BurgerLabo sits at #01-10 Henderson Industrial Park on Henderson Road in Singapore's Bukit Merah area — an unexpected address for a celebrated burger restaurant, and part of its charm. The restaurant traces its start to 2015, when, thanks to a friend the team simply calls Juju, its owners embarked on a burger journey. At the time, the burger known as the BB was only one part of the menu; nobody expected it to eventually become the reason BurgerLabo exists at all.
The approach here is openly iterative. With every new version put out over the years, friends from the industry provided feedback and nudged the team to be even better. Each discovery of a better or more suitable ingredient, or of a new technique, is described by founder Ken Loon as 'another step towards a better burger, never the perfect one.' Perfection, in his view, is impossible — what matters is making the best possible burgers for customers, consistently.
That persistence earned public recognition in July 2019, when four Straits Times Food judges ranked BurgerLabo's burger tops — unanimously — in a blind taste test of twelve burgers, despite it being the eleventh one tasted. BurgerLabo serves lunch from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and dinner from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm, Monday to Saturday, with the kitchen closed for dinner on Tuesdays and the restaurant closed all day Sunday. Reservations can be made by calling +65 6694 0940 after 11:00 am, and the latest updates are posted on the restaurant's Instagram and Facebook pages.
BurgerLabo sits at #01-10 Henderson Industrial Park, 213 Henderson Road, in Singapore's Bukit Merah area — the kind of address that makes first-time visitors double-check their maps. An industrial estate is an unexpected home for a celebrated burger restaurant, but that mild disorientation is part of the charm. It is the sort of place you hear about from someone who insists you have to try it. The focus here is narrow and deliberate: making the best possible burger, and making it consistently.
The restaurant tells its own story with unusual candour. In July 2019, founder Ken Loon published a note to customers explaining how BurgerLabo came to be — a story that begins not with a restaurant, but with a single burger on a much larger menu.
The journey started in 2015, and Ken Loon credits it to someone the team simply calls Juju. Back then, the burger now known as the BB was only one part of the menu. Nobody expected it to take over. Yet with every new version it improved, nudged along by friends from the food and beverage industry who tasted each iteration and pushed the team to do better. Eventually, the BB became the reason BurgerLabo exists at all — a single menu item that grew into an entire restaurant.
It is a rare kind of origin story: the dish outgrowing the menu, then the menu giving way to the dish. Diners who visit today are ordering the outcome of years of small revisions — ingredient swaps, technique tweaks, feedback from people who cook for a living — rather than a recipe fixed on day one.
BurgerLabo's philosophy is easy to state and demanding to live: perfection is impossible, so the goal is a better burger, never a perfect one. Every discovery of a better or more suitable ingredient, or of a new technique, is treated as another step towards a better burger — never the final step. The point is not to declare victory but to keep moving.
To customers, Ken Loon's framing is simpler and warmer: making the best possible burgers for them, consistently, is what means the most. That promise — consistency over perfection — is the through-line of everything the restaurant says about itself.
In 2019, Straits Times Food put that philosophy through an unforgiving test: four judges, twelve burgers, one blind tasting. BurgerLabo's entry went eleventh in the sequence — a late slot, after eleven burgers had already crossed the same palates. It made no difference. The judges ranked it tops unanimously. Ken Loon thanked the judges and Straits Times Food publicly, saying that coming up first after tasting eleventh out of twelve 'just makes this pleasant surprise even sweeter.' The verdict carried two words: Best Burger.
BurgerLabo serves lunch from 11:00 am to 3:00 pm and dinner from 5:00 pm to 10:00 pm, Monday through Saturday. Two closures are worth memorising: the kitchen is closed for dinner on Tuesdays, and the restaurant shuts entirely on Sundays. Between lunch and dinner there is a break from 3:00 pm to 5:00 pm, so mid-afternoon cravings will have to wait for evening service.
Reservations are taken by phone — call +65 6694 0940 after 11:00 am, Monday to Saturday. For the latest updates, the team points customers to its Instagram and Facebook pages, a sensible habit for a burger that never stops evolving. Make the trip out to Henderson Industrial Park and you will be retracing the judges' path: arrive curious, take a bite, and see if you agree with a unanimous verdict.