puok - napoli, italy

Rating:  6 / 10

There comes a time in everyones life when all you want is to sink your teeth into a damn good burger. 

Armed with sunglasses and my mask, I swatted the tourists aside like a bonafide misanthropist, ordered, got my ticket and found distance far enough from humans but able to still see the number on the board for when my order was up.

"Ketchup or mayo?" - "Both please". Hightailed it around the corner praying for solace and seating nearby to mangiare my burger before it gave up it's heat to the ether. Little did I know that the bench I found to balance my posterior was in fact directly in front of the museum containing the "Veiled Christ" statue. 

Puok's burger was the kind that charms you and then holds you at arms length. The first bite was a pleasant "Oh, this isn't bad", followed by hmm.... I tired from it quickly, finding the bun rather tasteless and the patty bordering dry and unseasoned. It was a bonafide mess, but I'm not anti-messy burgers if the deliver on flavour.

Burger aside, there is perhaps nothing on earth (save babies crying on airplanes and people who leave WhatsApp notifications on in public transport) that annoys me as much as cold fries. You literally have left your house to go pay someone to cook your food and they don't do you the courtesy of frying up a fresh batch of GODDAMN POTATOES? I mean, come on.. That is unforgiveably lazy, especially when the place is so busy, ensuring you have a high turn-around. They were not even luke-warm, they were stale, cold, hard, chewy. 

From now on i'll stick to the pizza and pasta because goddamn the Italians know how to make them just right.

These recommendations are just personal opinions based on my palate, things change, chefs get fired or replaced, places open-close, relocate, so take it all with a pinch of MSG  and discover your own gems too. But please do try a few of these, they have been researched exhaustively.