The Unthank Arms

They called, and I answered...

With the love of my burger reviews slowly growing ever stronger, I am frequently being invited to sample these meaty dishes in a huge array of establishments. The Unthank Arms was one of the first that dared to tempt me in. With a serious love of the pub as a drinking hole and a very bold statement about them having (and I quote) 'one of Norwich's best burgers' how could I refuse? So as usual lets start with a brief bit about the pub itself, it is what you would class as a nice traditional Victorian corner pub, originally inhabited by Victorians probably drinking lots of gin. Nowadays it is still stocked with vast quantities of gin and a great selection of beers and an even better selection of ridiculously tasty and massive bar snacks. The pork pies could probably be used a door stops they are so large. 

Beer + Meaty bar snacks = Good times!

That aside I had something else on my agenda. The burger. I was initially thrown off by the complexity of their menu, drawing on flavours from all over the world, so I was a little worried the humble burger would be lost amongst the vast array of specials. So without further time wasting, we shall begin.

The Burger

So what did I have? For a very reasonable £12 sterling...

The 'Classic homemade Unthank burger topped with Cheddarcheese in a sesame bun with mayonnaise, chilli jam and fries and char-grilled smoked back bacon'

No dillydallying here, I lunged straight in to ask for it medium rare. If they produce what they think is one of the best they must appreciate that to get the best taste and texture, it has to be medium rare. Unfortunately they did inform myself and my burger buddies that they could not serve it medium rare, however, were prepared to serve it medium. Having gone in during prime 'food time' I would expect these to be freshly prepared homemade burgers so we settled for medium. A nice freshly prepared medium cooked burger should still have a slight tinge of pink, not too dissimilar to a medium cooked steak. It should still ooze that lovely beefy juice keeping it nice and moist throughout. Sadly the burger was actually well done and ever so slightly dry. The meat had a good flavour to it so I can appreciate that it could have tasted nice if it were cooked a couple of minutes less on each side. It just required that bit more chewing than one would have hoped for, if I want a masticational workout I'd chew some gum.

The cheese was a fairly hefty lump, quite a thick slice though in a perfect square. That was either a pre sliced pre packed cheese slice or their chef has some insanely sharp knives. It was reasonably tasty and from it's crumbliness I would say middle of the road strength. Mild cheddar perhaps. Could extra mature add more to this bacon cheese combo? Most likely. If you're going for cheddar make it mature, bonus points for extra mature.

The bacon although not crispy was tasty and was a nice addition. As I'd mentioned in the previous five guys review, there is no point having crispy bacon if it's bland and tasteless. I would much rather have good bacon which is less crisp. Obviously the ideal is free range organic rare breed bacon reared on a diet of bacon then flattened and cooked between to scorching hot trays for at least an hour. The limitations here are: firstly I'm not sure if you can feed bacon to pigs, secondly if you could would it make the harvested bacon any more bacony and finally if it is even ethically okay to do so in our now raging vegan society.


The meaty tower came with limited pickles. In all honesty I think it could have done with a touch more pickle though it may have just been that the limitations of the minimalist pickle was further highlighted by the slightly Saharan burger. The bun was absolutely phenomenal. Basically the perfect bun, sesame coated for that extra crunch. It was nicely toasted and soft on the inside. In terms of buns this one really ticked all the boxes. The addition of all the fresh lettuce, onion and tomato really did help to elevate this and partnered with the chilli jam that came with it added a fresh sweet taste to the dish. The fact that the burger was slightly dry was almost not an issue with the salad garnish (of course medium rare would have been better).

The Fries

This was a good solid fry. Not quite to the Thorpe road Coach and Horses level but still a decent crisp french fry. I would say they probably weren't homemade. Annoyingly one of my pals had the fish and chips (a minor lapse in mental awareness that resulted in them ordering something other than a burger) which came with hand cut slightly chunkier chips. These were sublime. Quite frankly I think they should ditch the fries and serve everything with their home cut chips. Unfortunately I haven't got photographic evidence of these home cut chips but I can assure you all they were top notch. If you go for a burger here, be sure to ask for these rather than the fries.

Overall

It's a solid pub burger for the price and the good atmosphere is well worth the money. The burger was slightly dry, but that aside it was a well seasoned and balanced quite well with all the garnishes. The bacon was particularly good and the only areas I feel they could improve are with better quality richer cheese and less cooking time of the actual meat. With a juicy bit of medium rare cooking this burger could be up their in the higher end of the scale. Partnered with their incredible home cut chips it would be a standout dish. A little way to go but the groundwork is well and truly laid for the Unthank in gaining some serious burger credentials.

6/10

The Unthank Arms

149 Newmarket Street

Norwich

NR2 2DR