Salt food truck launches 'black' burger

Normally a peaceful place to chill by the ocean, Salt, a food truck based on Kite Beach transformed into a party spot last weekend for its Salt Gone Black event, an evening of art and music to relaunch their limited edition Black Burger. Due to its popularity last year, Salt’s owners decided to have the unusual burger as an annual guest on the menu.

Salt was a food truck pioneer when it was founded by Deem Al Bassam and Amal Al Marri — and the fact that food trucks don’t operate in the UAE as they do elsewhere didn’t stop the duo.

“We wanted a challenge,” Al Marri said. “We wanted to transform the audience, change their expectations. People in UAE are not used to waiting in long queues for their food, it was something looked down on.”

“Initially people would come here wearing heels, then they realised that Salt was more of a flip flops place, more chill ambience.”

I was a bit sceptical as to how the black burger would taste. But after the first bite, all my doubts melted away — much like the burger did in my mouth. The burger bun was extremely soft, while the burger patty was flavoursome and succulent. Caramelised onions, barbecue sauce and cheese completed this explosion of flavour. The side of onion rings served with burger — perfectly crisp and crunchy — was the perfect accompaniment for this bold black burger. Priced at Dh55, the burger is rather costly but the experience of eating it is one of a kind and makes up for it.

The team came up with the black burger keeping in mind the branding of the restaurant truck, which is mostly black with white typography and graphics.

The burger buns are coloured black with squid ink, although there’s no fishy flavour.

“We don’t want to expand in a very big way. Ours is just not a food truck restaurant but a lifestyle movement,” says Al Marri, who says the main aim was to create Salt as a lifestyle and see their community of ‘Salters’ keep growing in number. The truck also has branches in Ajman and Abu Dhabi.

— Devika Menon is an intern at Gulf News.