The York Tavern

The York Tavern

Situated in a cracking part of Norwich sits this traditional corner pub. With a fine selection of beers and a fairly decent menu this place is the perfect venue as a cosy winter pub or even a summer venue as it has a huge garden out back.

The Burger

Starting with the burger, the basic one starts at £11 so not a bad price. It was very well cooked and a tasty piece of meat which they were happy to cook medium rare. It was so moist and juicy it was literally dripping with prime beef juice all down my face. Thankfully napkins were provided in vast quantities. It would of looked horrendous on a first date with meat juices flying out everywhere all down my arm, but definitely worth it on a fourth or fifth date to test the waters to see if your partner is a keeper or not. Upon eating, the burger melted in the mouth, exactly why medium rare is so good, it required next to no mastication.

The downside with it being so juicy was the bun could not handle it, ideally it needed to be toasted to lock in the juice a bit more and stop it turning into a soggy mess. Speaking of the bun this was really the main let down of the towering beef stack. It was surprising quite stale and dry, as I went mid week I'm wondering if the bun was either left over from the weekend or frozen and thawed out. Either way I can guarantee it wasn't fresh, which surprising did have a big impact on the overall enjoyment of the eating. Thankfully the juiciness of the burger did counteract this slightly but a fresh bun would of elevated this moist beefy monstrosity to a whole new level.

The bacon came as an additional extra. Though it was very tasty and very crisp, it did cost a whopping £1.50 just for one rasher. I would of at least expected two pieces at that sort of price. The garnishes were classic which I enjoyed, tomato and lettuce. Added a all round freshness that cut through this meaty delight. The only aspect I think could of made this slightly better would be a touch of mustard or some sort of pickle just to add in that extra taste sensation.

The Sides

It came with coleslaw and chunky ish chips. The coleslaw looked homemade and I have to say was very nice. Not too creamy and still had a good crunch to the cabbage. Similarly the chips, though not homemade I don't think, were crispy and cooked well so again I can neither complain nor rave about them. They were just standard bulk bought ones but cooked well.

Overall

The main aspect of the dish, the burger, was incredible without a shadow of a doubt. The bun was a bit of a let down, which I did mark the bicycle shop down heavily for, but at least this one still looked presentable so not as bad. It could also do with some sort of pickle element as I mentioned before and I really think they need to assess their bacon rationing (pun intended) as £1.50 for a single slice is ridiculous, I don't care how well it is cooked. Weighing everything up though the pros outweigh the cons and the venue has a great atmosphere so definitely worth a visit, maybe just take a jar of pickles with you.

6.5/10

The York Tavern

1 Leicester Street

Norwich

NR2 2AS

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?

European Special: Serial Burger, Prague

Their saying: "Meat is burger" and they couldn't be more right

Fancy a break from smoked ribs and goulash? Tucked away behind the backstreets in central Prague sits this very cool underground burger bar. Lured here by their sign from a distance, I couldn't refuse a venture down into their dimly lit hipster basement bar. The menu is reasonably small which is a good sign, with things like the "ultra bacon burger" and "Jalapeño and Habanero" burger making an appearance, you can't go wrong. They also had what appeared to be changing specials on offer as well. In addition they also do a 1250g Burger challenge for anyone that fancies it though you have to preorder a few days in advance. Crafting such a behemoth of a burger undeniably would take several days of hard back breaking meat grinding labour.

So what did I go for? I opted for the weekly special, because I am the burgerman and sometimes I have to push the boat out and dare to be more than just the average cheeseburger. It in fact was much weirder that the standard classic: 

'Deer and pork belly burger, served with tomato, romain lettuce, Viennese onion, Monterry jack cheese and a cherry chocolate sauce with homemade fries'

                                            

All that for roughly £8.50, depending on exchange rates. Having seen a crazy chef on masterchef roll a haunch of venison in cocoa before I naturally thought that this combo would work. Unfortunately it did just taste as though I was eating a partially cooked chocolate fondant encased in a super fluffy bun, with a mild hint of meat on the after taste. I got barely any taste of cheese, minimal taste of onions and overall it wasn't very pleasant. Imagine eating a half pound chocolate cake with garlic chips? Not a great combo. The burger slice did oddly give a pink result, which I wasn't expecting given the addition of pork belly in the burger. Once I'd scraped off the chocolate sauce and tasted the meat individually it was really moist and very tasty, just hugely overpowered.

Now you might be asking why I'm writing this telling you to visit given that my "special" wasn't that great. The special was poor granted, but the normal burgers off the menu where phenomenal. All pink without even asking, insanely crispy bacon, and some slightly 'out there burgers' like the boneless confit duck leg burger with braised red cabbage. It is unfortunate that I, the burgerman, happened to order the only poor item on their menu, but at least now my dear readers will know. I pushed the boat out and went there, so you don't have to. I'll take the metaphorical bullet so you can live on and sample excellence at its finest. The fries were also probably some of the best I've had accompanying a burger, with an option of salted, chilli or garlic fries and an addition of a selection of random sauces. I went for saffron infused sour cream with garlic fries. Crisp enough to blind someone should a rogue chip end up airborne in drunk arm waving rantings.

                    

Overall

If you're in Prague, go there! If the special burger sounds too weird, don't have it, it is probably gross. Stick to their proper menu which are all tried and tested and very very nice burgers. The venue is unusual and surprisingly quiet for a capital city which is nice to get away from all the hustle and vast quantities of worldwide tourists. It's reasonably priced too and has a fairly awesome cocktail selection available.

Travel away!

The Buck on the Green

It says it on the pub sign, don't pass the buck...

And pass it I did not, I entered with a serious craving for meat. Word on the street sign outside the pub claimed homemade freshly prepared food. Something which always entices the BurgerMan into a venue. This pub is in a cracking location, however, possibly one of my furthest expeditions from the city centre. Perfectly situated by the river and at a great point for a leisurely pub crawl into Norwich (Pub crawl route additional extra at the end of the review). If you fancy it you could also canoe into the city from here, though I will not endorse a water based canoe trip after eating and drinking lots of fine ale, regardless of how hilarious and entertaining it is.

The Burger

So I opted for the steak mince burger, with bacon and cheese. Along with a pint it came in at just under £15 however on a Monday they actually do a £10 beer and burger combo. Great way to have an even cheaper burger meal.

First things first I launched full blast into the classic medium rare question. I was very pleased to find out they were happy, I think even the chef may have relished the opportunity. Boy oh boy did the chef deliver. They didn't just cook the burger, they lovingly nurtured it over a scorching hot grill. The burger slice revealed a perfectly moist and beautifully pink piece of meat which tasted great and was very well seasoned. It is to date one of the best cooked patties I have had, ever! Given the amount of burgers I have had that truly is a compliment, even better was that my companions all had burgers and they were all cooked consistently to the same level.

Nestled on top of this was the bacon. Two rashers that struck the perfect balance in terms of crispiness, the meat melted in the mouth but the fat along the edges was so crisp it was like a mini bacony pork scratching inside the bun. It was pretty thick as well, a good three mils at least. The cheese lay seductively on top of this, lightly melted to bring out the fat and flavour. There was a  decent amount and it did actually have a good taste, I would say it was likely to be mature cheddar. The only way I could improve would be to add a bolder and stronger cheese like an extra mature, but this is me being very picky. The intensity of all this meat and cheese was balanced very well with a sweet tomato relish on top which cleansed the palate nicely and rounded out the flavours. Not only this but the fresh salad underneath helped to liven and freshen up the dish, whilst the pickle cut through the rich meaty flavours and the sweet relish.

The seeded bun was toasted which kept the moisture contained in the bready capsule. I've always personally been a huge fan of seeded buns, somehow it makes me feel like I'm being healthy with the addition of seeds. An extra portion of fibre to counter balance the colossal amounts of constipation inducing meat I consume always goes down well.

Sides

Included was a home made coleslaw which was incredibly creamy. A very nice addition. The home cut fries were incredibly crispy and very well seasoned throughout. It's a hard push to beat the fries at the coach and horses but I have to say these were better, slightly thinner and super crispy. 

I also opted for an extra addition of onion rings. These were incredible! Large rings of fresh onion battered in a very light crispy tempura style battering. Truly making all shop bought onion rings look like crap. The picture says it all.

Overall

Lets assess this in terms of the burger yin-yang: It was fresh from the salad, sharp from the pickle, rich from the burger, bacon and cheese, moist from excellent cooking, crispy from the bun toasting and the bacon fat yet subtly sweet from the relish. This burger truly had it all. Though I have a few minor points that I think could elevate it, such as stronger cheese. I can truly say this is one of the best burgers I have had to date. Served with some excellent fries and a cracking coleslaw it's a decent amount of food for a very decent price. I just wish it had of come on a normal circular plate. Looking forward I hope they continue their good work for the burger community and maintain their high standards as they have just nailed my highest score to date.

9.5/10

The Buck on the Green

55 Yarmouth Road

Norwich

NR7 0EW

Pub Crawl route, bonus points if you manage to eat a burger in each pub:

1. The Buck
2. The River Green
3. The Cat and Canary
4. The Coach and Horses (Thorpe Road)
5. The Jubilee
6. The Red Lion
7. The Adam and Eve
8. Home Time!

The Black and Blue Special (Plus Recipe)

Another Homemade Special

Not only does the Burgerman review, he helps out those in burger related need. Not long back I came across someone who wanted a recipe for a black and blue burger offered up in a restaurant far oversees. I readied my tastebuds and took it upon myself to create such a behemoth so that everyone can enjoy this Cajun style bad boy in the comfort of their own home.

So what is the black and blue? The black is represented by a fiery cajun seasoning that is smothered over the burger. Ideally it should have at least six hours to absorb all the flavour before being cast onto a scorching hot griddle pan allowing the spices to blacken, creating a highly aromatic and incredibly tasty burger. The trick with the cooking of this burger is high heat and quick cooking to blacken but not burn the spices. Be warned though the level of smoke this produces is colossal so open every window possible, if using seriously hot chilli powder it might ruin your lungs too if you inhale too deeply. I accept no responsibility for injury caused by blackening burgers. Due to the insane temperatures it is hard to cook these medium rare, so the best thing to do is make your burgers out of high quality butchers meat with a blend of steak mince and beef mince at a 50/50 ratio. This ensures there is enough fat inside so that even though the burger will be cooked through, it is still moister than a Louisiana swamp in the wet season. Prime steak mince has little fat content so this particular burger needs a blend to ensure a decent fat content.

As mentioned the smoke level is absurd hence the blurry shot. You get the idea though, hella smoke!

The blue is a rich salty blue cheese which is melted on top of the burger. I've opted to griddle some thick slices of onion and melt the Stilton on top of that. It balances well as the onion caramelises and sweetens as it cooks which compliments the salty cheese perfectly. Also greasy fatty cheese dripping down a burger is possibly one of the greatest things in the world, fact.

For the seasoning recipe:

• 1 tsp fresh thyme finely chopped
• 1 tsp sweet paprika
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin (freshly ground for best results)
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp cayenne chilli powder (more if you prefer it hotter)

This is roughly enough seasoning for 2-4 decent sized burgers, you could stretch it to more but would lack in taste slightly.

For me personally I enjoyed this same recipe but blended up with several fresh habanero chillies for an extra kick. Spice wise this is just a basic recipe so quantities can be chopped and changed to personal taste, it's always good to experiment. I'd also like to note that I did blend my burgers with my own personal mouth watering spice mix. This unfortunately will go to my grave with me, which probably won't be long given the amount of burgers I eat. 


Hope you all enjoyed this creole creation and have a go yourself, it actually makes quite a nice change from the ordinary burger. Surprisingly blue cheese takes on a whole new taste when melted so even if you don't like it ordinarily this burger is definitely worth a try and could even change the blue haters. If you want me to recreate another ridiculous burger comment away. Any country any style, i'll make a burger for it!

Now for more photos:

Pure filth

Bun: Always seeded
With fresh picked lettuce and sliced vine ripened tomato for freshness

Courgette, apple, red cabbage, carrot and onion coleslaw for sides, along with griddled courgette and cous cous stuffed potato skin. All outshone by the burger.

McDonalds (Yes... this happened but please bare with me)

Has it really come to this?

I'm not sure if you can tell but I am a huge fan of burgers. They come in all shapes and sizes, served out of vans, in restaurants and even tuk tuks. With all this I can very happily say I've never stooped so low as to have a beef burger from McDonald's. Probably one of the few people to be genuinely in this situation and it was something I have always been proud of. A chain restaurant that emphasises: speed over quality, speed over taste, and ironically speed over good service. This is something that should never have broached my radar. 

This only occurred strangely enough on the basis of my Five guys review, it reminded me so much like a horribly expensive McDonalds that it dawned on me. I had never actually tasted a McDonalds cheeseburger, or any other beef burger they presumably grow from bacterial culture samples in their kitchens. So this journey took me on a very rocky road to possibly my cheapest burger to date. Regrettably, the review begins.

The Burger

I think what I had was a double cheeseburger. I also opted for some fries which set me back roughly about £2.50 which I rounded to £3 as I gave my change to a friendly homeless chap outside. I did ask for the burger medium rare. The level of confusion on the servers face was quite incomprehensible, only matched by my own confusion at having the audacity to have asked such a ridiculous and dumbfounded question. I know for a fact the burgers are all precooked and are simply hurled from their vacuum formed bags on to a griddle pan, gently drying out on top of several weeks worth of ingrained beef fat and MSG. As a result it's safe to say the burger was dry. 

Obviously my first point of call was the burger slice, however, with no cutlery provided it was quite difficult and I had to 'superman it' aka rip it apart, much alike Clark Kent ripping his shirt off to reveal an awesome superhero suit. I too ripped my burger apart to reveal a flattened bun, flaccid pickles, a dry burger patty and some sordid fake cheese leaving only a fairly hefty level of shame and self pity.

So that's the burger over and done with, there really isn't much else to say with regards to the tiny bun. It was soggy after having sat wrapped up in greaseproof paper for who knows how long. The one saving grace was a fairly large amount of pickles and yankee mustard within the burger as this was the only real flavour going on here. Thankfully I love a good pickle, unfortunately this was not a good pickle, but it was at least a pickle nonetheless. The cheese used was the classic rubbery plastic stuff that RRP's at about half of one pence per slice and probably contains no real amount of dairy. This type of cheese is most likely suitable for vegans it's such poor quality.

The Fries

Not salted at all. Which really surprised me as I was expecting them to have been annihilated in a 'day after tomorrow' style sodium chloride hail storm. This was a slightly pleasant surprise added on top a base level of moist soggy disappointment. Overall just something to fill a gap. Never a good outcome really when it comes to food. 

Overall

In general this burger tasted fairly poor and uses no amount of local ingredients and I can't even be confident they use anything of any reasonable quality to begin with. For the price I guess you can't complain too much but generally speaking I would rather not have eaten. The overall meal just looked sad. The burger reminded me of those RSPCA adverts at Christmas showing unloved and undernourished animals, much alike those poor things this burger too was vastly malnourished and need a loving chef to come in and restore some amount of integrity to it (if such a thing is even possible). The only positive I can say is that it was only £2.50 in total so I was expecting it to be bad. I do however stand by my prior statement that Five Guys is basically a more expensive and not that much better version of this, and at least it didn't leave the same gaping whole in my wallet.

2/10

McDonalds,

Somwhere in Norwich,

Actually does the address really matter?

They all serve the same vacuum 

packed stuff.

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