a whole culture around the presentation, ingredients, recipes and settings. Interesting and good for someone writing a burger blog.

Good friends of ours Graeme and Kim introduced us to this place one evening, set in a side street of the old town of Luxembourg in the center. The place has a set of outside tables "cafe style" and full set up indoors, in a hip decor, with a bar and dark themed Snooze atmosphere. The color combination as seen on the menu. A place you have to book ahead of time, as it has become quite popular: http://city.snooze.pub/ 


The place has built itself quite a reputation in town apparently, for its burgers, choice of different fries and a good wide selection of specialty beers. These available in bottles and draft, a very good selection.

The atmosphere is comfortable, trendy, a feel of "the place to be" and very busy. The staff are friendly, helpful and good about being patient as you navigate the menu with a full array of burger options both meat and vegetarians, and a selection of  grams of meat. They also have some interesting non beef suggestions which I hear are excellent.

As always I went with the classic cheese burger and a regular size. You can have a double size, two beef patties, which one of our friends had.  Massive, huge and looks amazing but you would need to be very very very hungry. It was for me a meat overload, but great presentation. He said it was excellent.

I ordered the curly fries, you have an option of classic and sweet potato fries too. You can have with the burger some good side options.

The burger came with a very fresh sesame bun, and garnished with tomato, pickle, lettuce and cheese. Even though everything came already on the burger the lettuce stayed crisp and the tomato quite fresh. The cheese freshly melted and done that it was not dripping all over. The beef patty was medium rare, which I had asked for, was juicy and freshly cooked upon being served. The meat was flavorful, a fresh taste no meat blend, pure beef.

The size of the meat patty was a good and the combination of ingredients, blended nicely together. The curly fries where excellent not greasy and had a little darker brown tinge that gave them a nice crispness.

The atmosphere was bustling, and the service good, and even though the place was very busy we did not need to wait to long, and with a party of 7 things came together close to each other, which was nice.

I enjoyed the burger, had a great evening with friends and some good beers. But somehow maybe a bit of the hype or just me, it was not amazing burger. Do not get me wrong, excellent presentation, and very good ingredients. I think with the reputation I was expecting something to hit me in the face, and it did not. I will go back and with the great selection of beers and some other interesting options on the menu would branch out. A very good burger and Restlessburger gives it an 8. Definitely a must go place for others to explore if in town. Then try and convince me otherwise on the rating.