This little burger joint below Chong Nonsi station walks the line between fast-food and gourmet burgers. While there are chopping boards as plates, decorative ferns and craft beers, there are also no-nonsense condiments, branded cardboard containers and not a single mention of wagyu in sight.

To taste, the standard cheeseburger (B209/B289 with a soft drink and fries) tells a similar story. The beef is tasty, no doubt. They tout that it’s from Australia and ground fresh daily. The result, grilled to your specification of doneness, is a patty which glistens with tangy meat juice and retains a nicely satisfying coarseness, but no crowd-stopper. Our biggest gripe is its size—the flimsy thickness of each patty makes doubling up (B80 extra) a must.

Same deal with the pork burger (B165 single/B235 double/B255 set), which makes a strong case for itself over the beef thanks to a light, barbecue-y smokiness. Not so with the garlic-marinated and deep-fried Japanese mushroom burger (CK burger, B155), which drips with so much oil it would make any katsu master shudder.

They do however get the fries right: a no-frills, hunger-busting portion of perfectly crisp and all-too-moreish potato. Pity that on our last visit they were out of cheese to make them cheesy fries. Ditto the Oreo milkshake. The banoffee milkshake (B145) we opted for instead lacks the flavor of both banana and toffee, but does have plenty of straw-cloggingly dense, creamy appeal (we’re told they use ice cream from Creamery).

With good burgers seriously lacking around Chong Nonsi, Beef & Shake has what it takes to satisfy any greasy cravings, and does so in a clean, inviting space free from the stench of an over-worked burger griddle. But with Daniel Thaiger’s truck parking up across the street at Sathorn Square every Wednesday lunchtime, we’d rather wait till then.

This review took place in November 2016 and is based on a visit to the restaurant without the restaurant's knowledge. For more on BK's review policy, click here.