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Handmade Burger Co Dingley Dell Burger

Dingley Dell Christmas Burger

Review of Handmade Burger Co. Dingley Dell Burger

Website: http://handmadeburger.co.uk/

What they say:

Dingley Dell Pork Patty, Stuffed with Sage & Onion Stuffing with Cranberry, Juniper & Orange Relish, Tomato, Red Onion, Rocket & Mayo on a Brioche Bun.

Price: £9.95.

Calories: Unknown.

My first visit to Handmade’s Manchester branch which I seem to recall being new-ish, but with the passage of time through my old brain, is probably isn’t all that new anymore.

Inside, an inviting semi-industrial space, excellent welcome and chat from the hostess and, given it is just open on a weekday lunchtime, not yet busy.

Some themed burgers, including Christmas ones, are more about the names than actual content. Not here, Handmade have gone all out to fill it with Christmas cheer. As a result, we’ve got a pork patty, sage, onion, cranberry with an interesting “juniper and orange” relish, as well as some other more regular burger toppings. No cheese, which always bothers me a bit.

Special burger is well promoted…

It also comes with 3 cinnamon ice onion rings, which sound rather intriguing. Whether or not the burger is any good, Handmade gets full marks for being Christmassy.

Ordering is a bit daft, with the waitress seating me, explaining the menu and then going behind the bar because that’s where I need to order (and pay in advance). That isn’t my favourite way of doing things and doesn’t seem entirely necessary, as the card machines these days are all wireless. It also means any desserts, more drinks etc, need to be ordered separately.

Anyway, not being too busy, the burger arrived quite quickly. Brioche bun, with three onion rings to the side. I ate those first because they were genuinely interesting – the cinnamon gave a very unique backing to a fairly standard side dish. Top innovation on the high street!

Large and well presented…

Onto the burger and I immediately noticed its substantial diameter, as well as the piece of orange sticking out the top on a skewer. That orange, as well as the cinnamon and fruity relish inside gave out a pleasant and unique smell of the like I can honestly say I’ve never had on a burger.

Inside, two quite thick slices of tomato dismayed me a bit, so I removed one with the skewer – see, these things CAN actually serve a purpose!

Picking up this big burger, I also realised that the brioche was quite crumbly and it was touch and go whether it would make it to the end or not. It did, just, but could probably do with being toughened up a bit.

A big burger full of Christmas…

While I may have been inclined to add a bit of Brie in there (sorry Burger Lad®, but I do like Brie on a burger sometimes!) the absence of cheese wasn’t entirely noticeable and the other moist things – relish and mayo – kept this from drying out. All good.

I didn’t really get the juniper – which is a shame because as a bit of a gin fiend I was curious to see how it might work in a burger. The sweet tones of the orange and cranberry worked well too, especially with the savoury counterbalance of the sage and onion stuffing.

Pork is really good…

That stuffing was nice, but I’m afraid there was rather too much of it. Investigating the patty, it seemed to be pork with a stuffing core, but where the core occupied such a large central section that it was verging on being a sage/onion stuffing patty with a pork outer ring.

The pork itself was lovely – very tasty and a real pleasant change from beef – but I really think they could do with proportioning it differently. But that’s the only bah humbug about this otherwise neat Christmas burger.

One tomato slice was removed…

I loved the pork, I loved the sweet and savoury riff of toppings, the mayo wasn’t overdone and the whole thing sat on a bed of tangy red onion and subtle nutty rocket.

All very generous too, and along with these onion rings and lashings of Christmassy innovation, it’s a pretty good burger, actually.

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