Beefeater Tandoori Spice Burger

Beefeater Tandoori Spice Burger Review

Tandoori Spice:

What they say:

Succulent chicken breast in a tandoori spiced batter topped with a mango, chilli & lime mayo. Served in a brioche bun topped with a sweet potato bhaji and with skinny fries and coleslaw.

Price: £13.79.

Calories: 1,168 kcal.

Today we returned to Beefeater to sample the Tandoori Spice Burger.

This first made an appearance on their autumn 2018 menu and is the sole chicken burger option along with a new “best ever” Double Short Rib & Maple Glazed Bacon Burger, one or two other beef burgers and a vegan alternative.

I’ve not been particularly enamoured with the beef patties on two previous visits, so I was going to be sampling the Tandoori Spice.

Why go back to Beefeater then Burger Lad?

Well… it is Captain QP’s birthday and we wanted to pop out for a bite to eat.

Near here, the choices are ultra-limited; McDonald’s, Frankie & Benny’s and Hungry Horse – it was up to him to decide where we were going.

Inside Beefeater at lunchtime, it is like Pensioner-Central. To be fair, all ordering off the great value Daytime Saver Menu and I can’t blame them.

At £6 for a 7oz topside minute steak with skinny fries I was almost crying at spending nearly fourteen quid for this.

What lengths I go to for review purposes…

Look at the bloody state of this…

I have rarely, if ever, seen such blatant disregard for the presentation of a burger.

Have a lie-down Tandoori Spice, you’ve had a busy morning son.

WTF is actually going on in this picture!?

It’s sort of lying down resting its crown bun on the side portion of coleslaw like a pillow.

A blanket of lettuce forming a “quilt” over the heel – you can’t even see it!!

I propped up my Tandoori Spice in the vain attempt at getting some better shots – this does not exactly fill you with confidence before tucking in. Fourteen quid. Sob.

Biting in you get a very, very crunchy exterior. In fact, this would probably break half the patrons dentures in here I’d wager.

I’m not being harsh for the sake of it. Once you get past that extra crispy/overcooked tandoori spiced batter, the chicken inside is actually quite enjoyable.

Flirting with dryness on the edges, it’s a lot juicier than I was expecting after my first bite… which nearly resulted in a trip to the dentist.

The combination of flavours works well with a delicate mixture of Indian-inspired spices.

Personally, I lost the fresh tomato quickly and I would recommend trading this out for fresh red onion instead – to me, it’s a better fit for what is trying to be accomplished here.

There is no denying the presentation is shocking – the onion bhaji doesn’t really add anything as you are stuck trying to decide whether to eat it on its own or stick it in with the chicken.

Then there is the fact that it is sprawled across the plate and the most bizarre piece of lettuce I’ve ever encountered. A quick slice or two with a kitchen knife would have been sufficient to tidy it up a bit.

I guess you get what you pay for…

What are the positives?

The chicken was enjoyable and ironically I definitely preferred this to Beefeater’s beef offerings.

There was a favourable, lightly spiced Indian ensemble of flavours which were complimented nicely by the mayo.

As I stated above, I would swap out the tomato for red onion, change the lettuce to a bed of shredded iceberg and this could potentially improve it without increasing the operational cost.

Lose the redundant bhaji and this could be passed on as a cost-saving exercise to the customer.

The low score below is really as a result of that poor execution/presentation.

The Tandoori Spice itself is not actually a terrible burger and what you would expect from a chain restaurant such as Beefeater.

Free Pepsi Max Cherry refills was good though!

Burger Lad®

Website: https://www.beefeater.co.uk/homepage.html