Hamburgers! The cornerstone of any nutritious breakfast.
Whilst I would not argue with Jules Winnfield to his face, obviously a hamburger forms no part of a well balanced early morning meal. It is however one of the world's most popular food items and with good reason. It has universal appeal, there is a burger for every taste. Whether it's an eight-for-a-quid blended meat(?), Wagyu beef or a Falafal and Lentil burger that you have a hankering after then it's catered for. Your choice of burger can even become ammunition against you in politics, as George Osborne found out! Burgers truly are a ubiquitous product able to suit every taste, diet and pocket.
But don't forget the bun, roll, bap (.....add here whatever your term for the bread around the outside) which is almost as important as the filling. Don't dismiss the need for salad, or no salad, cheese, mayo, ketchup....pickles!!! Creating a burger is something of a minefield, which explains the frequently seen Golden M boxes with discarded slices of tomato or wilted lettuce. So why not have a restaurant where you can choose your burger and whatever you want to go in it. The Handmade Burger Co. is just such a place and I have to say it is great.
I went to the one at Ocean Terminal, Leith early one midweek evening with a few friends and the place was already quite busy. Our host approached us whilst we stood outside looking at the menu still undecided on whether this was our venue for dinner or not. He was one of those achingly trendy types that I believe sneers at me for having the impudence to enter a Superdry or Hollister shop whilst having a 38 inch waist. Of course as soon as he smiled at us and said in a friendly, slightly cheeky way " Are you coming in?" I firmly dispatched my stupid stereotyping and we headed in.
The place is modern and functional, all wood, white paint and exposed ceilings with wooden chairs and tables up the middle and booths down one wall. The tables in front of the full height windows looking out onto the harbour were all full. The table we were offered was clean and there was a well stocked selection of condiments along with a tin of cutlery and napkins.
Mr Cool, as I have named our host, guided us through the menu, the extras, the specials with knowledgeable panache and directed us to the counter to order our food and drinks. He then floated back to the door to usher in a couple who again probably weren't sure until he persuaded them.
The menu is extensive and I challenge you to not find something that you may enjoy. The burger selection extends from beef, through lamb and chicken, to a vast vegetarian selection ( 7 different meat free burgers, unbelievable!) There are smaller burgers, children's burgers, exclusive 'Jimmy's Farm' rare breed burgers and stuffed burgers, in fact more burgers than you can shake a very very big stick at. Such was the choice that two of us played it safe and went with regular beef burgers with cheese and bacon. Our recklessly adventurous friend went for the Hoisin chicken burger.
Once we had decided what we wanted we headed up to the counter and placed our order. This is where the experience reverts back to resembling a fast food burger bar rather than a full-service restaurant, but do you know what, that's no bad thing. We stood in a relatively fast moving queue and placed our order, within a minute, to another pleasant twenty something who took the opportunity to up-sell some sides and led to us sharing chips and onion rings along with garlic mayo. We were all on non-alcoholic drinks and so ordered the bottomless soft drinks. We were provided with glasses for our tasty beverages and directed to a drinks machine from which we helped ourselves. Some of you may not like this more informal style of dining, especially if you are the sort of person who wants to sit down at the start of a meal and not get up until you are ready to leave. However for a group of friends, family outing or a couple enjoying an evening out I see no issue in this style of service. There are, of course, obvious cost savings for the company requiring less staff to maintain this style of service which can then be passed on to us, well some of it!
From our table you could see the kitchen servery and the burgers all being sent out to various parts of the restaurant. This did little to suppress our hunger watching the efficient distribution of all those burger-y delights in all manner of shapes, sizes and flavours. When you are chatting with your pals you tend to not notice how long food takes to arrive, unless it is too long and that was not the case here. We were busy discussing some new theory on quantum mechanics (honest!!!) and the next minute three burgers and bowls of sides arrived at our table.
The burgers were perfectly cooked, seared on the outside, juicy and tender in the middle. The sour-dough bun was just the right size to contain the burger and the salad which was crispy and obviously fresh. There was a decent amount of cheese and bacon, is it worth the £1.60 premium over a classic burger? Possibly not in terms of cash value, but £7.55 in total for exactly what I wanted my burger to contain, I felt was about right. My beef-eating buddy totally agreed with me on this point, going so far as saying that the only other way he could have got a burger containing exactly what he wanted would have been to make it himself.
Despite our numerous disparaging comments about how cucumber had no place in a burger and that Hoisin should solely accompany crispy duck, my friends chicken burger looked amazing. What appeared to be half a flame grilled chicken was shoe-horned into the bun along with plenty of cucumber and a fair drizzling of sauce. I was told it tasted as good as it looked!
The portions of chips and onion rings are plenty to share a bowl between two people, and we found that the two bowls were plenty between the three of us. If we had ordered one each I think there would have been leftovers, which would not have been any reflection on how they tasted, purely that we had run out of room. The chips had clearly once been a potato, some chips you get you're not so sure, and the onion rings were just that, battered rings of onion. Both were crispy with the chips still fluffy in the middle and none of the greasiness that sometimes accompanies such offerings.
Mr Cool came over just after we had started and checked how we were doing, he actually seemed to be genuinely asking if we were happy, rather than doing it because his training manual said he had to. I was particularly impressed that on a couple of occasions he would sit customers down at a clean table with their menus whilst he would prepare a recently frequented booth before moving them over, rather than sit them at the dirty table and then clean it, or worse still not bother and just sit them on a table next to us!
So... a great relaxed place perfect if you're heading to the cinema or after a bite after work or to rest during a shopping trip. The informal setting was matched by the service style which was exactly what was required. Value for money was spot on, twelve quid got me the burger of my dreams, chips, onion rings and unlimited tasty beverage...
And yes, I had Sprite.
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