burgerworks Worcester Real Greek and Hello-Me
Review of burgerworks Worcester Real Greek and Hello-Me
Website: http://www.burgerworks.uk/
What they say:
The Real Greek – our lamb burger flavoured with garlic & oregano, topped with feta cheese, tzatzki & Kalamata olives.
Hello-Me – melting halloumi on a stack of grilled mushroom, courgette & peppers, topped with garlic mayonnaise.
Price: £9 for the Real Greek, £6.50 for Hello-Me.
Calories: Unknown.
So after Burger Lad®’s amazing review of the Smokey Burger, and seeing as I live in Worcester, I had to get down to burgerworks, Worcester’s newest burger bar and check it out for myself (it would be rude not too!)… so I packed MrsVeggieGeek and BurgerGeek Jr into the car and off we went.
I won’t provide a history of burgerworks, or go into the interior in detail, as Burger Lad® has already covered that, so I’ll cut straight to the chase – the food.
The menu is amazing and reminded me of Bareburger in NYC (www.bareburger.com) where you can pretty much construct your burger (although a choice of buns would have taken burgerworks to the next level).
As Burger Lad® reviewed the beef-burger, I thought it would only be right to have a lamb one, with one standing out – The Real Greek.
I’m a huge fan of Greek food and love what they do with lamb (slow-cooked Kleftiko anyone?) and regularly make my own tzatziki (yoghurt based dip with garlic, lemon and cucumber), so the Real Greek was a no-brainer.
MrsVeggieGeek is a veggie, so opted for the Hello-Me, whilst BurgerGeek Jr had a Kid’s mini classic (4oz well done beef burger).
Oh, before I start on the food, if you visit, order a Chocolate milkshake from the menu (£4) – it was simply amazing. A lovely strong taste of chocolate, light and fluffy and a fantastic aftertaste. Best shake I’ve tasted in ages.
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| Real Greek (L) and Hello-Me (R)… |
The burgers arrived and they looked beautiful – well-stacked (although not too high that you can’t pick-up and eat without various components falling out). The buns had a nice glaze to them, with a good amount of sesame seeds.
As you can see below, the ingredients used were fresh – the tomatoes were an amazing red (and individually tasted like perfect tomatoes), fresh crisp lettuce and onion.
The builds were amazing – with grilled buns and carefully constructed so not overloaded. The lamb itself was perfect – slightly pink throughout, tender and almost falling apart.
I’ll start off with the Real Greek, before MrsVeggieGeek talks about the Hello-Me.
The first bite was divine – you get a hit of beautifully cooked lamb patty (which was cooked perfectly), with a hint of garlic, both from the burger and the tzatiki (which wasn’t overpowering, but added to the overall moistness of the burger), followed up by the saltiness of the feta and olives.
This was summer on a plate – I could have easily closed my eyes and imagined I was in a taverna on some Greek island.
Each bite was a joyous experience, with each mouthful intensifying the amazing greek flavours in my mouth, all sat on the toasted bun, which looked heavy but was actually light.
This is hands down one of the best burgers I’ve tasted – I was actually slightly sad when I finished the last bite and stared at the empty plate.
Like Burger Lad® and Miss Milkshake®, I could have easily eaten another one – unlike high-street burgers that leave you feeling full and bloated, this was the left me wanting more, even though the dimensions are comparable to some of the recent McD MyBurgers.
So how was the Hello-Me? As a vegetarian of twenty plus years, MrsVeggieGeek doesn’t visit burger restaurants too often as usually the choice is pretty much a spicy-bean burger of some description! In her words:
“The burger was tasty, with each of the components cooked perfectly – the courgette was grilled, but wasn’t soggy and disintegrating, the mushrooms were full of flavour and the halloumi was cooked enough that it didn’t have the squeak of a kid’s toy.
The garlic mayonnaise tasted fresh and full of flavour, however there wasn’t enough of it.
The main issue I had with the burger was that as it was pretty much full of vegetables which aren’t too fatty, the bun didn’t really soak up any juices (as it would do with a meat burger), which meant that it was the dominant texture and made it too bready.
It was nice that there was a choice of veggie burgers on the menu, but I felt left out that the meat-burgers could build their own toppings, whereas the veggie options seemed fixed.”
So what is my overall verdict? Big fat juicy YES!
This is one of the best burger’s I had, and it is obvious that the owners have put a lot of love into their cooking.
I loved the retro feel of the restaurant (the old school tin trays and cups are a nice touch) and the menu offers a lot of choice.
Was it perfect? No.
There are a few things that I think the owners could do to take it to next level and blow Byron out of the water before it even opens…. nothing major, just small things such as offering different bun choices, maybe add unusual meats to the menu (game, etc) and give the veggies the ability to construct their own.
That said, I would go back again without hesitation.
Great job burgerworks!
Burger Geek
