The Bicycle Shop Cafe (Not a bike shop)

Something a little different

Time to go where all the cool kids hang out. Unlike the name suggests, this is not your ordinary bicycle shop. Mainly because it doesn't sell any bicycles. Disappointing for cyclists. They do however have a fairly decent selection of foodstuffs and cocktails. Great for the hungry people of Norwich. As a result of this place being a slightly hipster hang out there was no chance I'd be able to get a normal burger, the only one available was a pulled pork burger. I was quite glad about this considering the vast quantity of beef burgers I chow down on throughout the week. The one good thing about the bicycle shop is they do try to source local produce as much as possible, something that I firmly believe every restaurant should do.

The Burger

The burger was a BBQ pulled pork burger, served with garnish and twice cooked chips, totalling with a pint for around £14 which isn't too bad considering the amount of food on this plate. Ideally I wish I had of taken a photo with a banana for comparison as the plate itself was larger than normal, one our very own Alan Partridge would be proud of. The half and half presentation was primarily due to size and since I knew pulled pork could not be done medium rare I was quite happy with this method of serving. The pork itself had an incredibly rich smoky flavour with a good variation of moist and also slightly drier chewier pieces of pork. The two perfectly blending in the mouth to give a moist eating whilst still delivering on texture. I can't say exactly on what other spices were used but it kind of had a Caribbean BBQ taste about it. The amount of pork supplied was very good. When it comes to pulled pork burgers there has to be so much that it flies left, right and centre out of bun whilst you're trying to eat it. Not great for dates especially if you are trying to impress said courting partner. Even more so if they are a vegetarian as there is high chance they might receive a small amount of pork related friendly fire.

The pickles were excellent and of a substantial size, both in length and girth. Thickly cut and nicely tangy so when masticating you really do get a sharp hint cutting through the rich smoky meat. Topped with lots of fresh lettuce, tomato and onion which really took this up a notch and balanced the whole eating very well.

There was one thing which really did let the burger down. One of the core aesthetic aspects of a burger. The Bun. It was terrible. There was unfortunately no redeeming feature about it. When I turned the burger buns over to assemble my meaty tower I believe I found the real reason for the serving half and half. Most of the top of the bun was missing (see below rather unappetising picture).

It doesn't really scream "eat me!". More like "I was left over from the weekend and was frozen, then possibly got a bit freezer dry and thawed out really quickly, most likely in a microwave, so the instant heat on frozen bun turned resulted in a soggy gaping tear forming in the epidermis of the bun".

The Fries

They were really nice. A very solid effort and brought the whole dish up a notch. There is nothing worse than premade prepacked hydrogenated McCains homefries being served up alongside homemade burgers so to have twice cooked chips was a delight. Being twice cooked as well they had a serious crispness to them, the edge of which you could probably sharpen a dull blade with.

Overall 

The burger was balanced very well and was a good size, I actually couldn't finish all the chips. The pickle was large enough to cut through the intensely rich and heavily spiced pork and the fresh garnish really livened the party up. The only major let down here was the bun. The one thing pulled pork needs is a freshly, slightly toasted bun to ensure the pork juices remain locked in between that bready goodness. This unfortunately looked and tasted as though it was not. With a decent bun this could of been close to the 10 mark as everything else was spot on. With the dodge bread...

5/10

The Bicycle Shop Cafe

7 St Benedicts St

NR2 4PE

Maybe take your own bun?