Burgers Bar

Burgers Bar opened its first restaurant in 1999 in the German Colony neighbourhood of Jerusalem and spread across Israel from there. Every branch is kosher with a mehadrin certificate, the stricter level of supervision, which means no cheese on the beef burgers and a menu built entirely around meat. In 2005 Haaretz named it the only nominee for the best kosher burger in Israel.

Part of its early success is put down to price: burgers at roughly what McDonald’s charged in Israel, but cooked to order with a longer list of toppings and sauces. Tourists from America helped carry the name abroad, and the chain opened three branches in Teaneck, Cedarhurst and Brooklyn, all of which closed within a couple of years.

The menu is short and works like a builder. You pick the patty, classic beef, spicy beef, a beef burger enriched with lamb fat or a plant-based Beyond patty, and then the sauces, from thousand island and chipotle mayo to tahini, chimichurri and spicy shatta. Around it sit schnitzel, chicken and steak sandwiches, tortillas, and on Thursdays and Fridays sandwiches in challah, the braided Shabbat bread.

About 30 kosher restaurants across Israel; three branches in the United States have closed.

• Buffalo Burger (Egypt, since 2008). Egypt’s own burger chain, started in 2008 as a delivery-only kitchen in Cairo. Also built on beef.
• RocoMamas (South Africa). South Africa’s loud smashburger chain, with ribs, wings and a build-your-own menu. Also built on beef.
• SALT (United Arab Emirates, since 2014). Wagyu sliders from an Airstream on Dubai’s Kite Beach, the food truck that became a Gulf chain. Also built on beef.
• Herfy (Saudi Arabia, since 1981). Saudi Arabia’s home-grown burger chain since 1981, with its own bakeries and meat plant. Also built on beef.