Review of Evelyn’s Café & Bar, Manchester – Crab & Shrimp Burger
Website: http://www.evelynscafebar.com/
What they say:
Crab & Shrimp Burger, Basil Aioli, Chilli, Fennel, Chips.
Price: £14.00.
Calories: Unknown.
Evelyn’s is a new place, sort of, and every Manchester food reviewer has already noted it adequately replaces the much-loved Superstore, being opened by renowned Indian food maestros Mughli.
Now, Evelyn’s isn’t Asian food like Mughli but it is rather an international eclectic mix of dishes that seem unique and quite hard to pin down although extensive influence seems to come from the Far East.
Also, I’ve no idea if there is actually an “Evelyn” but what I do know is that there are a couple of burgers on the menu, and although Evelyn’s has been visited by many an amateur and professional reviewer, they’ve yet to enjoy the BURGER LAD® scrutiny.
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| Inside Evelyn’s – decked out for Christmas… |
Burger Lad® himself is constantly showing us the fascinating fast food fun from around the world and a theme that runs through the Asian stuff more than most is seafood. Crab and shrimp and lobster patties of the sort that we virtually never get here in Blighty, certainly not on the high street.
But Evelyn’s has one, and everything I’ve read about the place (from some folks whose food related words I read and respect and from larger publications I don’t) has been good.
It did take a while to come, explained as a result of the lunch menu quite uniquely coming into play at 12:30 rather than the more standard 12:00 noon. Odd, but they are flexible and I did get the impression that breakfasts are a big draw here.
It arrived with immaculate presentation, its small girth seemingly oblivious to the £14 price tag. It was neat and came with a portion of chips actually bigger than the burger.
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| Plain but immaculate presentation… |
Opening the patty for a few photos, I was greeted with a mild yet insanely appetising smell, and the realisation that a burger of this sort is essentially a crab cake in a bun.
The exterior was far darker than I had expected, while the light bun was quite the opposite. The taste, however, was genuinely of a sort I have never experienced before.
The chilli was noticeable but it was set at a perfect level that heightened the palate ready to receive all the goodness within.
And goodness indeed – the patty was largely minced crab and shrimp, with periodic larger pieces of shrimp and all manner of herbal seasoning. Alone as a crab cake this would be fantastic dish too.
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| Delicious crab cake burger… |
No cheese on this burger – it is probably not the done thing with seafood, although if I were messing around in the galley, I’d probably add cheese. I’m not a chef!
The basil aioli was not wiped out by the chilli and it was not only extremely tasty, beckoning me in for bite after bite, but it also more than lubricated the whole thing, doing the job usually reserved for cheese.
There’s no getting over the price. This isn’t a cheap place to frequent frequently – it’s special and the food is of a ridiculously high quality.
It’s not comfort food of the kind that usually accompanies burgers but it is comforting in that it is extremely tasty and interesting, in the most welcoming of surroundings. Thoroughly recommended if you can tear yourself away from the other dishes.
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| Aioli and chilli raise the stakes… |
On a personal note, I have had the most abysmal end to this year with ghosts from the past trying to put me in the ground. This is almost certainly my last review for 2015 and it feels absolutely fantastic to go out on such a high – definitely needed – and the chilli seafood taste danced and sang on my tongue for ages afterward.
So all that remains is for me to thank Burger Lad® for continuing to allow me an outlet for burger waffle, and of course to thank you, dear readers, for your support and reading our burger adventures.
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| The “patty” up close… |
The team will be back in 2016 with loads more reviews and breaking burger news for you, so make sure we are bookmarked.
In the meantime, on behalf of Burger Lad®, Miss Milkshake and myself, may we wish you a very merry Christmas and a wonderfully happy New Year.
As the great man himself would say – Class of 2015 – Dismissed!
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| A seasoning masterclass and all manner of deliciousness… |
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