Bread Meats Bread – Wolf of St Vincent Street
What they say:
Our Signature Burger! With American cheese, Crispy Bacon, Pulled Pork in BBQ sauce, crispy fried onions and ‘Nduja with Sriracha Mayo.
Price: £10.50.
Operating now from both Edinburgh and Glasgow, Bread Meats Bread is one of the oft-mentioned burger joints of these two cities.
Now it was time to put it to the BURGER LAD® test…
The particular branch I’d chosen was St Vincent Street in Glasgow city centre, and the signature burger is named after the location (it has a different name in each of the other branches).
The Wolf of St Vincent Street is a bacon cheeseburger at core, with both spicy and BBQ elements.
The former come in the form of ‘Nduja sausage (if you’ve never had this, you must – it’s always delicious) and Sriracha mayo.
The latter BBQ elements come from your standard pulled pork and BBQ sauce – neither of which are usually my toppings of choice and the sauce in particular has the propensity to ruin a burger with its clawing sweetness.
Finally, this sprawling tower has crispy fried onions, creating what, on paper, appears to be a well created and balanced set of flavours.
The venue itself is simplistic, with shared tables, and is very welcoming.
It does however give the impression of being a little unsettled with its popularity, as my burger took over 20 minutes, as did the steak sandwich of the diner next to me.
Do the best things come to those who wait though?
The menu is fairly vast and choosing just one item was exceptionally difficult. I did choose online in advance though, and with the wait, I’m rather glad I did.
When the friendly server took my order, I asked if it could be cooked medium and was told no – well done only.
During my wait, I’d all but finished a beer from the extensive drinks menu, and my first impression of the burger was positive, albeit it looked rather heavy on the pulled pork.
The barbecue smell was distinctive, and the bun was toasted but cold. It was also very tall, and bordering on the impossible to eat in the proper way.
When I picked it up, unsurprisingly an amount of pulled pork fell out. I decided to try some on its own and I was very pleasantly surprised.
It had a unique flavour I couldn’t quite place, but not overly sweet at all. It was actually really good, among the better examples of pulled pork I’ve had, even in proper smokehouses.
Like the bun, it could’ve been a bit warmer though. When I got a bite with that Sriracha mayo, it was elevated to deliciousness.
The beef, by comparison, was tougher, noticeably so, and could really do with being cooked medium.
If BMB could align its supply chain with FSA requirements then this would be a really good patty. It’s clearly coarse with a good fat ratio, it just doesn’t lend itself too well to being well done.
Overall, it’s messy and fun to eat, barely fitting in my mouth and requiring multiple napkins. Good burger times as they should be!
Stripping it down, the bacon although clearly visible, is a little lost on the palate, and the onions are completely lost.
That’s due to the strength of the ‘Nduja and the Sriracha – both of which give a very pleasing but sensible level of heat and are clearly very well thought out inclusions.
In addition, there is no wasted lettuce or tomato in this burger.
Despite the long list of ingredients and size, it didn’t feel overdone and seemed to fit its price quite fairly. The heel held together but only just, meaning that cutlery was only required for runaway pieces of pork.
You would think with mayo, cheese and BBQ sauce, this ought to feel moist, but it did sadly err on the dry side, and I can only put this down to the cooking of the beef.
I do feel a juicy medium patty at the core of this would improve it quite a bit.
I’m glad I didn’t order fries, as this was substantial enough, although I did note that poutine was on the menu.
The Wolf of St Vincent Street from Bread Meats Bread is a delicious, fun burger from an excellent menu. Flawed, but delicious.
Admiral Burgerbar
Website: http://www.breadmeatsbread.com/