Bin 4 is in the small Harris Green strip mall on Yates Street. It's a small space, that they've crammed in a lot of tables, but without making it feel cramped. There's also a small patio space, that was well in use to deal with the demand, despite it being an autumnal day. They've got one long bar for some seating, a half dozen booths and a few high tables along one wall. It's a bit dark inside, lit with moody lights bouncing off the brown walls. All very modern lounge.
The Heritage Burger (Bin 4... no idea why they name their burgers after wine storage areas) is their base burger: 4oz (I think) of BC beef from 63 Acres, bacon aioli, lettuce, tomato served on a Brioche Bun. Now before we get too excited about '63 Acres' being a small farm, it's not. It's a meat supplier, who specializes in hormone free, BC cows. Well cow carcasses from particular partner farms. So it's pretty good meat. Just not a single source, 'we know the burger came from Daisy-Dandelion, daughter of Buttercup-Tulip the Fourth' meat. We all went for the added cheddar to make it a cheeseburger.
The meal came out relatively fast... after we got the wrong order the first time, and the wrong sides the second time. Both corrected quickly, and we have to give some allowance for the sheer volume of people in the venue that day. The staff were still super pleasant, despite (as they told us) being busy and non-stop for their entire shifts.
The brioche makes a denser, rich carrier for the patty. The patty is a thick, fresh cooked hunk of meat. The meat was flavourful and dense. They were slightly on the dry side, maybe due to the high volume in the kitchen that day, but certainly not ruined. Just one side of great... a little more juice would not have gone amiss, that's all.
The fries were good, fresh cooked and hot, with sufficient crunch to go with the warm and earthy centers. We tried three different aoili's with the fries: a bacon, a truffle and a basil. All were a dense thick paste to dip into. The truffle version was subtle. It had a light trace of the deep intense savouriness I associate with truffle oil. The bacon was more of the same from the burger, a nice salt accent. The basil version was really good, with the full flavour of the herbs coming through. I think we all voted that it was the best of the dips.
Overall, for $5.50 for a burger, we didn't go wrong. I'd said I would pay full price, thinking it was a $15 burger, but at $12.00 sans cheese, I might go for it again. It's tasty, well made and good ingredients.
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