Las Iguanas

Back to another chain restaurant...

This time I venture to one of Southern American Latin descent (or so their PR campaign insists anyway). I imagine the owner is probably no more Latino than Donald Trump. I have actually ventured in to this establishment before and believe it or not I had a curry, not a burger. That was before the days of insisting on having a burger regardless of the cuisine of the restaurants I attended. Now I'm a changed man, a burger is all I crave, be it Nepalese or Icelandic cuisine some form of meat has to be lovingly enticed between some form of bun. Yes it is possible to have a burger of any nationality, in an Indian restaurant, simply sandwich a shami kebab between two circular naans, add the onion salad that always without fail accompanies the poppadoms and hey presto one Indian spiced lamb burger (of sorts). The vibes coming from the restaurant spark party, but I found due to the sheer size of the place it does feel quite baron, capturing the desolation and vast open space of Argentina quite well. So on to the food, what did I have? The Buenos Aires Burger.

The Burger

"National Burger Award Winner. Our 100% prime short rib & chuck beef patty, char-grilled & topped with aioli, crisp baby gem lettuce, smoky pork chorizo, caramelised onion, Emmental cheese & fresh herb chimichurri in a toasted brioche bun with slaw & a choice of fries or salad." Fries all the way.

Sounds good if not a little pricey for a chain, coming in at 12.95 sterling, a reasonable price as long as you get high quality. Throw in the award of national burger winner and I'm sold. Now this burger is advertised as award winning, I'm not sure exactly what award it was nor even who it was awarded by. I can only surmise the possibility that the health inspector gave them a golden five star medal. A first class for managing to cook the burger to such an extent that no amount of moisture or bacteria could ever possibly survive, chances are there would be more left in the aftermath of nuclear testing. The point of my ridiculous analogies, the burger was dry, very dry. As a result it overwhelmed the entire eating and made for a reasonably un-enjoyable dining experience. I attempted the burger slice, if I were to ever return I might call in the help of the Canadian lumbar jack association to saw through it for me to make things easier.

The one saving grace was from the chorizo, as we all know, chorizo imparts a ridiculously huge spiced hit. Thankfully there was a decent amount on top of the burger which gave full bodied smoky flavour. The excess fat from this also helped to lubricate the burger just enough for it to be swallowed after several chews. As I'd mentioned before with chorizo on a previous burger man review, it ends up overpowering the entire dish. In the hands of a great chef chorizo can be a thing of wonders, and particularly in a burger, however it requires a very delicate balancing act of flavours to ensure it compliments the whole ensemble rather that masking any other flavour. On this occasion, the heavy handed chorizo wielding chef actually clawed back a small amount of eating satisfaction by masking the overall blandness of the burger and making a pretty dull meal, somewhat slightly better. I really can't comment about the cheese as I couldn't taste it. Emmental cheese is a fairly mellow cheese to begin with so it's understandable this got lost in the facades. The aioli was either slathered very sparingly or it too was underwhelming. The onions came through just a touch but nothing major. 

The sides

The sides were minimal, however, I will say they did produce a nice crisp thin fry, though it wouldn't have taken too much effort as they were the standard makro bulk buy affair.


On to the Coleslaw. I don't even really know where to begin. It had a very peculiar taste, the only way I can possibly describe it is that if they had made the coleslaw with UHT milk and then left it outside in the blistering Argentinian summer heat for a few hours to curdle ever so slightly, giving it an interestingly repulsive Tang on the back of the palate. Authentic I guess you could call it.

Overall

This did constitute as a burger. Would I say this was a national award winning burger? No. On the whole I think it could be good, all the base level ingredients are present to turn this into a top class meal. The overcooking of the burger really just let this entire dish down and the chorizo took the reigns and went full blast picante on the whole thing. They will not serve medium rare, due to the cuts of meat, my suggestion would be to scrap the short rib meat and use 100% steak mince so it can be pink. In an ideal world, less burger cooking time, less chorizo, a stronger tasting cheese and more of the lettuce, onions and aioli would probably elevate this into what could be a good burger. The execution was just not up to the expectations of a high class burger which you would expect sandwiched between two pieces of brioche.

3.5/10

Las Iguanas

Riverside

7 Wherry Road
NR1 1WX

The Dining Rooms (and also a cinema)

It's time for a date. Burger style.

Firstly, a history lesson. The dining rooms is located in a pretty old building, medieval era old, not just David Attenborough old. So not only does it make for a very pleasant meal it also makes you feel like you are being cultural as well. As we all know, culture is the over-riding social currency used amongst civilisation nowadays. Unfortunately it also now appears that you can just take a few selfies with a cute dog dressed in varying international garbs to gain such esteem as well. I prefer actually going out, with people, and eating obscene amounts of burgers. I opted to go here because I thought it would seem like a nice casual place for two guys to go for a casual burger. Heads up, it was very ‘datey’, something which I’m totally cool with. So naturally I went with my metalhead* compadre as oppose to my female courting partner. So if you’re trying to impress a special someone in your life then this would be a good place to start. However, for a duo of partially inebriated lads it may not be the best venue.

The Burger

Let’s get cracking; what did I have?

"Thick rib beef burger served in a brioche bun, with cheese, bacon, baby gem, vine plum tomato, gherkins, red onion and burger sauce served with hand cut chips"

All for a fairly reasonable £13, nothing that will break the bank, but pricey enough to know that it should be good quality. Its worth noting we did ask for medium rare, and was told no due to the cut of meat. Presumably the rib of beef is slow cooked then formed into a burger? Who knows. I’ll forgive them for refusing medium because they did say no right from the outset. Though when it comes to ‘well-done’ cooking, they certainly delivered. It was very much cooked through, to the point where the meat was ever so slightly dry I have to admit. Confirmed by the registered burger slice method. A shame because the taste of it was incredible, a really deep rich smoky chargrilled flavour, similar to licking the remnants of a barberque after a mass meaty cook off. Like the ones you'd expect several southern state texan cowboys to have in oil drums. It just required a small amount of effort to chew and would of been so much tastier if it was juicy and slightly less cooked. 

The cheese was solid, nicely melted and actually tasted of cheese. I'm thinking it was a fairly mild one as it didn't have the usual punch that I like when I make them myself. I prefer to go for a nice creamy rich extra mature cheddar when topping a slab of meat. A metaphorical cheesy punch to the face. As I always say, if somethings going to be added to a burger make it count, go big or go home. When I taste each bite I think to myself, what is in this meaty construction, and what is it adding? Yes mild cheese is a nice mellow flavour, but who has time for mellow flavours?

The bacon. It was reasonably crispy but could of been taken a notch higher on the crispness scale (1 being a flaccid lettuce leaf left unwatered for three days, 10 being a kettle chip crisp left in the Gobi desert during midday sun). They didn't specify it would be crispy so no complaints there, it was probably a six which is a lot crispier than some places that actually advertise it as crispy. In my opinion it always has to be crispy, not only because it tastes better, but to add the much needed texture element. Bun was standard brioche; pillowy, sweet and classic 'let's make this an upmarket burger'. Worked really well given the venue, that added to the chopping boards as serving platters really added the fancy touch. Granted not as bacterially sound as a bone china plate but they do look nice. I wonder why the health inspector doesn't concern him/and/or herself with that biological hazard more than medium rare burgers?

The garnish was simple for this burger, but quite frankly that was all it needed. The intense chargrilled burger simply needed a nice fresh salad underlay to add the freshness, the baby gem and the raw red onion really cut through this. The gherkin then mortared this meaty beast to new levels adding an all needed jab of acidity that hits home just at end of the palate. Overall the entire ensemble was balanced quite well. The burger sauce was underwhelming, if I hadn't of just this second read it was actually included in the burger I never would have known. Plus I'm certain burger sauce is basically putrified E numbers anyway so I'm quite glad I couldn't taste it, I can't say it would of added anything as the burger didn't really need anything else.

The Chips

Imagine a potato like marshmallow. Insanely fluffy to the point where no chewing was even necessary, I could of merely sucked them through my teeth had that not of invoked several looks of disgust from the other clientele dining alongside us. The only let down was that yes the inside of the thick cut chips was as soft as a baby panda, so too was the outside. They reminded me of twice cooked chips that had had their final glorious stage of high temperature cooking cut short. In general though they did taste nice, I'm just being overly picky and their cooking prematurity is their only fault. In the grand scheme of things they were a hell of a lot nicer than bulk buy oven fry style things that a fair few restaurants cheap out on.

Overall

The burger was slightly overcooked (it is possible to have the meat cooked through, but not overcooked), but that aside they had pretty much got the rest of the meat tower in good order and the burger itself did still taste really nice, just required a bit of extra chewing per mouthful. There's a few things that could be amended to take this meal to new heights but in general they are well on their way. The simple fresh salad garnish was fresh and crisp and was a great addition which I thoroughly enjoyed. Overall taking in to account that everything tasted and looked freshly made in house you can't knock them and they certainly have one over any restaurant that chooses to use mass bought produce from retailers any day. I had a great time with a friend, but would definitely recommend if looking to impress a special someone, especially if meats on the cards.

7/10

The Dining Rooms
Cinema City

St Andrew's Street
Norwich 
NR2 4AD

*Metalhead - Someone that likes metal (a musical genre, not the solid material)