Roadster Diner

Roadster Diner began with a single restaurant in Achrafieh, Beirut, with a simple ambition: to be the homiest, most authentic American-style diner the city had seen. Private booths and pedestal stools at the counter soon filled up, and the brand kept growing: a Beirut delivery centre in 1999, a restaurant in Jal el Dib in 2002, branches in the ABC malls at Dbayeh and Verdun, and a new diner in the mountain town of Brummana in 2017.

The menu is classic diner food: burgers, chicken strips with honey mustard, Philly steak sandwiches, Tex-Mex wraps, salads and milkshakes. Several burgers come in a chicken version, there is a healthier line on whole-wheat buns, and bacon is beef bacon where available.

The “Divine” burgers are cooked to order, and most can be upgraded to the Prime Angus line, a 160-gram patty of 100% Angus beef served with coleslaw and potato dippers. The bestseller is the Cheese-at-Heart, a burger with Swiss cheese melted inside the patty.

Diners across Lebanon, from Beirut and Achrafieh to Jal el Dib, Dbayeh, Verdun and Brummana.

• Agadir (Israel, since 1997). An Israeli burger-bar chain grinding its beef fresh in every branch since 1997, open late into the night. Also built on beef, crispy onions and cheese.
• Wimpy (South Africa, since 1934). An American burger bar named after Popeye’s hamburger-loving friend, now a South African institution. Also built on beef, bacon and cheese.
• Burgerizzr (Saudi Arabia, since 2009). The Riyadh burger chain that grew to 120 branches on chilled, never-frozen beef. Also built on beef, crispy onions and cheese.
• Steers (South Africa). South Africa’s flame-grilled burger chain, home of the King Steer. Also built on beef, bacon and cheese.