The Lamb Inn

Once again my travels find me in a pub...

The Lamb Inn to be precise. It is an oddly located pub nestled behind main street buildings in Orford place. It could easily be missed unless it is somewhere you are specifically aiming for. The question is, was it worth seeking out and sampling their food? Without further ado I shall begin...

The Burger

With a reasonable selection of burgers on the menu I thought I would opt for their A game burger. Go for the best and really see what they bring to the table.

WAGYU BURGER £13.99 Wagyu is a Japanese breed of cattle, specially bred for its intense flavour and premium beef. We top our Wagyu burger with melted Camembert and streaky bacon

For those of you that may not know what Wagyu beef is here is a brief description. It is a japanese breed of cow that is lovingly fed a rich diet giving the meat a marbled texture. It is this high fat content that melts during cooking to give the rich flavour. Due to this it is horribly expensive so the fact that this burger was only £13.99 is a worrying start.

I will cut straight to it here, it was insanely dry. So dry I really cannot comprehend it or put it into words. Cast your mind back to late last summer when all of Norfolk's old people lost it because their vegetable patches and lawns were in ruin because of the heat and dry weather. Now times that by ten. When asked for medium rare I was told it could only be served well done as that was how it came. Not entirely sure what to make of this. Was it bought in pre-cooked and then re-cooked? That would explain why it was so unbelievably dry. Either way the burger slice proved difficult with the provided prison grade cutlery that could barely cut a panna cotta. A steak knife or perhaps a japanese samurai sword would have been more fitting. Please by all means correct me if I am wrong so I will gladly await a photo of your chefs lovingly blending Wagyu beef patties. During the eating my mouth actually became an A level science experiment as osmosis began sucking moisture out of my mouth to flood back into the burger. As a result it was really hard to establish a taste from this burger. It had a meaty taste but not one I would consider to be particularly good. It was like a Tescos 8 burgers for £2 sort of thing since it seemed to have that processed taste you get from frozen burgers. 

All the other ingredients in this concoction were masked by this flavour unfortunately. So I genuinely cannot recall anything about bacon other than it wasn't really crispy. I can't remember anything about the cheese even though I was taking notes at the time. It's like it brought on momentary taste and memory loss. The bun was ok though.

Now what gives me the right to judge Wagyu beef burgers? I have actually spent a large portion of time travelling Japan and sampled both Wagyu and Hida beef direct from the source and I can quite honestly say this does not do it justice at all, nor does it even vaguely represent the quality of the beef. In all honestly I think here the term wagyu is just used to ramp up the price tag unnecessarily without an actual increase in quality. It would of been better to go to a local Norfolk butchers and use local meat. As I previously said it is some of if not the most expensive meat going. I would be interested to know firstly what cut the wagyu was from in this burger and also the percentage.

Sides

I thought it couldn't get any blander. The chips were standard bought in variety and to make it worse were actually quite soggy. Huge disappointment. When all you have to do is fry them it's not really difficult, though maybe they were freshly fried and crispy and just went soggy during the one hour it took us to get our food. That is a mystery we will never know the answer to.

Overall

Well it filled a gap. In general this was pretty poor and quite a big price tag for it. Nothing seemed freshly prepared and the waiting time for food was well over one hour. The burger tasted awful and was very dry so all other components suffered at its merciless hands. My advice would be to take this off the menu along with a lot of other stuff and focus of a few dishes executed to perfection.

2/10

The Lamb Inn
Orford Place
Norwich

NR1 3RU

The Burgerman's Croatian tour

Let the burger travels begin!

The last few weeks I have been travelling high and low around Croatia. In amongst the vast quantities of seafood I managed to fit in a few burgers: some fair to middling, some incredible. So for anyone wondering what an octopus burger looks like or are now about to book a trip to the Adriatic, read on!

My first stop took me to 'Barba' in Dubrovnik old town...

Nestled up a very narrow, shady alleyway just of off the main street was a tiny little seafood burger bar, with low prices (for Dubrovnik, in reality it was pricey) and lower numbers of tourists this seemed like the best spot to sit and chill out with a cold bottle of Karlovacko. I sampled every burger they had to offer: Octopus, Tuna and Shrimp and even the Croatian speciality octopus saled.

Octopus - This burger was the thickest and had the most flavour. If you closed your eyes and just ate you could actually guess it was octopus, which couldnt 100% be said about the other burgers. This option also came topped with a really good tomato seafood sauce which complemented the octopus really well. The lettuce, tomato and sliced onion then just rounded the overall flavours out nicely. This would be the top option if heading here.

Tuna - Now this burger was very thin so naturally was fairly dry. Due to being so dry it was actually hard to distinguish a particular tuna flavour from it. The overall taste was just something slightly fishy but nothing I could put my finger on. I was expecting freshly blended tuna steaks breadcrumbed in panco but sadly this was not the case. This burger came with tartar sauce which lacked the caper punch it needed so it was basically mayonnaise. Again the salad was good but should not really be the star of the show when it comes to a burger.

Shrimp - Same issue with the tuna here. Dry and very thin with very minimal shrimp flavour. Don't get me wrong it is good as a cheap (again for dubrovnik) snack as it filled a hole and kept my energy levels up as I exerted myself barging through numerous levels of American tourists.

The one similarity that hold all these burgers together is the infamous black bun. This truly was delicious. You get a slight sea taste from the cuttlefish ink used to colour them and they were incredibly crisp on the outside yet beautifully fluffy on the inside.

Overall it is a tad pricey compared to England or other parts of Croatia, especially for what it is, but the cheapest and one of the nicest things in Dubrovnik. It reminded me like a slightly upmarket Birdseye fish finger sandwich. In comparison to a UK chippy it just wasnt great. I feel like grosvenors would ruin them in a seafood burger cook off (call out to Grosvenors to make an octopus burger). It was the best of an otherwise low quality selection in the old town. Every other restaurant there seems to offer absolutely everything a tourist could possibly ever imagine and as usual, sacrifice the quality to ensure enormous quantity. One place even used long grain rice to make risotto!!

The next burger took me to 'Misto' street food factory in Split...

This I was very excited about. The food in Split was some of the best quality I experienced whilst on the coast. This little street food joint is located just near the edge of the palace old town on the outskirts of the UNESCO world heritage area. They advertised all local ingredients with everything being made fresh. This certainly showed in the taste.

They had a decent range of slow cooked meats. I opted for the slow roasted pork glazed in Dalmatian sweet wine. It was then pulled into chunks and loosely compacted to form a patty kind of shape (so kind of a burger). It was very tender and succulent. The sweet glaze worked perfectly with the rich pork. The only slight issue was that the bun was a bit too big so the pork seemed a bit scarce in the bun. Though in reality there was a lot of pork the bun was just huge. The salad was nice and was a type of lettuce I've never seen before. In terms of the bun it was nice, just massive. There was no sharp vinegar element in this burger concoction but the pork was succulent and it didn't need any pickle as this would have masked the flavours of the sweet wine. There was no crunch element which may have been nice to include. Some crispy Dalmatian prosciutto would have complemented this well. This was a great way to sample some slightly different Dalmatian cuisine and it was very cheap. Coming in with a portion of roasted Rosemary potatoes at around £6 roughly. And that included the obligatory beer.

My next venture took me to 'La Famiglia' in Zadar...

Further North to the hometown of the world renowned Luka Modric to sample yet another burger. It seemed as though the further up the coast we went the better the food got. The main benefit of travelling North is the abundance of truffles. Possibly the greatest thing to have ever been discovered growing underneath a tree.

So I opted for the Zadar Black Truffle burger. The meat was pink (served as standard) and was very juicy. It had a lot of flavour to it and was very well seasoned. The crispy Dalmatian smoked ham was a superb addition and added a subtle smoked element. All brought together by a sumptuous black Truffle sauce. The truffles were local to the region which was good to see. 

   

The Chips are something called potato cuts. Image aside the shape maximises surface area to ramp up the crispness. Furthermore, it acts as a good crevice for sauce.

Now on to the capital of Croatia, Zagreb, and a visit to Submarine Natural Burgers...

My search for burgers didn't take long. Within 10 minutes I happened to come across Submarine Natural Burgers. This was truly a delight. For the first time for several weeks I was surrounded by local Croatian people eating burgers where 100% of the ingredients are sourced from Croatia. It truly felt like a local experience and served with some incredible Croatian craft beers it could not have been better. 

I opted for the sliders as it allowed for maximum sampling of the menu.

From left to right.

The Original - It was like a Big Mac on steroids. Pickles were taken to the extreme. Surprisingly this worked really well as it was balanced with a hefty hit  of meat flavour. All polished off with some homemade submarine sauce, similar to burger sauce but way better.

The Italian - There was a subtle basil pesto underlying the whole concoction but the main hit was the beef once again. The italient ham was a nice addition as it added a salty element to the palate which contrasted the fresh pesto nicely

The BBQ - Again the main taste was the meat. The BBQ sauce was very subtle and came fashionably late to the palate which was surprising and perfect. Often BBQ burgers overpower you with a volcanic eruption of sauce which masks the whole flavour of the burger itself. The sauce was a touch sweet and had a very faint smoked essence to it which lingered in the mouth. This was definitely one to finish on. I would go as far to say this was the best BBQ burger I have ever had in my life. It's a shame it was only a slider.

Overall None of these burgers were pink but all were still juicy and had an impeccable flavour. This may be credit to the locally supplied meat and testament to their vast open spaces allowed for cattle rearing.

Sides

We opted for White truffle fries with hard cheese. Thesewere crisp and had the most lip smacking hit of truffle I've ever experienced. The salty hard was needed to round off the experience and mellow out the trufflegasm. We Also had fries with Slovenian black sausage which were probably the better of the two. again these were very crispy. the sausage added a really subtle smoked flavour which seemed to fill your mouth with a sweet burning charcoal taste, subtle yet intense at the same time. If my duodenum wasn't about to give way I could of Eaten the entire bowel of these happily.

Croatia Overall

Unlike in England when Croatia says truffle, they mean it! You get masses blended into sauces and then for extra measure large slices grated on top of anything and everything. The large amounts of forest allows for copious production of this delicacy. It seems they are just inundated with it.

In general the Food got better as we moved north and east. essentially away from cruise ships and out of areas that have seasons. Along the coast we found places over run by tourism to a point where entire Towns shut down from October for the entire winter. It seems the locals then migrate to somewhere unbeknown to us and leave these incredible old towns completely deserted. There are in essence a Disneyland of historical and medieval cities. Places that contain no local Croatian people and are preserved for tourism alone while most of the time in Summer I imagine is spent fighting through crowds of cruise ship passengers with selfie sticks whinging about not being able to use the masses of euros they got out at Venice only 6 hours prior. 

Croatia has an up and coming burger scene in the mainland and this certainly showed in the Capital. For anyone considering a visit this would be the area where I would spend most of my time. It doesn't have the iconic Adriatic sea in view but the experience feels much more authentic and the food is of considerably higher quality.

The Rivergarden

Jump in the canoe...

No joke you can actually canoe here if you wish. It is a short paddle downstream from the Red Lion pub which I believe hosts the pub and paddle. With this pub you can always guarantee an unusually mixed crowd of general labourers and post wedding party goers who all converge into one big weird boiling pot. It's trying to be upmarket (going off the price of a pint!) yet at the same time not really upmarket at all. The river is probably the main factor drawing people in at summertime, is the food as good as the river view? 

The burger

They only had one burger on the menu and at £12.95 I expected something fairly good. It was a bacon cheeseburger with a brioche bun. Everyone knows you can charge at least a whole extra pound for brioche.

The meat had a lovely chargrilled taste which was seasoned well and although they said no to going medium rare the chef once again agreed to cook it as pink as he would dare. There was a fleck of pink in the centre and it definitely could of been pinker but nonetheless the burger was still pretty juicey. It could easily of been eaten in date situations as my face remained reasonably burger free throughout.

There was a good amount of pickle which was needed to combat the chargrilled meat. Though it was thickly sliced and perhaps could of been improved with a daintier slice.

Alongside this the fresh salad was a nice compliment. The tomato was thinly sliced to reduce sogginess. It could of been dried slightly and seasoned to enhance the flavour and further reduce the sog but in comparison to other joints I've been to this was good. The onion was a bit too chunky really for a burger and it was quite harsh raw in such large chunks. It's safe to say when these fell out, I let them, and did not attempt a recon mission to reinsert them back into the bun.

The bacon was good. Of the streaky variety so full of fat and flavour and very crispy. This is the ideal bacon for burgers when crisp as you get maximum flavour and texture in one salty smoky hit. The cheese was of reasonable quality but just needed more of it. I got the odd taste here and there but not the assault on the palette that I like from cheese. When I make a burger I lattice the cheese in a six slice combo like laying the foundations of jenga. Or if grating then avalanche it over the burger on the grill until you can't see it. General rule, when you think you've added enough, add a bit more.

Brioche bun. What more can I say? Soft, fluffy, I wanted to lay my head down and sleep on it.

The burger came with a serious helping of sweet onion pickle. It was a great addition in the burger but made me wonder why the chef didn't commit and just put it in? It would of meant less waste as in reality only 10% of it was needed in the bun.

The sides

These chips/wedges (chepge) were actually very good. Slightly too thick to be chips yet too small to be a wedge. They come skin on so great for the bowels. They were lightly seasoned and had a great crunch. Normally I opt for skinny fries out and about but I have to say these chepges really nailed it for me. Possibly some of the best I've had for a while.

Overall

Great tasting meat. Moist. Good bacon. Needed more cheese (as I always say) and less raw onion. I would opt for very thinly sliced shallots if going raw or some water thin red onion if insisting on it. The only reason I would say the coach gets extra points is the addition of the onion ring into the burger. The meat alone I would say this is close to a 10. It was just the other components that let it down ever so slightly and the committal onion chutney. Still a good burger though and good enough to make all those that ordered a roast jealous with food envy.

8/10

River garden36 Yarmouth RdNR7 0EQ

The Coach and Horses... Again?

Take 2...

I know I have already reviewed this place but I just happened to be close by and felt hungry so naturally thought why not have a burger. Since my last visit the menu seems to have been updated and there is a few different burger options, so it seemed fitting. I wasn't originally planning on reviewing this burger as I have done one last year but without giving too much away, this burger truly deserved a review so I practically had to. 

The Burger

I opted for the CHB burger:

"Bacon, CHB beer battered onion rings, Monterey jack cheese and Black Anna BBQ sauce."

Burger Compadre sporting NCFC football shirt

So named because of the addition of the Chalk Hill Bitter battered onion rings that come in the burger. So let's dissect this whopper and get to the juicy details. And my Lord are they juicy. As usual I asked for medium rare, they didn't refuse but had to ask special permission. The chef wasn't keen but agreed to cook it as pink as he dared. I don't think he quite had his brave big boy pants on as there was only a speckle of pink here or there, but that said, it was still cooked really well so it didn't matter too much. Moist does not cut it. Juicy does not cut it. This thing seeped burger juice like there was no tomorrow. It would of made a great post workout isotonic drink what with all the protein and salts. It was a beautifully seasoned hunk of meat.

Perfectly balanced as the meat flavour still very much came through. Although there was a lot going on with this burger the overriding taste in a full bite was still the beef, the additions complemented but did not overpower. 

Let us delve into the additional extras that make up this towering concoction. Crisp fresh onion rings battered in Chalk Hill Bitter (possibly one of my favourite beers, check it out!) were balanced on the patty like a food lovers jenga. Fresh salad underneath cut through and added a subtle freshness, while the gerkin added a much needed acidity in this meatsrocity. The Monterey Jack cheese was strong enough to taste but not so overpowering as to throw the balance off with the other items. Usually I prefer a stronger cheese but weirdly this was enough combined with the salty bacon and the sweet sweet black Anna BBQ sauce. If there is anything that could ever make BBQ better, it's a damn fine stout mixed in with it. I am very passionate about Norwich and this burger screams it. Not only a Norwich micro brew pub, but utilising two different norfolk brews in the burger. Something us norfolkians should be proud of.

The bun is great. It's not one of your standard white baps you see in a dodgy layby or in a builders cafe but a proper bun any baker would be proud of. My one point is that it could of been toasted to lock in moisture just a tad more. Though whether anything would of held back that flood of burger juice I don't know. The burger consortium thought that toasting wasn't necessary but we will never know.

A potential to improve the tomato could be sliced thinner and potentially pre-seasoned and dried a touch to ramp up the flavour but that is clutching desperately at straws.

Sides

The chips were awesome as they always are. I am so glad this is a pub that stands by proper chips. The coleslaw is also all homemade as well and fresh. It really makes the difference when it's produced this way.

Overall

My only issue with the burgers are consistency of quality. As I've said I often come here and although the standard is always very good, sometimes the burgers are exceptional. Why I get some that are incredible and some just pretty good I don't know. Either way it's a decent situation to be in when the worst it can be is still pretty damn good. 

This was by far the best burger I have had in Norwich to date so a very well done! 

9.5/10

The Coach and Horses

82 Thorpe Road

NR1 1BA

Burger Van Bistro of Bucharest, Romania.

I have travelled. I have returned.

And what did I find in my travels I hear you ask? Burgers. Lots of Burgers. I normally stick to my full critiquing to the Norwich based burger venues but as a one off I thought I would write a small review to introduce you all to the Burger Van Bistro of Bucharest, Romania. If ever you happen to end up there, this place is definitely worth a visit!

The Burger

Juicy would be an understatement. This burger was so succulent it was dripping left right and centre and quite frankly I should have worn gloves. The meat itself was reasonably tasty though it could have been seasoned a touch more if I am being really picky. My personal favourite way of seasoning is actually basting with fresh butter on the griddle for the final few seconds. I do not want that in any way to distract from the actual cooking of the burger, as it was perfect. It was slightly crisp on the outside, perfectly soft and melt in the mouth in the middle and served medium rare as standard. The accompaniments for this burger consisted of freshly sliced lettuce and grilled onion, adding a nice freshness. The cheese was a standard plastic style creamy cheese which was basically just something to help the whole thing slide down the gullet better. The main star of this burger was the 'bacon' which turns out does not exist in Romania as this certainly wasn't bacon as we know it. It was a cross between cured salami and a frankfurter, slightly spiced and heavily smoked to add quite an extreme rich taste. Polished off with some classic american style mustard this was the perfect burger to cure a raging hangover after many cheap Romanian beers.

The Sides

Rosemary and thyme salted fries. And my god did they salt them. There was probably more salt on these fries than in the dead sea, if you dropped one in it would probably sink. This was the only real downside to the meal. I probably did need the extra salt as Romania was ridiculously hot and I probably sweated out half my body weight. Thankfully they had a mason jar of hipster cucumber water on tap which we drank nearly 5 litres of. 

Overall

The burger was sloppy, greasy, well-cooked and balanced well. Yes it was difficult to eat. Yes caused a huge mess. However, all the ingredients were fresh and for what we paid (not more than £6) it was actually really worth it. This is by no means a classy gourmet burger but it is certainly well above the standards of your everyday burger chef. In a way it made me think of 5 guys and what their burgers should taste like.

Just avoid the fries if you are dehydrated.

Gonzos Tea Room

Does anyone actually come here for tea?

Gonzos, formally the grotty 'all night' night club Cartel which used to have sticky floors and grubby bed like things along the side where you could seemingly do whatever you want on without getting thrown out. Thankfully Gonzos is nothing like that, granted it's still a bit grubby but more in a retro hipster way. The entire place is an ecclectic assault on the sensations for anyone born in the pre naughties. Tagged alongside a comprehensive burger and wing menu, what more could you want?

The Burger

So I opted for:

'The Hab: Angus beef burger stacked with Montreal smoked meat, swiss cheese, American mustard and pickles'.

All for a not too badly priced £12.50. The only thing that ramps up the bill at this place is the fairly hefty price tag on drinks. I can deal with one over-priced pint along with a meal but anything after that then I'd move on to a pub.

As ever the burger was requested medium rare, I did get some sort of minor spiel about the chef covering himself and it had to be cooked through to ensure he doesn't break 'the rules' et cetera et cetera but he would see what he could do. When it actually came the burger still had a glimpse of pink coming through and boy oh boy did that make the difference. This wasn't my first visit to Gonzos, the first time, although still good the burger was cooked through completely. This time though with that extra attention to the cooking elevated the burger to new heights. The meat was so unbelievably juicy I literally could not contain it within the remits of my face. There was burger juice everywhere. Mixed in with the american mustard that seeped all over the place it made quite a pleasant dressing for the insane quantity of fries that come along with the dish.

I'm not entirely sure what the smoked meat was but it was a delightful addition to the burger. It ramped up the meat content and added a subtle salted and smokey way, similar to how bacon acts but less intense. I don't normally condone the use of swiss cheese for it's pointless non-existent taste but I do feel in this instance a heavy cheese would over overshadowed the delicate smoked flavours coming through. Maybe on this one occasion, a mild cheddar would be better as oppose to a rich mature cheddar.

Pickles and American mustard? Classic combo. Yank mustard is great because it only has a very mild mustard flavour so there is never a risk it will over power anything, not even a toddler.

The only point I could say was that the bun should have been toasted in attempt to lock in some of the juice and keep Mary Berry's soggy bottom at bay.

The Sides

There was so many fries. Very crispy and well seasoned. After eating the entire plates worth I didn't eat again for at least 12 hours, no exaggeration (Though we did also have wings as an appetiser). They seemed to be skins on as well. No one can complain at extra roughage. Whether or not they were homemade I couldn't tell I must admit. If they are, then advertise it!

The slaw was a damn good effort. Lots of crunchy veg and not too heavy on the mayo which is great. I like to be able to see the individual components of a slaw as oppose to just white gloop.

Overall 

Well done to the chef for sticking his middle finger up at the overly meticulous world of food preparation laws and actually sending out a burger (slightly) pink. For that you gain the merit and hopefully more people follow suit from now on and make the request. Granted the burgers here are generally good regardless (very messy, but good). A sound medium rare cooking would take this burger up to another level. Hopefully next time I can get it a touch pinker. With such a varied burger menu available I can appreciate the draw to keep coming back, in addition to the fact that they are generally one of the better burgers I have had around Norwich purely because there is no posh pretence. It is a good juicy burger and it will be messy. My one recommendation is don't come on a first date and do not under any circumstances wear a white shirt.

8/10*

Gonzos Tea Room

68 London St

NR2 1JT

*Based on my medium rare experience.