Solita 2015 Christmas Burger

Review of Solita 2015 Christmas Burger

Website: http://www.solita.co.uk/

What they say:

TBC.

Price: £15.00-ish.

Calories: Unknown.

Solita’s Christmas burger starts on Monday. They let us have a sneak preview.

Last year, Solita added deep fried sprouts to the burger, and this year is no different.

Back again. If you’ve ever had boiled sprouts at your grandma’s and hated them, forget all that. This is from a different planet.

The Solita Christmas Burger…

The only difference between this preview version and what will be sold commercially is the pig in the blanket, sticking out the top. The ingredients weren’t available yet – the turkey had only arrived moments before.

That’s fair enough though because firstly it’s early, and secondly it isn’t actually “in” the burger, it’s sticking out the top, along with a roast potato cube and a stuffing ball on a skewer. That’s the thing with Christmas burgers these days – things sticking out the top.

The brioche is gone and Solita’s burgers are seemingly now in seeded buns, this one at least, and it bloody works. Brioche has perhaps had its day and Solita does tend to blaze a trail.

Anyway, by way of disclaimer, this burger was provided free of charge, which as ever makes absolutely no difference to my opinion of it, and only affects the level of gratitude extended to the amazing staff at Solita.

It arrived in a jaw-dropping display of festive excess, again very much in keeping with the whole Christmas burger feel. I was looking forward to this.

Solita’s take on Christmas…

I put it down for a moment to get a few snaps of it for you, but remained very eager to get stuck in.

And so, before my salivation became too obvious, I bit in. And it was sweet. First sensation before anything else was the sweetness. That’s the cranberry and port sauce that isn’t pervasive but applied quite sparingly and works wonders with the other flavours in there, especially the sprouts.

Aesthetically, it was very appealing even with the missing sausage.

On top were a roastie and a stuffing ball. I made the executive decision to remove those and eat them first. They taste like stuffing and roast potato, respectively, and were perfectly serviceable, adding perhaps a bit more to the look of the burger than the taste. But to be honest. I’d chosen sweet potato fries as my side dish, and it takes quite a bit to beat those.

From top down, I actually found the bun a bit better than brioche. Maybe it is because I eat a lot of burgers and most of them are served in brioche. As great as it is, one tires of it eventually. What’s been selected in its place is a seeded bun, which not only looks better, but also does the same job of keeping stuff in, for which brioche is famous.

Say CHEESE…!!!

Inside this bread were three different meats, and we will come to those , but first the cheese. Lots of cheese. Described as a slice of Monterey Jack, either side of the beef patty, in effect it was a melty cheesy gloop that rode all over the other ingredients. Marvellous stuff, resulting in considerable melty goodness all over the place.

And that meat… Well, we had gammon, turkey and beef. I could leave it there but I won’t. The beef, of course, was the 7oz patty from the Inka grill that Solita does to perfection. You could have no other ingredients but the cheese and this would be nice. I’ve covered it before in other reviews. Stunning stuff.

But the other meats helped make this Christmassy. The gammon, first of all. A couple of thick chunks. Now, admittedly due to the slippy cheese and the sheer size of this beast, most of the gammon fell out.

I’m no stranger to burger ingredients falling out, so this wasn’t a big deal. It all tastes the same! But having fallen out, it gave me a chance to try it alone and it was nice. Hammy, as you’d hope, with limited fat and a lovely savoury saltiness that comes with the territory.

The gammon content was quite significant but the other meats didn’t fall out.

An amazing stack…

The other meats in question were led by the turkey. Well-breaded and significant in quantity, it almost defined the meat part of this burger. It was absolutely lovely with a delicious crispy coating, and came very close to taking over from the beef in here.

But not quite. Solita’s beef is so damn tasty that it takes all challengers within its bun and throws them to the dust, no matter how tasty they are. By emphasising the beef though, I’m not trying to detract from the flavour of the gammon and the turkey. The whole damn thing was great.

The sprouts and the cheese, along with the cranberry sauce, were what gave this this the “chrimbo” element and what set out its stall as a Christmas special. Is it any more special than last year’s Christmas special? No. Is it a great Christmas special? Yes.

Knock the stuffing out of it…

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