Off to another pub!
Before we begin it's worth noting there are two 'Coach and Horses' pubs in Norwich, this is the Thorpe road one near the train station. Most importantly it's the home of Chalk Hill Brewery, a cracking microbrew pub that supplies Norwich goers with a cracking selection of fine ales. Not only do they offer insanely good beer, they boast a decent reading homemade menu. When I see words like 'homemade' on a menu I can't ask for much more (except it being good maybe). The prospect of homemade food just makes it that much greater, because frankly, if something is just bought in from a colossal retailer what's the point in going out eat it? Just buy it yourself and cook it at home. The other benefit of the pub is just a short walk out the back of the pub down Rosary road there is also lots of pleasant ladies offering all sorts of massages, who knew masseuses worked into the early hours of the morning? On a serious note, whether having food or not this pub has a very good atmosphere and I can think of fewer places I'd like to spend an evening. With that, here's hoping the food matched.
The Burger
First things first, I don't have an instagram because the photos I take are fairly crap. Most instagramers would cringe at the poor out of focus blurred non X Pro-II filtered snaps I take, however (mass generalisation coming up), it's these instabloggers that go out for meals and generally don't have a good time because they are too focussed on phones. By the time they've photographed their meal from every height advantage angle and in different tonal dimensions of light, the meals cold and soggy. My main priority is embracing the burger and getting the most out of the atmosphere and photographing adhoc how the meal comes as quickly as possible then chowing down with my cohort of burger buddies. I had also sank a few pints by the time it came to eating which never helps with photography skills.
Quality exposure on this one
What did I have then? I opted for their flagship the 'Groundhog Burger': Beef patty, homemade BBQ pulled pork, dill pickle, Monterey Jack cheese & tortilla chips, served along side our hand cut chips & homemade slaw. As usual, always ask for medium rare. It elevates the beef to a new level of moist juiciness that can't be put into words. I was told on ordering the burgers are all homemade, and if fresh, can be served medium rare. Unfortunately they were sold out of fresh and had starting using a homemade supply of frozen ones and had to cook them through. I am actually ok with this because they actually told me the real reason. They didn't make up some hilarious excuse about the elephant in the room. Check that, less of an elephant, more of a suited gentleman/woman with horns and a flaming pitchfork wielding a health inspectors badge. It's been a while since the HI bomb has been dropped in a restaurant and I'm pleasantly surprised. Coincidentally I did perform a meat dance to the burger overlords last week.
The ultimate burger oxymoron: cooked through yet moist. New for me.
The beef was cooked through which normally this tends to dry the meat out, it did slightly, however the vast quantity of juicy pulled pork balanced this out quite well so it didn't matter too much. The actual burger itself did have a good taste and was seasoned well and strangely considering the amount of pork slapped on top the flavour of the burger came through really well. The pulled pork has a distinct BBQ flavour but it's not overpowering and complimented the beef really well. With such colossal amounts of meat this burger really needed the vinegar element to cut through the seriously rich flavours and balance the palate. They delivered, good old fashioned royal mail style. The dill pickle was just what this needed to harmonise the burger yin-yang. From here on the burger started to venture into tex mex style with the Jack cheese and the tortilla chips (nachos for us Brits). The cheese didn't come through a great deal which is a shame, as far as plastic American cheeses go Monterey Jack is one of the better ones and creates a super rich creamy taste when melted. My suggestion would be to crank up the level of cheese on this to heighten the indulgence. This wasn't a healthy burger, I knew that from ordering so let's kick it up a notch, BAM! The nacho did add a great crunch element which I thoroughly enjoyed. All of this was beautifully layered between a fresh, soft yet slightly crisp, bun. I can't say exactly where the bun came from but it tasted very nice, proper bakery quality.
The Fries
These were the proper job. Or as my London based friend says, peng*. This pub proves that homemade chips can be done in bulk by a restaurant and that they don't have to rely on the identical frozen six centimetre anaemic chips sold by large retailers. I'm aware the main focus is always on the burger for me, but when you get a quality homecut chip like this it really is worth shouting about. I'd go as far to say that these bad boys can only be topped by grosvenors fish and chip bar. I regularly come back here purely for the chips themselves. In terms of size they are perfect, not too thick but not mega skinny. And yes, a chip can be too big. The only thing I could say is that they could of been slightly crisper, but that is me being overly picky. I tend to like my chips crispy, mega crispy, just incase I wish to re-enact the great scene from the film Troy when Achilles stabs the massive Trojan right at the start (I essentially do the same if my girlfriends hand ventures near my personal chip proximity). That said these chips are the best I've had so far as part of or in addition to a burger meal.
Extra sides
Came with slaw, homeade, enough said.
Overview
The taste of the burger came through really well and surprisingly wasn't overpowered by the accompaniments. With a bit more melted cheese and a touch of fresh Cos lettuce I think this burger could be taken to a new level of meaty goodness. I appreciate this burger already has two different types of meat in it, but I couldn't help thinking that crispy bacon still could be added quite happily into the mix. After all, is there such a thing as too much meat? Unless you are vegetarian the answer is always, no. Now I couldn't have the burger medium rare, but they didn't make excuses and surprisingly the burger was still pretty moist. Would it be better medium rare? Definitely, but it was still good I can appreciate that. The portions were very generous which is just what you need considering you are in a pub offering that amount of good quality beer. It was a fairly well balanced overall and I would definitely come back, if not for the good burger, but for the great chips, and if not for the great chips, for the even better beer. This place has all bases covered.
7/10
The Coach and Horses
82 Thorpe Road
82 Thorpe Road
Norwich
NR1 1BA
Peng - Apparently this means good in London.
