Wham Burger at Katipunan

Strong rain poured after lunch. It was accompanied by lightning and thunder. As a result, power went down. Sigh... I miss life at Rockwell where there was always a standby generator that kicks in in matter of seconds. Anyway, our contractor was working on our swinging hidden closet door but could not continue their work because they needed electricity to power their drills. So they had to go home without finishing the task. Since the rain has let down already at this stage, I took Ethan with me to swim at Rockwell (Cols is in GenSan and Caitlin went with my folks to Hamilo Coast).

By the time we finished swimming, power has not yet returned. So I brought Ethan to have dinner at Valle. I was planning to join the folks and Caitlin for dinner, but they got stuck in Sta. Rosa due to traffic and did not expect to get back to Manila until maybe 9pm. So we left Valle ahead and I decided to just buy take-out food along the way.

When I was in CDO earlier this month, my friend there, Robin, was telling me that he knew the people behind Wham Burgers. I've seen the outlet along Katipunan for some time but have never really eaten there. Coming from Pasig and going to Katipunan, you will see it on the left side (not too far from the White Plains intersection). Because MMDA blocked all the U-Turn slots along that section of Katipunan, you have to drive all the way to the Katipunan/Aurora Blvd flyover and take the U-Turn slot under. Its a bit of a distance so I'm sure a lot of people would just decide to eat elsewhere. But I was curious enough to give it a try so I took the long U-turn.

The Katipunan store is their first branch. Its quite old and probably could use some renovation. The comic posters are faded already by sunlight. While I was looking at the menu board, I noticed that the cashier lady was busy chatting on the phone. It was obviously a personal call (probably her boyfriend) and she did not seem in a hurry to hang up the phone considering I was already standing in front of the counter. I didn't really mind the delay that much since I needed some time to choose from the menu. But still, it was kind of annoying that she was doing that.

By the time I was ready to order, she came back to her cash register. I asked for a burger and onion rings. She gave me a number and I went to my seat with Ethan and Yaya to wait to be called. In the meantime, she went right back to the phone and, presumably, called the same person again to continue her conversation. After a couple of minutes, a new customer came in and had to wait a bit again for the cashier to finish her call before she attended to him. I think the owners should install a CCTV camera and DVR to monitor their staff.

Going back to my burger -- it was actually pretty good. Much better, in my opinion, than HotShots or Brothers Burger, both also in the flame-grilled/gourmet burger category. I find HotShots' burgers a bit hard. Wham's was juicier and had a decent-sized patty. For the onion rings, however, I have to give the honors to Brothers.

In terms of service, Brothers is also more professional and at par with what you would expect with fastfood chains. Granted that perhaps this cashier is just an exception and that maybe other Wham outlets have good service, maybe I should not be too hasty in my judgment. Overall, I think I would visit it again should I have a craving for burgers. Or perhaps I'll try Bite Club next time.