Burger @ Irie Music Summer Fes [5 year anniversary post!]

 

As the good times roll in the summer, it is no surprise that I ended up in another festival that is being held in the middle of Fukuoka city. This time, it was a bit more special. Irie Music is a radio program under the Love FM banner, specialising in reggae, hip-hop, and Okinawan-style traditional music pieces. 

Entrance to the park

For this year from the 26th to the 28th of August, they collaborated with Jim Beam in organizing a 3-day music festival in the middle of Tenjin Central Park. Hence the Irie Music with Jim Beam Summer Fes is born. Well, for brevity's sake, I will just call it Summer Fes moving onwards alright?  This festival was pretty special for me as not only my friend's father is working with the organizers, one of my former classmates is one of the headliners for the festival on a Sunday slot. But of course, this is a food blog. So how is the food? 

Food options everywhere...

With the intention of providing a vast array of music acts, the festival was also accompanied by various pop-up kitchens and food trucks to feed hungry guests. From pork skewers, fried goodies, takoyaki, and other Japanese and international treats, there is something for everyone. 

A bastion for hungry people, no pun intended. 

In the end, we settled on the classic cheeseburger from a food truck. However, this is not just some random grease pan, as it is from Hungry's. Hungry's is a legendary local burger spot whereby their brick and mortar is located in Kitakyushu which is located up north of the prefecture, closing into Yamaguchi. And for this special occasion, their food truck has made a trip down to Fukuoka city proper. As such, getting the classic cheeseburger was just an obvious choice. 

What's in the box????

As expected from such a place of great reputation, the waiting was pretty "great" too. With mounting orders, a 30-minute wait was necessary. However, I did not mind the wait as I took this chance to watch some of the performances before my chow down. And once the burger hit the deck, it was a truly satisfying bite. 

Gigantic!

The first thing that I noticed was the size. This handheld grenade really felt hefty! It was much bigger than most burger spots I have eaten, probably 25% more in terms of size. This led to a very hefty first bite as well. The burger was pretty basic, but it was good. The beef was top quality, and the cheese was melted into the right consistency. The veggies were basic tomato and lettuce, while the bun was just standard fare. Despite that, this was pretty enjoyable. A mouthwatering lunch indeed. Not to mention it has been a long time since I ate sitting on grass. 

Classic side kick

However, everything was done spot on, so I could not really complain, to be honest. This behemoth stood for a price of 1200 yen and it came with a serving of fries. Speaking of the fries, were classic fried potatoes and were again, pretty basic. But as mentioned, if basic is done well, then basic is all you need in the end. They were thoroughly enjoyable. 

Spitting bars!

But of course, the highlight of the day was not the burgers but an up-and-coming rapper by the name of Skaai, who I have meet years back while studying for my masters. His performance was really spectacular, with lots of energy and buzz. Reminded me of my younger battle-rapping days, but that will be a story for another day. Still, this was a good afternoon with friends and food. I am not sure if the Summer Fes will make a return in 2023, but if it does, I would probably come over again. 

Folks just having a good time, with the Acros building just by the yonder. 

PS: This was a totally unplanned situation, but I was initially thinking of preparing for something really special for the coming anniversary of the blog. What a turn of events this is and why not capitalize on the opportunity? And probably there is no better way in capping off this milestone with some great music and friends. Thank you all for sticking with me for so long over the past 5 years. It has been a long and crazy ride.