Gourmet Burger Kitchen – The Stack

Review of Gourmet Burger Kitchen – The Stack Burger

What they say:

Grilled chorizo, Red Leicester cheese, house onion ring, smoked chilli mayo, rocket, pickled onions, house relish.

Price: £10.95.

Calories: Unknown.

Another day, another GBK… and up next on our tour of the new summer menu is The Stack (not to be confused with the McD’s GTA Stack range).

I was so impressed with the Bourbon Street I had recently I wanted to return to Gourmet Burger Kitchen.

I was visiting a good friend in Bristol so together we decided to check out their Park Street restaurant.

This just happened to be the first GBK I ever visited way back in 2007 and it has certainly changed inside with a more sophisticated feel to it.

The staff were fabulous today and really looked after us. The one thing I noted at the time was how incredibly hot it was inside so was very glad of my ice cold Coke before the food arrived.

The Major Tom (with 30 day dry aged patty) was certainly a contender but the blue cheese slaw doesn’t sound very inviting to me, so my next choice on the menu had to be The Stack. On my recommendation, my friend had the Bourbon Street and was not disappointed.

The Stack does sound good on paper – grilled chorizo, Red Leicester Cheese, two types of onion with rocket and the sauces and when it arrived it certainly looked the business, albeit a slightly wonky build construction.

I found that recently too with the Frankie & Benny’s De Niro Burger – putting ingredients on a burger that don’t lay flat tend to cause a slight in-balance. Despite this it still looks impressive.

The other factors which contributed to the relatively low score for presentation below was the little pool of liquid the burger sat in (oil from the chorizo I concurred) so perhaps GBK might think of using Burger Lifts in the future? That and the slightly over charred crown bun just scored this down on this occasion.

That said, as you can see from the pictures it still looks very appetising and with the vivid colours from the chorizo and the cheese you can see what the development chefs are setting out to do with this build.

It certainly captures the imagination of a summer burger with that paprika-red rich chorizo and seductively orange melted Red Leicester cheese (or are they more Autumn colours!?).

I loved the Bourbon Street and for me, that was a better burger than The Stack.

The overarching taste of this burger is from the domineering grilled chorizo. And make no mistake, this is not just a couple of slices, this is a whole mini sausage which has been sliced in two so there is a very generous amount on-board.

It’s tasty. Definitely. But it really does dominate the experience to the point that I really couldn’t distinguish the house relish or the smoked chilli mayo which was a bit of a shame.

I did get a bit of the house relish towards the end – it was interspersed with the pickled onions which gave a slightly sharp, but pleasurable tang to proceedings.

Red Leicester wouldn’t be my first go-to in terms of cheese on a burger but it certainly changed my opinion with its creamy texture.

I found the aftertaste to be slightly sweeter than cheddar and it acted as the perfect counter to the pickled onions – again, only when you get past that rich, smoky flavour of the chorizo.

The house onion ring provides further height to contribute to the naming of this menu addition. Flavour-wise you get it now and then and it’s a nice touch to have onions two ways on this burger. It’s not greasy at all like some onion rings I have encountered and the crispy coating brings additional texture to the bite.

I only hit the rocket in the final third of the burger which was great to finally get acquainted with it. It had that distinct peppery taste and contributed nicely to the overall flavour.

Rocket is fast becoming one of my favourite burger salad items.

Finally, we get to the patty.

I’d reported back on the Bourbon Street in Leamington being slightly over done for medium, but today this was spot-on.

For a chain, the GBK patty is an excellent choice and you can’t go wrong with it in my opinion.

Think more upmarket (better quality, fresh 100% prime beef) Burger King with a natural flame-grilled flavour and that’s how I’d describe how it tastes. Really well cooked today so hats off to whoever was in the kitchen.

Overall, The Stack is an enjoyable experience.

The dominant force on this build is that grilled chorizo and there is a very generous portion included.

Unfortunately, some of the other ingredients suffer because of this, but believe me it does not detract from the satisfaction this burger brings.

Visually there are some impressive colours and it certainly looks like a stack, if not a bit wonky from certain angles.

For me, if I was presented with The Stack or the Bourbon Street I would opt for the latter for the majority of the time.

As it stands I’ve sampled two burgers off the new summer menu at Gourmet Burger Kitchen and both were really commendable – don’t be too surprised when I return for the Major Tom.

Burger Lad®

Website: https://www.gbk.co.uk/