Southsea burger chain converted into BST’X, a brasserie offering halal fine dining with top quality, fresh ingredients
and live on Freeview channel 276
BST’X Southsea owner Juhel Islam, 31, from Southsea, has been a trained chef for 10 years. He comes from a family of chefs and has worked in a variety of kitchens across Portsmouth throughout his career.
He took over what was previously Burgerstax Southsea, on 85 Elm Grove, in October, and decided he wanted to give back to the Muslim community with a high end, fine dining experience that is targeted to halal eaters.
He said: ‘I wanted to give them a chance to eat something different than fried chicken. We’re taking certain dishes for example beef wellington, a Muslim person cannot go to a normal restaurant and have it because it’s not halal, so that’s what we’re doing.’
‘We’re probably the only ones in Portsmouth who can offer a halal beef wellington to cater to Muslim eaters.’
‘We want to do something different for people who’d want to go somewhere nice and not just have burgers all the time, there was definitely a demand for it.’
As well as the beef wellington, the menu includes breakfast, brunch, desserts, zero alcohol beers and Sunday roasts will be coming soon. Juhel said the menu will change regularly, to keep it fresh and exciting for the customers but also to keep it challenging for him too, as head chef.
Customers who visit the restaurant can also enjoy the shisha lounge in the outside garden space.
Inspired by his Bangladeshi background, Juhel is keen to keep as much of the menu as fresh as possible and locally sourced, and has a target of 90% of the menu being freshly made on site.
He said: ‘In Bangladesh all the food is fresh. We don’t go to the supermarket, we grow all our herbs and tomatoes so that’s the kind of influence I’ve put into the business to ensure the quality is there for the customers.’
‘Our burgers are Angus beef handmade patties which are hard to find in a lot of halal burger places. Our fish is from a fishmongers in Old Portsmouth, we get our meat from the butchers so that’s why our prices are a bit higher, plus certain halal meats are hard to find.’