Sugar Burger is making its comeback in a big way. A veteran in the Colombo burger scene, Sugar Burger was once synonymous with a good time, and they have recently introduced a brand new menu with 10 new burgers with a diverse spread of flavour combinations sure to blow your mind.
If you need a slight refresher, Sugar Burger is associated with MSD Capital Holdings, bringing us the numerous Sugar Bistro outlets, Sugar Beach, and multiple other bars and restaurants all over the island. Speaking with Group Managing Director (MD) Dinesh Wijesinghe, he shared that Sugar Burger was one of their earlier concepts that was incredibly well received in its heyday.
We can find Sugar Burger’s origins going almost as far back as 15 years when the management used to run a nightclub called H2O, and in keeping with their club and restaurant theme on top of the venue was a modest lounge bar called Sugar. Dinesh shared that the burgers they served there were not originally called Sugar Burger; associating the burger truck under the name Sugar, the customers penned that name, and it stuck. There was a time it wasn’t entirely uncommon to hear people say “let’s go have a Sugar Burger” after a night out.
Given the brand history and their repackaging of a beloved classic while introducing innovative new variations, Dinesh commented that he is confident that Sugar Burger will soon return to its former glory days. He said it has only been a month since they’ve launched and things are going pretty great already. At present, Sugar Burger’s brand new menu with the lineup of 10 burgers, two hot dogs, interesting new add-ons, and drinks, is available only for delivery. You can get your hands on the stuff via Uber Eats and soon on PickMe Food, delivering to Mount Lavinia and Colombo 3-8.
Dinesh shared that they hope to launch Sugar Burger as an independent establishment in multiple kiosks in and about Colombo. While their original plans have been affected by the changing pandemic conditions within the country, he said they are definitely going to open the Sugar Burger outlets in June.
Considering that Sugar has established itself as a reliable brand in the market, having always made quality a priority when it comes to their food, complete with their generous portion sizes and customer-friendly relations, we have no doubt that Sugar Burger will be no different and will soon become a staple in Colombo’s restaurant layout.
The burgers
The 10 new burgers include the classic, macho nacho, new yorker, club tropicana, smokey blues, hippie crab, the big daddy, hot bird, veggie I am, and exotic lamb. All of the burger patties, leaving out the specialty meats, come with a choice of beef or chicken. In addition, they also have two hot dogs, sugar dog and manhattan dog.
There are some interesting add-ons, in addition to your regular fries; Sugar burger offers carrot fries and, of course, sweet potato fries, and you can have your choice of dip to go with your add-ons.
They also offer a variety of drinks. In addition to your standard vanilla, strawberry, double chocolate, and cookies and cream milkshakes, they also have a number of iced coffees – black, traditional, mocha salted caramel, and Vietnamese-style. Dinesh shared that they will soon introduce some specialty coffees to the mix.
It’s a lot of choices, and knowing Sugar as a restaurant, longtime customers will vouch that they know what they’re doing.
Some of the highlights on the massive list of options are easily their specialty meats, hippie crab and exotic lamb. According to Dinesh, Sugar Burger is pretty much the only place where you can have these two burgers right now and they are a must-try.
The burger patties are 100% meat and made in-house, and so are their burgers. Also, every little thing that goes into this burger is made in-house, except the fresh vegetable. They use chicken breasts and prime beef cuts. The burger comes with no MSG, no additives, and no preservatives. “It is as wholesome a burger as a burger can get,” said Dinesh, not in any way touting a massive burger to be a health food, but if you’re going to have yourself a burger, then you’re better off having a Sugar Burger.
The lamb burger is a particular stand out; it’s really quite a new concept and the flavour profile is very distinct. With a Greek twist to it coming from the inclusion of Tzatziki yogurt and a perfectly seasoned tender lamb patty, Exotic Lamb at Sugar Burger was certainly an experience we recommend.
Sugar Burger is available even past midnight, so it is quite literally available at any given time of the day, for whenever the craving hits you.
For anyone looking for some fun
With the prices starting at Rs. 650, Dinesh shared that the product really exists to bridge a gap between the fast-food burger and the incredibly high-end burger, allowing the middle-range market where purchasers can enjoy a gourmet burger for an in-between, incredibly reasonable price.
With its youthful branding, it is rather indicative that the burger is targeted towards a younger audience, which is expected considering the fun flavour variations being introduced, framed for an adventurous crowd who are foodies; we can quite easily see people making it a challenge to try all 10 burgers.
Dinesh shared that with this new expansion, they are keeping a positive outlook on the turn of the industry, stating that considering the second dose of vaccines will be out and made available by July, and the current plan being to have 30-40% of the population vaccinated, he said that he hopes this coming summer things will significantly pick up pace.
This was one of the reasons why they chose to delay their launch as well, he said, considering the delay in the vaccination rollout, had that should the vaccinations gone on as planned, he is of the opinion that perhaps we won’t even be facing this third wave right now and they too would’ve put their plans in motion much sooner. Regardless, he said they are pretty certain that the country should be seeing a turnaround in August and that it would be the time to really reassess the situation.
Business environment
With regard to the current state of the industry, Dinesh shared that in their case, they were well on their way to recovery. While they experienced a small drop in the last few days, since the last lockdown in October last year, he said it has been a steady recovery. Commenting that from December to March it has been a really good time, it was nowhere near pre-Covid levels, but also added that there was an improvement.
As for the return of the tourism industry, he stated that they would certainly benefit from the resurgence of tourists, considering that they were around 40% reliant on tourists. That entire segment has been lost to them, and while they have made progress since last March from the times during the height of the pandemic, it is obvious that the return of tourism would be most welcome, adding that their out-of-Colombo properties – Sugar Bistro in Galle and Sugar Beach in Thalpe, two properties which are currently closed – would greatly benefit from the revival of the tourist industry.
He said, however, that the locals have been a great asset in sustaining local businesses, with them being solely the reason for sustained businesses across the board. “We are most grateful for our longtime customers and also some of the new ones we’ve gained in these past few months,” he said.
PHOTOS ESHAN DASANAYAKA
