It was a typical new day of the new year in the office so we decided to find a new place to eat for lunch and write about it in our new blog. (Wow everything’s new, right?). We got out of office a little late so we knew that most of the nearby restaurants, especially the ones inside Greenbelt and Glorietta are already full and lined up. We roamed a little bit farther than what we usually stroll in Legaspi Village and so we happened to hit upon Charlie’s Grind & Grill!

Charlie’s Grind & Grill is a famous burger place which can be found (its Makati branch) in Unit 1A Greenbelt Radissons #107 Aguirre St., Legaspi Village, Makati City. 

From the outside, you’ll know it’s going to be calories, calories, and more calories at Charlie’s! The interior is not so big, but could accommodate a big group like us (there were 10 of us). Their design is very casual and perfect for after-work hangouts and comfort food sanctuary.

Now let’s see what Charlie’s Grind and Grill has in store for Johnny!

Let’s start with some appetizers.
Everyone’s favorite: FRIES!!!

Fries

Charlie’s is known for making their fries come with extraordinary sauce. They use the same fries as base for their bestsellers, which are made from Igorota Idaho Potatoes. The potatoes are fried to perfection, crispy and light, but not too greasy. Since the potatoes are fried with skin on (read: healthier), we’ve tasted additional texture to the dish as compared to the usual fast food French fries. 

Here are some of their sauce selections!

Garlic Parmesan (#YesPapa) – Php 135.00

The garlic mayo and the Parmesan cheese complements each other very well. Additionally, the smoothness of the sauce is a perfect match with the crispiness of the fries. This is perfect for cheese lovers but it maybe best to share with your fellow foodies as the cheese overload may have “umay” factor.

Animal Fries (#YesPapa) – PhP 155.00

Who wouldn’t love the look of melting cheese on top of a bed of fries? Similar to Garlic Parmesan, this dish is also perfect for cheese lovers because of the rich and creamy cheese sauce. The sauce is also combined with the thousand island dressing, which adds a tangy taste. It also has caramelized onions, which gives a deeper, roasted, and mildly sweet dimension to the sauce. These flavors blends well and creates the overall theme of this dish.

Black Truffle Fries (#NoPapa) – Php 210.00

We can’t really say anything bad about the smell and the taste of the truffle oil used in the fries. The earthy aroma adds a dramatic impact to the simplicity of the fried potatoes. However, with chicken liver added, the dish becomes a hit and miss at the same time for us. The grainy/sandy texture and bitter taste of the chicken liver, in addition to its not-so-appetizing appearance, gives negative points to this dish.

Dirty Fries – Php 195.00

Although the bleu cheese sauce is extra creamy and super savory, it gives the right amount of saltiness to the fries. The sauce is also not too strong (which is a plus for us) but still provides the sharpness we expect from bleu cheese. Other toppings such as the bacon bits, diced tomatoes, and green onions bring additional textures. These are welcome additions to accompany the creamy sauce. There is also chicken liver but we noted that the pieces were smaller than those in the Black Truffle Fries, which makes it more tolerable. 

Burgers

The burger patties are handmade from Angus or Wagyu beef

Wagyu Beef

The patties made from Wagyu beef are soft and moist but we think that it’s more fatty (oily) as compared to their Angus counterparts.  The smoky taste and aroma is very evident, which deepens the beefy flavor of the meat.

Angus Beef

As compared with the Wagyu, the Angus beef patties are firmer but still tender and provides a better bite to the eater but are not too chewy.  We can still taste the same smoky flavor the same with the Wagyu.

Burger Variations

Double Black Angus Cheeseburger – Php 360.00

The gooey texture and mild saltiness of the melted American cheese adds a new level of dimension to the burger patties.

Bacon Black Angus Cheeseburger – Php 260.00

The strip of bacon added is crispy, salty, sweet, tangy, and umami. It can be emphasized that nothing goes wrong with bacon in it and anything with bacon is awesome. Did we already say that bacon is awesome? BACON IS AWESOME!

SMB Black Angus Cheeseburger (#YesPapa) – Php 340.00

This burger is similar to the Bacon Angus Cheeseburger but with the special SMB (San Miguel Beer) sauce. This special SMB sauce is the star of this dish, which really contributes on why we consider giving a #YesPapa recommendation.  The sauce is awesome sauce — some with the right amount of sweetness, less bitterness, while retaining the citrusy and refreshing taste from the beer.

Sliders – Php 300.00 for 3 pieces

These are just smaller versions of the burger but they opted to use potato buns, which gives a sweet touch to the smoky flavor of the beef patty. This dish is perfect for those who only wants small portion but the whole flavor of the burger.  These sliders are available in 1, 3, 6, and 12 pieces.

“Dawg” (Hotdogs)

Kitchen Sink – Php 250.00

The photo above really understates the amount of toppings this “dawg” has -onions, pickles, cheddar cheese, chili con carne, jalapeno peppers, tomatoes, EVERY TOPPING ON THEIR D-A-W-G MENU. ALL. Except of course, the kitchen sink.

Each topping adds layers and layers of flavors to the dish, which complements the oh so meaty dawg, which hits you with hints of smokiness and sweetness. We can feel from the texture of the dawg that only minimal extenders/binding agents were used.

Wings

Reversed Buffalo Wings (#YesPapa) – Php 590.00 for a dozen

This is perfect for people who wants the creamy flavor of blue cheese and are not fond of the spicy variants of chicken wings (i.e., buffalo wings). However, for us spicy wings lovers, a generous drizzle of the spicy sauce on to our wings was needed before we devoured it like Vikings (or just like Johnny ate that spoonful of sugar. HAHA). 

Don’t forget to try Charlie’s special sauces to anything you want!  They have four sauces: American, Russian, Horsey and Aioli.  We were able to try two of them and we loved how they complemented our burgers.  Feel free to tell us if you tried the other sauces!

That’s all for now at Charlie’s!  We’ll surely love to come back to grab our favorites and try more of their creations. Check out the summary below to see Johnny’s recommendations.