Review of Real Burger Cheltenham 6oz Secret Menu Burger Lad®
Website: http://www.realburgercheltenham.com/
What they say:
REAL BURGER only uses 100% pure, Gloucestershire beef, finest chicken fillets, fresh baked bread and hand-cut chips, with tasty toppings & spicy sauces.
Price: To be confirmed…
Calories: Unknown.
The following information is not a spoof or joke – this is REAL!!!
This burger is not listed on their menu but if you go into Real Burger in Cheltenham and ask for The Burger Lad® they will make it for you…!
As you may or may not have heard, Burger Lad® was a McDonald’s My Burger Finalist, where we created our very own burger creation at McDonald’s UK HQ.
Unfortunately, I was not picked as one of the five winners who will see their creation on-sale from October.
But as I have always said… to see the promotion come to the UK, to submit my own burger AND get to the final and actually create it made me feel like a winner anyway.
To see it on-sale would have been a bonus, a pretty good bonus at that but that’s life in the fast food lane.
The other evening at BLHQ I thought it would be a good idea to see if our local burger place, Real Burger would like to create the Burger Lad® – you know the story “Local independent burger joint realises finalists dream”… or something like that.
So I contacted the good owner of Real Burger with my newest pitch. Luckily for all of us he liked the idea and even better, the sound of the burger.
After having a two-hour session getting a burger tattoo (yes I am a loose cannon) I sauntered off to Real Burger as I had been promised my very own Burger Lad® to sample.
When I arrived I was welcomed by Andrew and we spent a fair few minutes talking about a subject very close to our hearts… burgers!
So he got to work creating my invention and informed me that this was going to go on-sale as a secret menu item in his very own burger joint!
I can’t remember my exact reaction but I do remember him saying “I thought you’d like that” with it being a secret menu item – after all we are innovators of SMI on your favourite burger website.
After a patient wait I was rewarded with my very own Burger Lad® and my goodness it looked and smelt amazing.
The Chipotle mayo had been made by >some text missing< – sorry I’m not gonna reveal the secret and on-board were slices of chorizo, grilled red onions, glorious mushrooms (good luck getting those on a HSB), black pepper cheese, lettuce and the signature Real 6oz beef patty. Oomph.
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| Latest Real Burger Secret Menu Item… |
I took my first bite and savoured the flavour of everything going on in my mouth.
First up was the beef – you may think that this gets lost with all the other flavours but it doesn’t due to the freshness and quality of the meat used by Real Burger.
Char-grilled, meaty and smoky and an incredible amount of moisture really underlines why this place is called Real Burger.
My palate radar soon detected the smoky, paprika taste of the chorizo slices… now these might not make the final cut as Andrew is thinking of experimenting with it a bit.
I really liked how they worked on the Burger Lad® and gave it an extra meatiness and richness to the experience. Good so far… as if there were any doubts!?
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| The Burger Lad®… |
Now the mushrooms were an important component of this burger, I was the only one of the finalists with them on my burger and I always had my doubts about them due to the 50/50 love/hate opinion of them.
See these complimented the beef very nicely today. They’d been cooked on the open grill to perfection and the flavour was strong, not overbearing but were not limp, watery things but thick slices of field mushrooms and they just work. Trust me!
The onions were silky, smooth and retained their slightly sharp and sweet taste. They sort of elevate every other component, not massively distinct but providing a uniform flavour which is there with every bite but not overbearing.
The black pepper cheese – mmm. Creamy, rich and decadent. A bit like this burger overall really.
Loads of fresh black pepper had been added to a cheese they use here (I forgot to check which variety) but this was awesome and again added to that regality of the burger.
And how fitting in the town of Cheltenham that this regal burger is being served up.
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| Lifting the lid… |
That brings us on to that Chipotle Mayo.
There was loads of it on the Burger Lad® – anymore and I think it would have been too much but it was superb in flavour, could possibly go up a notch on the heat scales but it was rich, velvety and works so well with the beef and mushrooms.
In fact, Miss Milkshake despises Mayo with a passion, but when I took her another burger to try she was so impressed with it she ate the whole thing so that is a true testament to just how great this Real Burger Secret Menu item is.
Andrew and I talked about brioche buns… I don’t think they are required. The sesame seed variety served up here are good, very good!
Fresh, perfect sized but most importantly made to cope with everything on this burger.
Literally to the very last bite the bun held together despite that beautiful Chipotle mayo all over the place. This truly was ace!
Overall, an amazing burger on offer from Real Burger – and no I am not biased…! And of course we filmed our latest episode of BLTV:
Remember to ask for The Burger Lad® when you visit Real Burger to activate the secret menu alarm!
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| Our new favourite SMI… |
As a comparison, here’s a look at the never to be released McDonald’s Burger Lad® which was taken at their HQ in London.
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| A Burger Lad® exclusive… |
I was also informed that Real will be featuring more exotic meats on their menu in the upcoming weeks and months so keep a look out for those!
Andrew and team… keep up the amazing work. Definitely the best burger in Cheltenham!
And on that note Burger Lad® be taking a much needed break from this website, yeah they’ll be a guest review or two coming up and I’ll be back to do the McDonald’s My Burger promotion and then who knows…
Burger Lad®