Review of Mackenzie’s Malvern – Big Kahuna Burger
Website: http://mackenziessteakhousemalvern.weebly.com/
What they say:
We specialise in Quality, so that means locally sourced meat for our burgers and steaks as well as handmade baps for our burgers! Homemade 100% beef patty, cheese, bacon, fried mushrooms, pickles, iceberg lettuce, tomato, onion, American Mustard & served with onion rings.
Cost: £6.50 including fries, slaw and onion rings.
Calories: Unknown.
Tucked away at the foot of the Malvern Hills on Graham Road in Great Malvern is the establishment known as Mackenzie’s Steakhouse (or Burger Bar).
From the outside it (currently) doesn’t look like much but Burger Lad® was in town to dispel the myth that it wasn’t very good because it doesn’t look like much from the exterior.
I was on my latest 21st century burger adventure with Miss Milkshake (when she’s in town all the girls’ heads are down) and we snuck into Mackenzie’s quickly and quietly so that Mehdi from Pizza Fiesta wouldn’t catch us “cheating on him”.
He actually caught us on the way out. Busted! We did assure him we’d had a couple of thin crusts from him the evening before!
Anyway back to Mackenzie’s. It was very quiet in here today but then the whole of Malvern was pretty fricking quiet.
The place had caught my attention a couple of weeks back with The Big Kahuna Burger and at £6.50 with fries, slaw AND onion rings I thought it was worth a punt.
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| Mackenzie’s The Big Kahuna Burger… |
We grabbed a window seat and got chatting to the lovely owner.
Of course, one thing led to another (Double M started it by ordering a 3 Way) and it wasn’t long before I was writing down my Twitter name and website address. We talked about secret menu items, monthly specials and eating challenges amongst some of the other plans they have for Mackenzie’s.
So I ordered The Big Kahuna and Miss Milkshake the 3 Way which was described as an American-Style Dog, topped with beef chilli, mustard, ketchup, cheese and finished off with onion (£4.10).
On this occasion, I asked not to have the slaw as primarily I’m not a fan and didn’t want to see it go to waste.
When my burger arrived I described it as being an impressive stack. It was a bit messy in terms of presentation (skewer maybe?) and it came with loads and loads of fries and three onion rings. Oh baby…
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| A big plate for a small price… |
At £6.50 I really believe they could cut the fries portion down a bit and still retain that excellent value. Remember this didn’t even have the slaw with it and that looked like a massive amount too. You’ll certainly not leave Mackenzie’s of Malvern hungry!
But enough of the economies of burger meals – just how was The Big Kahuna? Well as Jules Winnfield would say “Mmm-mmmm. That IS a tasty burger!!”
Despite not being on the menu description I immediately noticed the dreaded “K” word – KETCHUP! Oh well, I’ll have to have it as it’s meant to be.
So how was everything?
Well, the locally sourced, handmade on the premises 6oz gourmet beef patty was cooked just over medium. It had been seasoned nicely and was meaty, moist and you could taste the quality.
And what of the toppings?
OK the fresh tomato is always going on the plate, it’s just something I do not and never will like but everything else was good.
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| Views of the Malvern Hills are included in the price… |
The bacon was “proper” and cut thickly too with very little fat. Those fried mushrooms, while not everybody’s cup of tea, were spot on and IMO complimented the beef and bacon spot on.
The cheese was good, it could have been Swiss but I was so famished and sporting a bit of a hangover that I put The Big Kahuna away quite quickly.
Despite my ketchup crisis, the house sauce (ketchup + mustard) worked well and gave the burger a unifying taste. The salad items were fresh, just the right amount and the red onion was welcome to cut through all the other ingredients with its signature sharpness. I even let our a little cry of joy when I hit the pickles too.
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| The interior and exterior is a work in progress… |
Special mention goes to the buns! We were told these are handmade especially for them from a local bakery – Mackenzie’s use everything as much as possible from local suppliers.
So, overall I would say this is a very commendable burger and worthy of a try.
At £6.50 you are getting a mountain of food, towards the end I started likening it to a mini challenge and could not finish all my fries.
You can take it from Burger Lad® that Mackenzie’s is well worth popping in for.
They’ve only been open six weeks so once they’ve got the place looking how they want it let’s see what it looks like then.
In terms of a good value, honest burger this is definitely recommended. You can take the BL® seal of approval to the bank for The Big Kahuna!
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| This was a fully loaded burger… |
I mentioned previously we talked about ideas for the place and like a pure marketing genius I invented them (what I hope) will be their very first monthly special – The Big Mack! Honestly, do that and I’ll be like “shut up and take my money”.
Mackenzie’s there you have it – good burgers, excellent value, friendly staff and a fantastic change to the zillion Indian restaurants in Malvern… and using locally sourced food too. I hope it goes well for you guys!
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| The menu at Mackenzie’s in Malvern… |
Please, please make The Big Mack – it will make an absolute killing! We hope to see you on Twitter soon, in the meantime let’s take one last look at The Big Kahuna burger from Mackenzie’s, I’ll be in for a Royale with Cheese next time!
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| Mushrooms, bacon, cheese. Yes effin’ please… |
Burger Lad®