Customers have been calling them some of the best smash burgers in town, with five-star Google reviews praising the beef, the chips and the service.
I spoke to The Butcher & Son’s owner Danie Rossouw about what goes into his Karoo Wagyu burgers, the ingredients he chooses and his ambition to grow The Smash beyond its original home.
“Best smash burger in town.”
“Definitely found our new burger spot!”
These are among the comments customers have left on Google reviews about The Butcher & Son’s burger operation in Somerset West. Others praise the Wagyu burgers and tallow-fried chips, with customers also commenting on the quality of the meat.
The Smash by The Butcher & Son is the new name and branding for the burger operation. The name gives the burgers a distinct identity while retaining their connection to The Butcher & Son. The food trailer operates on the property, which also has a cosy eating annex where customers can sit down and enjoy their meals.
Our conversation covered the food behind that identity, from the Karoo Wagyu beef and the ingredients around it to the preparation involved in making the chips.
It starts with Karoo Wagyu
The Smash’s burgers are made with 100% Karoo Wagyu beef, with onion powder as the only addition to the meat, used solely as a binder. There is no added water, rusks or vinegar, and no premixed seasoning pack. For Danie, the beef is the centrepiece, and the other ingredients are chosen to complement it.
Each burger contains 150g of beef, divided into two 75g portions that are smashed on the hot plate to create two layers of beef.
Danie points to the richness of Wagyu as part of the experience. The idea is not simply to make a burger as large as possible, but to get the flavour and texture of the beef right and allow it to work with the ingredients around it.
That means paying attention to the details that might otherwise be overlooked, including the bun, cheese, onions and sauces that bring the burger together.
Why the bun matters
The brioche buns Danie uses for The Smash cost him a little over R6 each. A standard shop-bought bun might cost around R2, making the difference significant when producing burgers in volume.
He could spend less on the bun, but he believes the choice matters to the finished product. The bun needs to be fluffy and complement the richness of the Wagyu. Danie has even explored the possibility of developing a different brioche, but getting the texture right is essential. An alternative might sound appealing, but it still has to work with the burger and deliver the experience he wants customers to have.
The onions are cut in-house and cooked in tallow. Danie also pays attention to the cheese, which he describes as “the best cheese you get for a burger”.
These decisions all contribute to the cost of producing the burgers. Danie understands that, but he does not want to compromise on ingredients simply to offer a lower price.
As he put it, “I ask my price, because I believe in it.”
The work behind the chips
The chips served alongside burgers from The Smash have also been winning praise.
They begin with whole potatoes, which the team peels and cuts before soaking them overnight to remove excess starch. They are then blanched before frying.
The chips are cooked in tallow, as are the onions. It is a considered approach that requires preparation well before an order arrives. The team needs to have the potatoes ready for service, and running out of prepared stock means there are no more chips to serve until another batch is ready.
For Danie, the process is part of the finished product. The chips are not an afterthought to be bought in and served alongside the burgers. They are another part of the meal that he always wants to get right.
The food has to match the promise
The Google reviews praising The Butcher & Son’s Wagyu burgers, tallow-fried chips and service offer an indication of how customers have responded to the food. For Danie, the way The Smash is presented matters too, particularly as the brand establishes its own identity.
He has strong views on how the burgers are marketed and is frustrated, for example, by AI-generated images of burgers and food-truck setups that bear little resemblance to the actual product or setting. Images help shape customers’ expectations before they place an order, and Danie believes they should reflect what people will really encounter.
“It’s a real thing. It’s not a claim. It’s not AI,” he said.
The reviews describe customers’ experiences of the food itself. Danie wants the photographs used to promote The Smash to show that same product, giving potential customers a genuine idea of what to expect. As the brand develops, the images should reflect the burgers he is actually making, rather than an artificial version of what they could look like.
Where Danie wants to take The Smash
When I asked Danie where he sees The Smash in three to five years, he said he wants to establish more locations rather than sell franchises, and the Southern Suburbs has already entered the conversation.
For now, though, Danie remains closely involved in the business, from production to customer orders that still come through on his phone.
The Smash by The Butcher & Son gives the burger operation a distinct identity while retaining its connection to The Butcher & Son. The name may be new, but the burgers already have a following in Somerset West and the wider Helderberg. Danie’s immediate task is to build on that foundation.
