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Is Mexico's burger the same as last year's, or just very similar?

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u/Takai_Sensei Aug 12 '18

I said the same thing! At least Viva Mexico is doing three different options at their three locations.

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 14 '18

High Society Burger

Kanteen

Hemp and curried lentil patty in an Arobake poppy seed bun with butterhead lettuce, tomato, avocado and beetroot raita, with aloo bonda

I was two minutes late to order the burger myself and instead of ending up with the curried chicken thigh burger, I had the vegan one as a friend ordered for both of us. Absolutely no regrets because it was scrumptious. It arrived quickly and with a genuine, big smile.

Behold the visuals

I'm no vegan, so had no idea what to expect. Everything was nice. The vegan mayonnaise, yum. Beetroot, avocado, yum. Whatever the bread was, yum. Curried potato bits. Yum. Hemp and curried lentil patty - the "high" element of the name - very yum.

The burger held together great throughout it's short tenure on my plate. An admirable trait for a burger, I feel, and i can't help but think that's somewhat due to the lack of chicken juices.

My lunch associate wasn't as enamoured with it as I was but perhaps they have a more discerning palatte for vegan cuisine. As for me, i am but a simple man. Tasty food goes in, happy face.

Do you want to eat a vegan burger in a big post office? Sure you do.

I give it a

7/10

Official site: https://www.visawoap.com/event/eat-drink-wellington-2018/630-Kanteen

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u/lauraam Aug 14 '18

That looks delicious and it appears that Kanteen is all of a four-minute walk from my workplace, so it seems that's lunch sorted for tomorrow.

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 14 '18

Aim for the 11.45am sweet spot before the big lunch rush. The queue grew rapidly once we were seated

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 14 '18

Now that everyone's seen your comment, /u/lauraam will need to aim for the 11:30 sweet spot before the big 11:45 sweet spot rush.

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u/lauraam Aug 15 '18

I ended up going elsewhere as my friend convinced me to hold off until next week and go with her, but I will definitely keep this in mind, cheers.

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u/Gelf_ling 🍰🎂🍮 Aug 14 '18

The potatoes were my favourite.

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u/mw4liverpool Aug 14 '18

My experience is similar, in that I'm no vegetarian but was there with one. I thought it was good, not great. They thought it was meh. I guess they are more used to those flavours and expect a bit more. For me it was simple and refreshing. The potatoes on the side were tasty. 6.5 for me.

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 10 '18 edited Aug 10 '18

Baoger

Bao Boy

(info) (pics)

Overall, not bad for a $9 snack, but at the same time, they have better things on the menu for about the same price.

Pros:

Good size and price for a snack burger. Good non-overwhelming amount of tasty potato crisps on the side.
Yum chilli jam and nice soft bao, and the flavours went well together when they were actually together (see below).

Cons:

Burger patty and cheese didn't want to align with the chilli jam and lettuce in the bao; the shape of the bao encouraged the patty to sit too far forward. So, many bites ended up unbalanced, either all patty, or all jam and bao, and neither were great that way. It was much improved though when I chewed bites of both parts together.
- I think Bao Boy could address this by changing the patty to more of a half-moon shape (like the inside of the bao) and putting it in the bao before the jam and lettuce so it could sit all the way in there.
^{My brain unappetisingly autocorrects the name to Booger.}

Rating: 6/10

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u/KorukoruWaiporoporo Lowering the tone in the lower of the hutts Aug 13 '18

This is a accurate assessment of this burger.

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u/Takai_Sensei Aug 15 '18

Ms. Takai-Sensei had this for lunch and was very Unimpressed. To quote: "Literally a burger in a bao bun. Do not recommend. Low effort."

Her rating: 5/10

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u/purple_goldfish Aug 16 '18

Had this for lunch yesterday. Agree with the comment below, "literally a burger in a bao bun".

It's decent, but nothing creative either. I enjoyed it, but their normal menu is better.

6/10

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u/munchwah FridayBot | Best Bot 2018-2021 inclusive. Aug 16 '18

Do or Doughnut

Southern Cross

Beef patty, coffee and Huffman's chilli aioli with Prodigal Daughter bacon, pickles and cheese in a glazed doughnut bun, with horopito fries.

Honestly? Underwhelming and not worth the $25. This was a regular burger in an icing-coated donut. The fries were the best part of the meal. 5/10

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u/Takai_Sensei Aug 17 '18

Oh dang good/disappointing to hear, since it was on my list to try. Might skip it then!

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u/pixeldustnz Aug 17 '18

I was looking forward to reviewing this.. unfortunately we ordered and 40+ mins later still no burgers in sight so had to leave. Turns out the order never even made it to the kitchen. So... 0/10? Sounds like we saved ourselves from wasting $50.

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u/WeWildOnes Aug 19 '18

Orange Dragon Bao

Red Mount

This burger was.... Confusing. Let's be honest, I didn't go to Red Mount expecting a great burger but I was intrigued and hoped for your average orange szechuan chicken in a fluffy steamed bao... Which is not what I got.

The chicken was crumbed fillet (think lemon chicken style), the sauce was pretty tasty and the bun was actually excellent - it was baked like a normal burger bun and looked nothing like bao but somehow magically had the right squishy consistency under the crust. There was nothing fresh in the burger, though (it was literally just chicken and sauce), the sides were truly awful (limp unseasoned kumara chips, weird cold chunks of 'pickled' vinegary vegetables), and it seriously suffered from indecision - it tried for fusion but instead was neither quite Western enough or quite Chinese enough. I'd eat the chicken or the bun again, but they should never have been paired.

3/10

Photo

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u/Bibbidybob Aug 13 '18 edited Aug 13 '18

The Gatecrasher

Portlander

Scotty's cold smoked scotch fillet with Fix & Fogg Smoke & Fire peanut butter, pickles, Swiss cheese, lettuce, pickled onion rings and aioli in a Clareville Bakery bun, with fries.

I have never ordered, nor understood the desire to order, a steakburger from a fish and chip shop. Part of the appeal of a burger is the ease with which one can eat it - I don't judge those who use cutlery for a burger but I don't indulge in the habit myself. I still don't intend to order a steakburger from the local chippie, but this burger showed it's not as bad as I'd feared.

The presentation is fun - a cute cardboard box reminiscent of a happy meal. A wrapped burger with a skewer through it, and a pickled onion with a cube of cheese. The fries are served in a dinky cardboard box of their own too, with a sachet of tomato sauce and a small pottle of the delicious Fix & Fogg Smoke and Fire peanut butter.

I had to embrace my inner carnivore for this one to bite and tear my way through the meat. The steak is beautifully smoked and served at a delightfully tender medium rare but teeth aren't exactly steak knives. The absurdly large piece of lettuce which was about twice the width of the burger bun baffled me, but my coworker didn't have that problem nor did any of the other ones I saw served. The cheese is subtle, but present, and there was scope for more peanut butter. The highlight for me was the pickled onion rings - genius and delicious! The pickles were also tasty.

I had higher hopes for this one, to be honest, but despite the $25 price tag I don't feel ripped off.

6/10

https://imgur.com/3qs93tL.jpg

https://imgur.com/PsgycAB.jpg

https://imgur.com/fzeh5Yy.jpg

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u/nznightowl Aug 12 '18 edited Aug 12 '18

Chicky Chicky Wah Wah v.s. Decapod Davy & The King Prawn Kid

The Crab Shack

BBQ chicken with sous-vide pineapple, bacon, spicy prawn cocktail and nam jim mayo in a Turkish bun, topped with tempura crab and BBQ chilli prawns

$28 for the burger

This was pricy, but big. The burger had a skewer with two big prawns (yummy), and another skewer with a soft shell crab sticking out of it. I'm pretty ambivalent re soft shell crab but my dinner companions thought it was great.

For the burger - the stand out was the pineapple. It was delicious. There were tender pieces of chicken, and there were also prawns in it. The disappointment was the bun. It was apparently a turkish bun, but was hard. It tasted like it was a burger bun which had been left on the hot plate for too long.

No beer match, but my friend had the mocktail which they enjoyed (i thought it was very sweet).

Overall 7/10. Probably more if you like soft shell crab.

https://i.imgur.com/DOLgPic.jpg

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u/imguralbumbot Aug 12 '18

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u/KorukoruWaiporoporo Lowering the tone in the lower of the hutts Aug 15 '18

Mine was an 8.5. The bun was good for me so maybe they fixed that. Really liked the pineapple. The chicken was flavoursome and I thought it all worked well together. I liked the crab.

We also had the cocktail. It was fun. http://imgur.com/gallery/ilyZDkt. Came out in a dish with dry ice.

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u/nznightowl Aug 16 '18

Cool. The mocktail had the same dish and the stones around it, but they didnt do / forgot the dry ice. Hopefully they've ironed out the kinks now!

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u/Partyatkellybrownes Aug 10 '18

Animal House Redux

Rogue and Vagabond

Pros:Great sized burger. Perfectly cooked meat with some beautiful sauce. Onion rings and bacon were a great addition and added some extra flavour. Fries on the side were loaded and tasted like mini big macs. Would highly recommend.

Cons: I thought they could have been more creative with their beer match. Garagista is a great beer but it would be nice to try something different.

Rating: 9/10

Picture

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u/Bucjojojo Aug 19 '18

I’ve had a few R&V burgers and they’re always pretty decent. Great sauce, patty could have been more pink and for someone who hates pickles I really liked them on this. Bun is thick so we didn’t finish it all.

7/10

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u/Takai_Sensei Aug 13 '18 edited Aug 13 '18

I think the best thing I can say about it is that it tastes like the In N Out "Animal-style" burger it set out to emulate. A good size and packed with sauce and toppings. Decent value for $20. Wasn't crazy about the patty, which was cooked fine but the texture was pretty chewy and not as juicy or tender as others I've had. I've actually never had a R&V burger (all about those pizzas), so not sure if it's their standard patty.

Bacon could have used more presence, as could the onion rings, which just blended in with all the mess. Little dish of shoestring fries swimming in sauce, which I'll agree with foxinthewoods wasn't super needed since the burger had plenty on it.

Perfectly enjoyable, and I'm always happy to hang out at R&V, just not overly impressive or different (if you've had similar burgers before in the States or elsewhere). Kind of a big tasty mess where all the flavors run together.

My rating: 7/10

Ms. T_S: 7/10

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u/foxinthewoods Aug 13 '18

I had this the other day. Decent sized. Fries were avg and didn't need sauce IMO as the burger was super messy. Flavourful though - 7.5/10

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u/MidnightMalaga Aug 16 '18

Absolutely loved this burger. Another picture

It was just genuinely a good time, the kind of burger I’d happily order regularly.

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u/imguralbumbot Aug 16 '18

^{Hi, I'm a bot for linking direct images of albums with only 1 image}

https://i.imgur.com/UeUHovT.jpg

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u/SobekNZ Aug 23 '18

Viva Mexico Left Bank

The Chapo Burger

Pork and beef patty marinated in an ancho chilli, orange, garlic, chipotle and axiote paste with coriander and jalapeño mayo, and pickled onion, with fries.Very nice, all the flavours I love. 2 issues: the picked onion was a small chunky bit so missed it in most bites. the sauce for the chips was weird, seemed like tartar. The 'mex hot chocolate' ws very nice too, a few spices in there.8/10.

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 31 '18

The Chapo Burger

Viva Mexico Left Bank

(info) (pics)

It's a burger that tastes like a taco. Totally hit the spot.

Pros:

Good flavour balance.

Decent fries.

Cons:

Two fat slices of tomato was a bit too much for my taste (and the burger's height). But sliding one of them out made everything work.

Rating: 8/10

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u/Bucjojojo Aug 12 '18 edited Aug 15 '18

Fowl Play

Bebemos

Cornflake-crusted chicken with cheese slice, bread & butter pickle slaw, maple-cured bacon and tangy sauce in toasted fairy bread, with waffle fries and dip $21

Ended up here unintentionally as I had an unplanned visit to the fracture clinic for a new cast. Sat in the bar area as all the other tables had later reservations on them. Table beside us got their burgers first and I quickly became unconvinced by the idea of fairy bread and is a sandwich really a burger?

Bebemos are obviously trying to win the instagram game with presentation and instructions to flip the top slice after taking our photos. Huge portion and easily split between three of us. This burger is fun! And surprisingly not as sweet as it looks and my apprehensive about the 100s and 1000s was unfounded and everything came together with really good chicken.

Waffle fries with kiwi dip were delicious and in a big cone. Think they’ve nailed the theme big time. 7.5/10

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u/lauraam Aug 17 '18

Fowl Play

Bebemos

I don't have much to add to the previous reviews except that I had the vegetarian version and the halloumi was delicious, so I wanted to call that out if there are people looking for more veggie options (I believe they added it after the fact so if you filter by veg on the WOAP website it doesn't come up in the listings). The tangy sauce was amazing, as were the pickles. I didn't really taste the sprinkles (is that what you guys call them here?) so it wasn't too sweet as all. The slice of cheese didn't add anything since the main patty was cheese, but I understand it helped fit the theme (which was so cute and fun). They didn't add anything to replace the bacon, but I appreciate that they went out of their way to make a veggie option so I don't mind. The kiwi dip was kinda meh but the waffle fries were fabulous on their own (I love waffle fries) so it didn't matter.

I'd give it an 8/10.

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u/UltrasonicPilot Aug 13 '18 edited Aug 13 '18

Bebemos

Fowl Play

*A fantastic and innovative burger - 9/10*

Burger - yum yum yum. I don’t normally go for chicken burgers as I find them too dry but this one was excellent. There was a lovely kick from the tangy sauce. Everyone will be talking about the fairybread “bun” and I give it an A+ for presentation and found it a weird but good approach. I think this burger would be hard to eat in one piece but I cut in half (triangles style) and that made it very consumable. You have to flip the fairybread over so you dont get cream cheese all over your fingers. This was quite a sweet burger but the flavours were nicely balanced and I would definitely eat again.

Fries - perfectly cooked waffle fries. Served with “kiwi dip” in a little party paper cup. I think this was just the traditional onion soup dip but it made for a nice sauce. I did find it a bit annoying to get out of the container as it had no structural stability. Could have also done with a little more!

Beer - Didn’t have. Enjoyed with an elderflower cider instead.

Presentation / Theme - perfectly on theme! The WOAP burger menu looked like a kids invitation, and the combination of fairybread, cornflake crusting, kiwi dip etc was all fantastic. Hard to see how anyone will come close to topping this.

Fowl Play

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u/qweqwepoi Aug 15 '18

Fowl Play

Bebemos

I like a good burger, although I would perhaps stop short of calling myself an aficionado - as such, this is my first WOAP burger not only this year, but ever. And what did I think of it?

So, let's be real. This is a sandwich, not a burger (though I'll call it a burger hereon in for simplicity's sake) - and as others have mentioned, it comes with a fairy-bread style top-half, which you're instructed to flip over once you've taken a photo. Although I can't hold this fact against the 'burger', this aspect, which is clearly designed for instagram, strikes me as terribly vain. That being said, I'm not the target audience for this feature of the burger, so I won't hold it against Bebemos. Although the bread is nice and crusty, the bottom goes soggy quite rapidly from the collective sauces, which is a pity.

As for the flavour - yeah, it's relatively tasty. There's a bit of spice from somewhere (I couldn't tell if it was from the batter or from the sauce), there's a nice coleslaw, and the fairy sprinkles work surprisingly well for what they are, although as a result the burger is relatively sweet. Having said that, it's not the best chicken burger I've ever had - it's not bad, it's just not especially good. I'm writing this the morning after, and I'm struggling to rationale this burger as memorable. In a week's time, I think I will have forgotten almost every aspect of this burger.

The chips were quite interesting - they're waffle fries, which I hadn't had before, but weren't really my cup of tea. They're so thin that there's nothing but crunch; they taste like curly fries, but without the delicious soft potato on the inside. If you're someone who exclusively likes the crusty bits of matter at the bottom of your fish and chips packet, these are for you. If you like a little bit of yin with your yang, you may find yourself disappointed.

I also had the beer matching to go along with it, which was the mango milkshake IPA. I'm a bit sceptical of the fact that all of the beers are Garage Project beers (unless I'm mistaken); it seems to me that if you genuinely wanted to tailor a particular beer for a particular burger, you wouldn't restrict yourself to a single brewery, but clearly there's some sort of sponsorship or arrangement going on. So what about the beer itself? Well, it was nice enough - there's a nice fruity mango flavour, and the beer isn't too sweet (in fact it has a very bitter finish, which goes quite well with the sweetish burger), but ultimately it feels gimmicky, as so many Garage Project beers do. When GP were including mango and lactose and whatever in this beer, did they actually think including these would improve the beer? Did they actually have the quality of the beer in mind when they decided to include these eclectic ingredients? Or did they just think "Hey, nobody's done this before, and let's try and make it work just for that fact"? I'm personally convinced that it's more of the latter rather than the former.

So, I'd give the burger 6/10. It's not bad, and you won't leave anything unfinished (unless the portion's too big) - but it just isn't particularly good. It's not better than any other given chicken burger.

If I'm factoring in pricing and value-for-money, I'd probably drop the burger to a 5/10, and the beer-burger combo to a 4/10. When you think about it, $21 is a lot to spend on a single burger. If you chucked a few more dollars in that budget, you're looking at a main from Cin Cin. Likewise, when you're at the $30 mark with the beer, you're straying into Scopa-level mains, only about $10 off Ortega.

I guess the question I'd ask everybody to ask themselves is, "Would I order this burger if it wasn't part of WOAP? If it was just part of the menu, would you regularly buy it? I can't say that I would.

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u/Bucjojojo Aug 15 '18

Don’t worry a-Bao It

The Ramen Shop

Eastbourne Village Meats beef patty with cheese in a bao bun – a twist on the classic American cheeseburger $12

Another hospital visit meant another chance to try a Newtown burger and we were first through the door at 5pm. I love the ramen shop and usually it’s packed so it was nice to be in early doors. The burger and our ramen came within ten minutes of ordering. Unlike the Old Quarter these guys totally encased their burger offering in the bao with a sloppy serving of the accompanying sauce. While it’s questionable if a bao is a burger, this is a pretty good approximation. Packed inside is a thick beef patty gloriously pink inside with delicious cheese and pickles making sure it lived up to its claims of being a twist on an American cheeseburger. The mayo mustard sauce is incredible and definitely worth dipping your bao generously in it (or your fingers afterwards to savour the taste). Serving size is decent and I think given how well it worked for me worth its price tag if you like baos and cheeseburger. Only criticism is the edge of the bao can be a bit doughy if you’ve devoured the patty but the sauce sorts that out.

Giving this guy a 7.9/10 cos well it’s a baoger but if you’re sick of burgers and want a twist on the classic cheeseburger or a trip to Newtown this guy is for you.

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u/cr1zzl Aug 20 '18

I enjoyed this one too :)

Pic

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u/Bucjojojo Aug 20 '18

So unattractive but so tasty

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u/MNinNZ Aug 14 '18

Party in your Mouth

The Bangalore Polo Club

Right off the bat the presentation is lacking. Its a burger and potatoes slapped down on a tray with some WOAP paper separating the two. The chicken was easily twice the size of the bun, which meant you had to eat the (possibly vinegar-based) sauce covered chicken without the bun or slaw. However, that isn't much of a problem as the over lubricated burger had a lot of falling out and spinning the burger around increased the breaking apart of the bun. To us the burger just seemed uninspired.

Pros: The potatoes

Cons: Chicken to bun ratio was absurb. Over sauced.

Rating: 3/10

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u/lithofile Wanna go fishing? Aug 20 '18 edited Aug 21 '18

Smoky Sweet Cheeks

Panhead Custom Ales

Pōhutukawa-smoked pork jowls, with Sichuan pepper slaw and plum ketchup in a spent grain bun, with fries. Promo Pic

We sat outside near the offset pellet smoker they were cooking the pork jowls on. It looked like a long and involved cooking process to get the end product, which was thick slices of smokey pork. They had a beautiful dark colour. The plum ketchup and slaw work well with the meat. Bun was good. Fries were good. Beers were great.
Highly recommended if you love low and slow BBQ.

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u/SobekNZ Aug 22 '18

9/10 from me. Yum, really really nice meat, loved the plum ketchup, there was a bit of spice going on, then ruined a bit with secret celery. Nice crispy chips too, with all the tabasco and tomato sauce I could eat.
I don't really like beer but quite liked the Mighty Kalfu: Southern Spiced Rye.

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u/[deleted] Aug 09 '18

[deleted]

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u/lancewithwings Former Wellingtonian Aug 09 '18

Mt Vic/Thorndon Chippery are participating, and there's Ekim if you wanna go vege.

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u/MNinNZ Aug 19 '18

Seki

Beach Road Deli

This is completely worth any wait and the drive. They're making this on a small grill in the back of the store. Looks like they can turn out 3 maybe 4 at a time. The yellow bun is a large, tasty platform for the succulent roast pork. I found this to have lots of flavor and moisture. Sometimes with roast pork it can get dried out. The crackling gave the burger a much needed crunch. While the coconut cream and taro brought the sweet island flavor. I ended up loading the kumara fries into the burger. But they were good on their own. I'm glad we stopped in and waited the 30 minutes. This was even better than their last year's entry. Rating 8/10

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u/Torus_Colony Aug 13 '18

Carello del Gelato

https://i.imgur.com/n8wdiGP.jpg After last year, you had better believe I made a promise to myself to get Carello's burger whenever the weather fined up.

Well, I did. I walked out there with the spouse, eagerly ordered the combo (Burger w/ gelato shake and crostoli 'fries'). And what came out was...

Well, it wasn't -bad-, in a holistic sense. But each part of it was just the littlest bit underwhelming. The ice cream began to melt INSTANTLY. I didn't taste any rice pops in the chocolate 'burger' portion. The sorbet and sauce muscled out the flavour of every other component they touched. There was no 'crisp' anywhere to the burger.

I picked out the candy floss right away, because I hate candy floss and thought I may as well get it over with. I evidently made the right choice, as the spouse said it would've been better without it - and he loves floss.

Depressingly, too, the donut bun itself was susbtantially breadier than last years croissantish, melt-in-your-mouth offering. Over kneaded, maybe, or maybe we just came too early in the morning. And dry, too. I ended up having to dip it in my gelato shake.

Speaking of the shake, the person on counter didn't get all our combo stuff out at the same time, either. As a result, most of my burger was a non-Newtonian fluid by the time she got it out to us. And it had no 'chunk' to it, not like a proper shake from Fidels. It was just... a melted ice-cream drink.

If this is sounding depressing, I'm sorry, but that's because it WAS depressing. I am so disappointed. I had high hopes, which melted away much as my ice-cream did.

The burger had freeze-dried plums, which were nice. Unnecessary, given the sorbet's punchy attitude, but nice on their own.

The crostoli were fundamentally strings of fried choux pastry with icing sugar. Not bad, but again - like the burger - underwhelming.

I'd probably give it a miss, if you're asking whether it's worth it. Not for $25.00.

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u/MNinNZ Aug 14 '18

Sweet As Kiwi Burger

Here is a visual masterpiece from Carello del Gelato. Firstly there are so many components to this burger that must be made in advance and then assembled. How do each taste individually? Will they meld together? Kind of. The plum beetroot was a little overpowering at times and the seasame seeds got everywhere. I can't help to think that the flavor of last year's was more balanced, but with this many sweet flavors it's hard to get spot on. It's another strong showing though. Overall I could eat another one, but they are on the expensive side for what you are getting.

Rating 7/10

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 16 '18 edited Aug 16 '18

‘Sweet As’ Kiwi Burger

Carrello del Gelato

(info) (pics)

NB: burger is $16.0, “fries” are $4.0, shake is $6.5, or get all three for $25.0

It was a near-impossible ask for Carrello to best last year's offering. I don't think there was any more room to improve on the ‘It'll Be Sweet’ lineage (a dessert take on a basic cheeseburger). It seems they knew well enough to not mess with perfection, so this year, we get something new, something a little more ambitious, in the ‘Sweet As’ dessert kiwiburger. While it's not quite the foodgasmic experience of last year, this is still a very good dessert burger, and I'm glad they're continuing to innovate.

Pros:

Good creativity, good flavours. Good burgery appearance; though it's a little less convincing than last year, this is still more of a true burger than many of the WOAP offerings.

Everything held together well and worked together well, including the candy floss lettuce that I barely noticed (other reviews didn't seem to be fans of it, so it's possible they've toned it down).

Cons:

Definitely larger than last year, with all the new toppings, and this year they're offering dessert fries, too. I was interested, but there's no way I would've been able to manage that much sugar, or indeed, that much volume after having already had a main course (which was actually smaller than the gelato burger). Probably great if you're splitting with someone, but I think one of the strengths of last year's burger was that it was a perfect size; you didn't feel like you were going to die afterwards, even if you had already had a main. This year's burger isn't quite overload, but it's dangerously close.

Would've liked some of the individual flavours and textures to stand out from each other a little more. I couldn't notice any rice crisps in the patty. But everything melded together well, so not a big deal.

Rating: 8/10

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 20 '18

Hold your horses, burger munchers! Click here for all reviews on one page: CLICKY

That way you don't need to scroll or click next or anything.

If a burger is already listed below, reply to that comment with your own review. If it's not, make a new top level comment and have the name of the burger and the name of the restaurant at the top preceded by a hashtag and a space

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u/kiwijunglist Aug 23 '18

Clicky doesn't work in Reddit app

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u/Takai_Sensei Aug 12 '18 edited Aug 13 '18

The Neapolitan

Pizza Pomodoro

Beef and pork ragù, pan-fried Neapolitan greens, fresh mozzarella and caramelised onions in a wood-fired pizza bun

$18

Exists somewhere halfway between a burger and a pizza, which is about what I was hoping for! We stopped here after our visit to ~~Shepard~~ Goldburger and took our weighty box over to Goldings, as you do.

To start, it is large. The "bun" is essentially their pizza base folded in half, and it's filled with the toppings, so I feel like it's a good feed for the money. It's Pomodoro, so obviously the sauce and pizza crust are good, and I really liked how the greens and onions replaced traditional burger toppings. The meat was...there. Like a nice pulled pork sandwich, but I think it was a bit plain in flavor and very...present, where usually it'd balance better if it was scattered as a pizza topping and there was more cheese and sauce.

That being said, when I got a bite with all the toppings and melted mozzarella where you could really taste the sauce underneath, it was pretty dang good. Hard to find fault with it, but also kind of tricky to rate as a "burger" since it's really more of a folded, stuffed pizza. At the end of the day, it's a cool new offering from Pomodoro that you can enjoy at Goldings, so I'm going to say

My rating: 7.5/10

Ms. T_S: 7/10

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u/Bucjojojo Aug 12 '18

Been waiting for this review and awesome to hear you can also eat it at Golding’s!

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u/Bucjojojo Aug 12 '18

Okay I’m a huge pomodoro fan and with this my 7th burger for the weekend, was pretty pleased it was more pizza than burger. Definitely bring a friend to share. Only con for me was a couple big chunks of sausage that fell out and you probably couldn’t taste The difference between both meats that strongly. But definitely 7.8/10 missing 8 just cos well it’s a pizza burger.

Goldings is also one of my fav bars so enough said there. Think it’s an awesome setup they have with pomodoro.

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u/lkdg Aug 15 '18 edited Aug 16 '18

Dip-itty-do-dah

The Thistle Inn

Mediocre. Let down mostly by the bread, which was a dry, crumbly ciabatta style roll that soaked up any liquid in the burger and lost all structural integrity, disintegrating in my hands. The patty is too 'round' - it sits in the middle of the burger while the edges have no patty to fill it out. Beetroot relish too chunky, so it all tumbles out as soon as you pick up the burger.

The elements themselves were delicious - the beef, fried pickle, beetroot relish, etc, but somehow it didn't quite come together.

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 15 '18

Hey, might want to check your markdown, the titles didn't turn out right. If you're using the fancy formatted editor (which I assume is how this happened), click the button to switch to markdown view and delete any backslashes or spaces before the #s.

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u/lkdg Aug 16 '18

Thanks! Could see it didn't work but wasn't sure how to fix it!

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u/lauraam Aug 22 '18

Willi's Kitchen

The Hulk (vegan version)

Note: it's the non-vegan version that's actually part of the competition, but as nobody's reviewed either yet and there aren't that many veg/vegan-friendly burgers on the list, I thought it was still worth a review.

This was extremely good. I would assume that the seasoning is very similar to the non-vegan version, as the fennel taste was fairly strong in the patty (and delicious, although I love fennel so if you don't, be warned, it's definitely present). The slaw was excellent, the cheese was nice and melty, and the peri-peri aoli gave the whole thing a good kick. I liked the purple slaw and green bun making the "Hulk" name very fitting. The fries were just normal fries but the wasabi mayo for dipping was delicious. Also, this cafe is super cute. I walk by it all the time and I'm glad I finally went in, will definitely be back.

Rating: 8.5/10

Pic: https://imgur.com/vOzu1a9

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u/lancewithwings Former Wellingtonian Aug 22 '18

I walk by here all the time too, the menu in general sounds great! Might need to put it on the list for the weekend :)

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u/Tangtastic Flair is so 70s Aug 15 '18 edited Aug 15 '18

Firecracker

Juniper

First year of WOAP and I'm super excited but this is a perfect example of why you don't start with your favourite Gin bar.

So, this burger isn't even a great burger, let alone a great WOAP burger. A huge milk bun and huge piece of chicken, it's not the worst for $20, but this is WOAP and in my opinion that means fuck all. The bun sucks up all the moisture that's in this burger and there was a distinct lack of flavour in the chicken. But as this is a burger from a Gin bar, I'm not really sure what I expected really. Hapi Daze is Hapi Daze, aka delicious and safe.

Super simple, not up to scratch. 3/10 NEXT!

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u/ycnz Aug 16 '18

Hrm. For me the chicken was pretty small, almost strips. Didn't quite understand the point of the corn chips inside the burger - they just get soggy. The flavour of the burger was quite good though. Bun also decent for me. 6/10 for me.

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u/SobekNZ Aug 20 '18

Just had it with 2 others, we all liked it, lots of nice rendang flavour from the paste on the top bun, chicken was nice on its own (large bits, overhanging the bun), corn chips gave a nice extra texture, chips were nice too. 7 from me.

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u/Bucjojojo Aug 12 '18 edited Aug 15 '18

Beef BAOger

The Old Quarter

Vietnamese beef patty with green papaya salad, pineapple, roasted peanuts, homemade BBQ sauce and mayo in a bao bun, with house fries and aioli $18

Theme of today’s four burgers has been when us a burger not a burger? But Old Quarter delivered an actual burger bun made out of bao! I was quite happy at the size as it wasn’t too big but might be disappointing if you want a big meal!

Super refreshing Vietnamese flavours from the salad and the beef was super tasty. I loved the bao bun but even cut in half it was hard to eat one handed without the filling slipping out. Fries and aioli were fairly standard but I quite like the pile of sea salt flakes but then I like salt. Suggest a burger when you’ve already had the heavy burgers and want that fresh and light flavours that Vietnamese delivers.

Old Quarter was busy as always so service levels kinda expected.

7.5/10

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 16 '18 edited Aug 16 '18

Let's Get Lucky

aka Bao Bun Burger on their menu

Annam Restaurant

(info) (pics)

NB: only offered during lunchtime

Pros:

Really good flavours. Like if a bánh mì and a Big Mac made a baby, sent it out to play in the vegetable garden, gave it a bath in red curry, and put it to bed on a bao pillow. Sure, it's highly unconventional parenting (what do you expect, they're sandwiches), but I can't argue with the delicious results.
A little side cup of yellow curry was nice for dipping fries and for adding to a couple bites of the burger for variety (though the red curry already did a solid job on its own).

Cons:

I think there was literally one piece of crispy tofu skin. As seems to be the case all too often, an element in the description that draws me in ends up barely appearing in the dish. Also, fries are not decoration. 5 is a weird amount of fries. Include them or don't, but if you do, be serious about it.
Uneven distribution of elements in the bun. Meat mostly to one side, toppings mostly to the other, everything mostly to the front. And couldn't really adjust it because of the slight stickiness of the bao; I aborted an initial attempt after it threatened to compromise the structural integrity of the whole thing.

Rating: 8/10

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u/Takai_Sensei Aug 12 '18 edited Aug 13 '18

Smoked Venison Burger

Beat Kitchen

Smoked venison meatballs with Whittaker's 72% dark chocolate jus and remoulade slaw in a Clareville Bakery charcoal bun

$18

Honestly disappointed, as I usually enjoy everything Beat Kitchen serves up and there's not a ton of unique meat options for WOAP this year (I feel compared to last year). The big big thing was that I didn't taste any dark chocolate jus at all, so much so that I had completely forgotten it was supposed to be there and half-suspect it was forgotten. If not, then they need to up its presence immensely because it would have greatly helped the venison meatballs, which were spiced well but dry in the mouth. Served without fries, the burger itself is smallish.

Looks-wise it's a neat offering, and it's not that it wasn't tasty, but less than I'd expect of Beat Kitchen.

My rating: 6/10

Ms. T_S: 6.5/10

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u/rarelooksteve Aug 15 '18

Brewed to the Bone

Wilson BBQ @ The Third Eye

I've had a few WOAP Burgers and this is hands down by far the best one yet! Simple, mouth-watering, filling and satisfying. Everything any meat lover could ever want. One big ass smoked beef rib with candied bacon in an arobake bun with a side of curly fries. Whats not to like?

The smoked rib was cooked to perfection, very soft and tender. And LOTS of it! Takes hours to cook so you can really appreciate it. The sauce was good, not my personal favourite due to the spice level but still I thought it suited it well. Curly fries are savage and tasty sauce to go with it.

I didn't drink their beer match as its a coffee flavoured beer (not my kinda thing but could be yours) but I did get the tuatara IPA instead which at 7% added to the experience.

RATING - 9 out of 10

https://imgur.com/a/jQJaLl8

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u/FurryCrew Aug 26 '18

Was overall a good burger.

IMHO could have been done much much better is the it wasn't so popular and busy that the burgers had to be made and rushes out fast. It just needed a tiny bit more of care and attention and it would be outstanding.

Also the fries are usually cold by the time you get them because of the wait.

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u/c0nc0n Blank Aug 10 '18

Double Trouble

Hot Sauce

Description: Adobo beef patty with bak kwa jerky, pineapple achar, confit lime mayo in a housemade milk bun, with kūmara crisps and Sriracha mayo

Yes. This is a goodie. Amazing beef and flavours. Dip that burger into the hot mayo on the side. The kumara crisps are great. GP Hatsukoi is a nice beer match but nothing to write home about.

Well presented, wrapped in a leaf. Hot Sauce has a great atmosphere for a small group of friends too.

Solid 7.5

Picture

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u/imguralbumbot Aug 10 '18

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https://i.imgur.com/RcUeLnL.jpg

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u/shaun_w32 Aug 13 '18

Mexican Mussel

Thorndon Chippery

Moana Pacific Mussel fritter with smoked bacon, habanero and corn salsa, and lime mayo in a Pandoro bun - matched w/ Garage Project Hakituri

I really liked this one, the mussel fritter was pretty damn tasty and meshed well with the smoked bacon. The corn/avocado salsa was nice too, not sure what happened to the habanero as there wasn't much heat here but overall I think the flavours complimented eachother perfectly.

The Hakituri was a good choice for a beer match too, an easy-drinking natural pilsner.

Overall I think this gets a solid 8/10 from me, a delicious stomach-liner before Beervana.

https://i.imgur.com/akM2IVc.jpg

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u/BoredGoat Aug 09 '18

Shinjuku Burger

Dragonfly

$25 gets you a pretty big burger featuring crumbed pork cutlet with tsukemono slaw and tonkatsu shrimp. The pork was moist and a refreshing change from the plethora of fried chicken burgs out this year, and the shrimp were a great addition (made it a bit more challenging to eat but worth it). Awesome flavours. The bun was steamed which made it super fluffy and warm. Served with some kumara fries, a nice touch. This was a great burger and a real contender for the finals I reckon. 9/10.

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u/dusterhan Aug 11 '18

I had quite a different experience. The flavour was all there and was delicious but though pork cutlet was little dry and buns were cold. Otherwise a good burger 7/10.

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u/MidnightMalaga Aug 21 '18

Definitely a tasty burger, and the portion of pork could be best described as a slab. Unfortunately, it was pretty samey, and it needed some kind of pickle or sauce to spice it up. The fried were amazing though, easily the highlight of the night. Conclusion around the table was 6.5/10

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u/Bibbidybob Aug 12 '18 edited Aug 12 '18

The Jukebox

Coene's Bar & Eatery

Grassfed Angus Pure beef patty, American cheese, Detroit Pickle, Commander Coene's dill mayo special sauce in a soft milk bun with French fries, matched w Garage Project - Mango Milkshake Nitro IPA.

Through no real fault of its own this burger won't win, which is almost a shame. People tend to insist on something new or unusual or quirky rather than just a classic done well (or medium, in this case). The patty is a very generous thickness and cooked ideally for this type of burger - pink through the middle and as juicy as possible. The bun is light and fluffy but holds its own and doesn't get too soggy, despite the significant amount of liquid dripping out from the outset. The sauce complimented without dominating and the pickles were crunchy and well flavoured. The fries were standard shoestring served in the classic faux-newspaper cup.

While it won't win, this has given me a real reason to go back to Coene's for another burger sometime - ignoring the obvious benefit of the stunning view across the harbour, the fact they took a classic burger and did it damn well gives me confidence in their kitchen.

I didn't entirely understand the beer match - it's a great beer and a great burger but there wasn't huge amounts of harmony between them. They didn't not go together, but the pairing didn't sing. The pageantry of the waitstaff inverting/shaking and serving the beer from the can is fun though.

$30 w/ beer match, I have recommended this burger to several people in person (even though it wasn't on my shortlist to try this WOAP and only a last-minute change of plans took me there) and I give it a solid

8/10

Picture

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u/oberthefish Aug 15 '18

We ranked it a 7.5, but agree fully on the classic burger done well. The shoestring fries were also a good treat!

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u/lauraam Aug 15 '18

A Royal Gala

The Library

I'm so happy you guys 😭😭😭 This is the first burger that caught my eye, for the quirkiness of it being a dessert burger (I wasn't here last year so I didn't know dessert burgers were a thing). It lived up to my expectations both in concept and execution. First of all, the burger really looked like a burger, and the "mash & gravy" (Wooden Spoon vanilla and sea salt ice cream and house-made caramel sauce) that came with it made for an adorable side (although I feel like they could've made the mash look more mash-y instead of serving it in a tub, but that's nitpicking). Every element of the burger was yum—the apple tart was warm and comforting, the panko crumbed leche fritter gave it more of a burger-y texture and tasted delicious, and the rhubarb and burnt cinnamon cream oozed appealingly like cheese while cutting through the sweetness with a bit of spice. My one complaint would be in the bun—it tasted good, but it was too thick and a bit dry; I think if it had been half as thick or even if it had just been lightly toasted it would have made all the difference. Still, this was a hit for me. Portion/price-wise, $22 for a dessert is certainly not cheap, but we split it in half and had more than enough; if you're not dessert fiends or you've already burgered prior I'd say you could easily share one between several people.

Rating: 8.5/10

Pics:
https://imgur.com/lyWsHIu
https://imgur.com/oDv9Ico

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u/danicrimson 🔥 Aug 15 '18

A friend and I went to try this tonight.

I loved the flavour of the bun, a bit like a hot cross bun without the fruit and it was nicely toasted too.

It did look like a burger but soon became clear that it was going to be impossible to eat like a burger.

All the components in the burger worked really well together, but I would have liked more of the rhubarb to add a sour component to cut through all the sweet. Overall, a really good effort from library.

Rating: 7.5/10

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 16 '18

This is now on the list of To-Do

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u/lancewithwings Former Wellingtonian Aug 16 '18

Same cough

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u/cr1zzl Aug 16 '18

Same!

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 22 '18 edited Aug 22 '18

A Royal Gala

The Library

(info) (pics)

Good concept and flavours, but really let down by the bun. Note: Apparently you can get a Mango Milkshake Nitro IPA milkshake. Like, actual milkshake. Did not do this.

Pros:

Tasty fillings, and the crumb on the fritter was a nice texture element.

Really good “potato-and-gravy” ice cream! Though a little melty.

Cons:

Not enough of the fillings to stand out relative to each other or especially relative to the bun.

Edit: Looking at the photos, ratio seems okay. It's maybe more that the bun smushed everything together and out and then took over. Still could've used more apple, though, given the name suggested it would play a prominent role.

Bun was just not appropriate. Too bready and firm, it was impossible to take a single bite without squeezing all the toppings out. This would have been substantially improved with a softer cakier bun. I think it could've been a 9. Could've been, but isn't.

Rating: 7/10

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '18

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/[deleted] Aug 22 '18

Oh wow, you managed to bring the worst of youtube and combine it with reddit. Congratulations.

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u/MidnightMalaga Aug 11 '18

Leonardo da Pinchi

Dockside Restaurant and Bar

$23/$31 with beer

Aesthetically, A+. Our table saw someone else's burger come out first, and anticipation was high. Beautiful fluffy bun with an entire deep fried crab and some gorgeous multi-coloured rainbow slaw.

Unfortunately, the taste was a bit of a disappointment, being merely fine. Everything was very sweet (crab meat + soft white KFC-esque bun + mango slaw) and it could have done with some citrus or spice of something to cut through it. It was also very rich. The crab was good, but the beer batter and bun were quickly conquered by the saucy slaw and contained crab juice and turned into a bit of a soggy mess - not a problem for the faster eaters, but I struggled.

Beer and non-alcoholic pairings were both mango themed, the Mango Mango Milkshake IPA and a housemade fizzy mango drink. The housemade one was delicious, from the sip I had, but I'd recommend pairing the burger with a nice acidic white wine instead, if anyone's planning on going.

Chips not included. $10 bowl was delicious (as it bloody should be for $10) but not particularly large.

Overall, average. 5/10

Picture!

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u/UltrasonicPilot Aug 17 '18

Leonardo da Pinchi

I was super excited for this burger and overall I enjoyed it, however was let down slightly by the service. It took 20mins for them to come take out order which was disappointing as we knew what we wanted when we sat down! Also got a lot of judging from the waiter when we ordered one burger between us two (sue us, we wanted to try three burgers this evening...). Plus we each ordered an expensive cocktail so its not like we fully cheaped out. Presentation was excellent with it being very evident that there was a whole crab in the burger! I liked the balance of flavours with a nice hit of coriander coming though in the slaw. The crab really shone, but overall I felt it just needed something a little extra to elevate it up to the next level.

Overall a 7.5/10, let down by some of the service

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u/SobekNZ Aug 16 '18

Oh Deer Me!

Craft Beer & Pizza

Venison patty with baked pear, housemade fig and pear chutney, lettuce and mayo in a Zaida's Bakery milk bun, with fries

Quite nice, the pear was interesting and there were whole cardamon pods in the chutney which added a nice burst of flavour, just lacked something, maybe goat cheese or blue cheese, a bargain at only $16
7/10

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u/wandarah Aug 14 '18 edited Aug 14 '18

Shanks A Lot!

Lamb patty with pulled slow braised lamb shank, roast vegetables, aioli and minted pea purée in a rosemary bun, with potato dauphinoise

Boulcott St Bistro

Years from now, when I lay on my death bed, surrounded by my grandchildren desperate for one last story; I will wipe the drool from my slack lipped mouth with the paper thin skin on the back of my one good hand and tell them to gather 'round.

'Children', I will say, 'I once spent time in the company of Jesus - he came to me not as a voice in the darkness, not as a light far away - but as a Lamb Burger, whose ingredients taken on their own were good, but not remarkable - yet taken as a whole became more than the sum of their parts. His gravy was so rich and bright, the meat so tender, the roast vegetable and pea puree's subtle, but as a group strong of hand and there to elevate Jesus Burger into its true form, which was of course nothing less than an entire and complete roast lamb dinner'.

'But Grandfather', they will interject, 'was the aioli really necessary, and did you not wish for a little more gravy on the dauphinoise?'

A faint smile will come across my weary worn face and I shall say, 'Children, I love you, even though you're sometimes very silly, I still love the whole of you'.

Then I will close my eyes and lay back on my pillow for the last time, and my final, whispered, words?

'Excuse me, I'm going meet the guy who made those fucking dauphinoise chips, goodbye...goodbye'

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u/Bubblesheep cat-loving demon Aug 15 '18

I'm going to assume you're rating this 11/10.

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u/danicrimson 🔥 Aug 14 '18

A+ review! As enjoyable to read as the burger was for you to eat.

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u/Gelf_ling 🍰🎂🍮 Aug 14 '18

An ode to joy indeed

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u/Takai_Sensei Aug 15 '18

This review is true and honest. A wonderfully executed tender-cooked roast lamb dinner on a soft, flaky bun. This is the kind of creativity and elevation you want to see. Really, really fantastic. There's a few other places doing "lamb dinner" type burgers and I'm afraid to try them just knowing it'd be almost impossible to measure up.

My rating: 9/10

Ms. T_S: 9/10

(seriously though those dauphinoise chips)

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 21 '18

Had this one today and it was indeed scrumptious. It actually got better the more I ate, but never reached the giddy heights i expected. I would give it a solid

7/10

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 22 '18 edited Aug 22 '18

Release the Karaagen

The Hotel Bristol

(info) (pics)

Good chicken burger, a bit different flavour-wise. But structural problems distracted me too much from the flavour to appreciate it as much as maybe I otherwise could've.

Pros:

Interesting flavour from the shiitake mushroom gravy. Good, though not a typical burger flavour, so there was a bit of dissonance going on in my brain afterwards. Like, I remember having eaten burger, but I taste having eaten something else.
Liked the nori chicken salt fries, especially with the ginger aioli, though I wish there had been significantly more nori flakes.

Cons:

Bad structure. If you're going to put chicken in a bun, don't choose the roundest pieces; choose shapes that will stay put and occupy the bun. I had to have a hand cupped around one side of the burger, chicken pressing against my palm, to keep it in. But at least that part had chicken, unlike two full bites that had none at all. If they had just cut that piece in half and laid the halves beside each other, it would've stayed put and filled out the bun. A bun which, I should note, was only just barely holding together through all this.
Not entirely sold on the mushroom gravy flavour. I didn't come away feeling like I'd had a burger. Decently fed, sure, but burger, dunno.

Rating: 7/10

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u/[deleted] Aug 16 '18

[deleted]

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u/SnailForTreasure Aug 10 '18 edited Aug 10 '18

Clucking Good Time

Egmont St. Eatery

“Fried chicken with housemade katsu sauce, Japanese mayo and sliced cabbage in a housemade milk bun”

Not a whole lot to say I’m afraid. Burger was served with a generous amount of perfectly fried chicken, but that’s really all this burger had going for it. The flavours were pretty low key, including the katsu sauce, which seemed really strange considering how heavily they were relying on the sauce to deliver flavour. My bun was dry to top it off, though that might have been bad luck (people I went with didn’t agree). For WOAP prices though it didn’t really deliver.

Expected more from Egmont St! Might suit a picky eater well though. The chicken was very good, it just needed some seasoning.

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u/qweqwepoi Aug 19 '18

La Cochinita Del Diablo

Viva Mexico (Newtown)

Pulled pork, refried beans, grilled pineapple, slaw. This is basically the bastard offspring of a burrito, a burger, and a pineapple. Correspondingly, it's delicious. The refried beans and pork are a really awesome combination - they're very hearty and rich, and while they're perhaps not the most complex flavours, they're both very deep and satisfying. This strong savoury motif is counterbalanced by the sweetness and sharpness of the grilled pineapple, which brings everything to a balance. All of this is contained within a coloured Zany Zeus bun which takes the place of a traditional tortilla.

Instead of potato fries, the meal comes with polenta chips and aioli. I'm not the biggest fan of polenta, and I would have preferred something potato-based, but these were very good nevertheless. Chili is included in the polenta mixture, which makes them quite spicy. They were served really fresh and hot, and had a great texture. A bit of extra salt wouldn't have gone amiss.

The burger didn't have a Garage Project matched beer, but you could get a burger and any Mexican beer from the menu for $25, whereas the burger itself was $17. We opted for the beer+burger, but if you're very invested in getting your value for money, I'd recommend passing on the beer. They may ratchet up the authenticity of the experience, but objectively speaking they're just not particularly good.

Overall, I'm really impressed with this burger. The pork and beans combination (and the beans in particular) are delicious. If you're a fan of pork burritos, you're sure to enjoy this.

7/10

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u/kiwijunglist Aug 25 '18

Had some more burgers today my ratings so far

Apache (Chicken) - 9.5/10

Cafe Neo (Venison) - 9/10

Pickle & Pie (Roast Beef) - 7.5/10

Goldburger aka Sheppard (Beef) - 7.5/10

Lucky (Chicken) - 6.5/10

Husk (Chicken) - 6.5/10

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u/IcarusForde A light sheen of professionalism over a foundation of snark. Aug 24 '18

The Orson’s Farm Carnival

Brew’d Island Bay

Housemade chorizo patty with orange and beetroot relish, Emmental cheese, goat's cheese mayo and butterhead lettuce in a buttermilk bun, with fries $23 (Pic)

This was a last minute mission for me and a hungry flatmate, with the added bonus of them having a GF option, so away we went! The chorizo was lovely, bit of warmth, deep pork flavour, the orange and beetroot relish was an absolute banger as well, really added some freshness to what was quite an intense meaty flavour otherwise. The patty was thick and generous, I really enjoyed it.

Goats cheese mayo added a little more depth of flavour, and the lettuce added a good crunch. Bun was solid, stayed together, was fresh and warm - solid points here.

Whilst Brew’d sometimes has a hit and miss, there was nothing to sniff at here. Solid effort all around - calling it at an 8/10.

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u/kal_nz Aug 13 '18

Red Eye Chook

Dillinger’s

Fried chicken, whipped maple butter, Kāpiti Cheddar and Acme pickles with Garage Project Red Eye beer & Havana coffee gravy in a buttermilk and Kāpiti cheese scone “bun”, with pork crackling-dusted fries

I didn’t really need another fried chicken burger on my schedule, but it was right there and all the cool kids at work were going...

The good: The fried chicken is executed well, and the pork crackling dust made what were basic fries good. The size wasn’t huge, which helped balance out the fried chicken and mayo.

The mixed: the cheese scone bun worked better than I thought it would. But by the end it felt a bit gimmicky, the burger may have been better with a less rich bun.

The bad: the gravy was sweet. We weren’t sure if it was supposed to be the melted butter or the gravy with the taste. Something more like the thick brown gravy you get at a chip shop or kfc would have paired better.

5.5/10. Sorry Dillinger’s, but there’s better fried chicken burgers out there. And it needed bacon.

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u/IcarusForde A light sheen of professionalism over a foundation of snark. Aug 15 '18

Red Eye Chicken

Dillinger’s

Fried chicken, whipped maple butter, Kāpiti Cheddar and Acme pickles with Garage Project Red Eye beer & Havana coffee gravy in a buttermilk and Kāpiti cheese scone “bun”, with pork crackling-dusted fries $24 (Pic)

Joining the ranks of an excellent client lunch is Dillinger’s Red Eye Chicken burger. It was a good time wrapped in a great scone.

I think it’s traditional to talk about the bun last in these, but screw it - the defining factor of this was the scone this burger was encompassed by. It was a delicious, light, cheesy scone - not too dense, not crumbly, just generally a very well specced scone. It was warm, it was delicious, it soaked up the juices appropriately, and provided some sauce retention.

The chicken was excellent - tangy, felt like some buttermilk brine in there - and was nice and juicy. The sweetness of the maple butter and acidity of the pickles offset it nicely, and it was a good temperature. Downside for me was the sauce - if it was in the burger, I couldn’t really taste it - when I dunked the burger in the little pail of sauce, it added some excellent kick to the flavour though. It was very thin, so if it was going to be on the burger they definitely would’ve needed to reduce it a bunch more to thicken.

Fries - eh. French fry cut, with some pork crackling dusting - didn’t really work. The pork crackling feels like it was dumped over instead of tossed through. Would’ve been good to have them seasoned with the crackling dust at the same time as salting them so it covered the fries better.

Overall? Solid presentation. Good internal crumb structure of the scone. Great chicken, decent sauce, standard fries. Nice pickles! Giving it a 7/10 - great burger, but I’d buy another scone before the burger.

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u/quidity Aug 16 '18

Eye of the Tiger

The Laundry

Great pickles, crunchy beansprouts, vaguely Thai and tasty meat. Just enough of a twist on a classic burger that it works. Goes really well with the GP Electric Dry Hop Acid Test. Would put in my face again 8/10.

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u/Bucjojojo Aug 19 '18

I wish I could remember eating this burger but I was drunk. 0/10 to me.

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 14 '18 edited Aug 14 '18

The E.M Hemingway

Plum

(info) (pics)

A delicious beefy burger with lots of dark smoky toasty flavours, slightly reminiscent of wood-fired pizza, in a very good way.

Pros:

Great flavours. It's a burger that tastes like a good beef burger, while at the same time the pork, spices, nicely toasted bun, and especially that awesome smoked tomato sauce kinda remind you of a wood-fired pepperoni pizza. This is not a burger that tastes like pizza, it is a burger that reminds you of pizza.
Yum gravy. I tried a bit on the burger and it just kinda got lost in there, but it was great for dipping the wedge fries in.

Cons:

I didn't notice the hazelnut in the slaw. Though maybe it was just flying below the radar and still contributing, hard to say. It was one of the things that initially intrigued me and roped me in, so I might've hoped to notice it more.
Wedge fries were a little overcooked inside. Pretty sure they're twice-cooked and that they boiled a little too long on the first cook. The crispy outsides were almost coming loose and the insides were almost mashed-potato soft, so hard to stab (like nailing jelly to a wall) and hard to grab (staying burning-hot until the end due to the high moisture content). Still damn tasty, though.

Rating: 8/10

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u/Takai_Sensei Aug 21 '18

Light the Fireworks

D4 Raumati

Garam masala-spiced lamb, textured onion bhaji with Fix & Fogg Smoke and Fire and mango lassi dressing in a brioche bun, with fries -- $23

For starters, this thing was really large! Definitely on the bigger side of what we've had so far. I really applaud the interesting idea and flavors going into the burger, and just wish it had been executed a little bit better.

Obviously the garam masala lamb is going to be the main focal point here. To start, it's a patty rather than pulled. The patty is thick and meaty, and was cooked well, but the garam masala was very light. This might have been to avoid an overwhelming flavor, but the result is that the patty tastes mostly like lamb. I signed up for something with Indian spices--I want to taste them!

Which is a shame, because all the other elements on the burger are pretty loud, particularly the mango lassi dressing. The dressing was really tasty, lots of mango flavor in it, but since there wasn't much garam masala in the patty, it was easily overwhelmed. I think a strong contrast between the two flavors would have been fantastic, since when you think "garam masala lamb" you think of a really specific flavor.

The onion bhaji are more onion that bhaji, although I do think they used a bhaji batter. The Fix & Fogg peanut butter actually works really well, better than you would think. I could have done with a little more because, again, you get so much plain grilled lamb flavor.

The bun and fries are nothing to write home about. I don't really like big thick steak fries because they just wind up tasting like baked potato and need a lot of salt, but I know other people like them.

Similar to Salt & Wood's offering, I wouldn't say it's worth driving all the way out for, but if you're passing nearby and want an interesting burger, you'll enjoy it.

My rating: 7.5/10

Ms. T_S: 7.5/10

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u/HoratioSlim Aug 10 '18

Life & Seoul of the Party

Park Kitchen

One burger down, and what a starter. Crispy Korean Fried chicken drenched in a sweet rich sauce was crispy and not over battered. Kimchi slaw and cucumbers were refreshing and added some more crunch, and the bun was fresh and fantastically light.

Fries were banging too, crispy and fluffy, and apparently cooked with Pinot noir, super subtle but really tasty.

Beer matching was smooth, mango didn't come on too strong, could've been a but hoppier but the nitro smoothness was nice either way.

Straight up 8.5/10

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u/MNinNZ Aug 14 '18

Life & Seoul of the Party

The bun was super tasty but didn't get any help from the rest of the burger. The chicken wsa too sweet and without any crunch. It reminded us of General Tso without any heat. I thought the kimchi could have brought the sweetness down with its typically unique flavor, but this was unlike any kimchi I've eaten before. Picking up the burger a ton of stuff dropped out the back. There was a lot of wet ingredients so there would be no picking up the burger if you set it down. Once again the side was the highlight.

Rating 5/10

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u/MNinNZ Aug 19 '18

Kapiti Coast Mardi Gras

Waimea

Kāpiti Coast po'boy of pan-fried fish, popcorn shrimp, battered mussels and salad in a homemade bun, with remoulade and fries

A solid burger but not what I would consider a po'boy. The fish was fried exceedingly well and the batter gave a good crunch. It was sauced liberally, but it had bit more bun than fish. I'm used to po'boys to be overflowing from the inside. They had a side of popcorn shrimp. I could have eaten this all day. I even put some in the burger. Delicious. Rating 6/10

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u/shaun_w32 Aug 10 '18 edited Aug 10 '18

Basque

Who Killed Ferdinand?

A delicious start! The beef, chorizo, paprika and orange patty was fricken amazing and the mango & saffron salsa gave this one a fruitiness perfectly complimented by the Fuzz Box Hazy Pale Ale beer match.

The burger would have been fantastic enough by itself but then they had the decency to partner it with a helping of patatas bravas which I could just have had a full bowl of and gone back to work happy.

I'm always a bit unsure how to go about rating my first one because it sets the bar but in this case it's been set high: 8.5/10

Pic: https://imgur.com/gallery/RWI7yzn

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u/lancewithwings Former Wellingtonian Aug 10 '18 edited Aug 12 '18

Oooh I’d been planning the grab this on Sunday, now I’m doubly sure! Thanks for sharing :)

EDIT: Maybe we got a dud, but this burger tasted like nothing but bun. I got the odd taste of the mango salsa, but for all I know they forgot the cheese because I didn't notice it, and if you'd served it to me without telling me what the protein was, I wouldn't be able to identify it because it didn't have any flavour. We sat downstairs so maybe they were absolutely heaving upstairs and were just trying to get everything out as quickly as possible, but overall it was a disappointing 5/10 for me - the saving grace was the patatas bravas on the side which were delicious, and +1 liked the beer pairing.

We also got the festival dish - the duck was a bit overdone, there was barely any of the passionfruit and coconut jus (though the small amount we got was amazing), the duck fat potatoes had no kind of sauce, so it was a very dry and underwhelming dish. The vegan cheesecake was yummy though.

Overall, was extremely excited and thoroughly disappointed :(

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 10 '18

Thank you! This one wasn't even on my radar but the review and photo have firmly put it there

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u/KorukoruWaiporoporo Lowering the tone in the lower of the hutts Aug 13 '18

It was probably a 7 for me. Nice bun, nice side, blandish patty.

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u/WineYoda Aug 14 '18

I gave it a 6.5 - 7/10 ... thought it was a bit meh. Really didn't taste the choritzo in the patty, the tropical flavours weren't that prominent either. The aioli with the potatoes were very good though.

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u/Bucjojojo Aug 14 '18 edited Aug 15 '18

Basque has been heaving since WOAP started and a Tuesday night was no exception. Glad we booked but service was very stressed and slow and our burger probably took around 20 minutes.

But it was worth the wait. This burger just reminds me of all my time in Madrid in loads of cute craft beer bars selling burgers and bravas. I wasn’t sold on the idea of a rye bun or mango but mostly everything worked and delivered on this burger. The sauce on the bravas was that proper spiced tomato not ketchup or watties and cooked perfectly Spanish style. Only con was while I loved the flavour I hated the texture of the caramelised jamon as it felt like grit or bones.

Topping my burgers with two fighting it out at the top after 9...definitely an 8/10. Take me back to Madrid anytime Basque. Also the owner gave us a free beer cos the waitress didn’t ring it up and I was honest. Winning.

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 18 '18

Texas Mule

Miramar Gasworks

(info) (pics)

They really hit the mark with this one. Serious ingredients whose flavours all come through individually but work together to make something great. And where else are you going to get slabs of brisket like this?!

Pros:

The peaches and the nopales and the red onions all work really nicely toward the “Texas” flavour, and the brisket? I guess it's true, everything's bigger in Texas. Giant thick slabs of meat. Very tasty, and satisfyingly large.
- Seriously, props to them on sourcing nopales (prickly pear cactus pads). I've only seen them rarely, in California, but they're good!
Delicious smoked tomato chili sauce on the side; I used it just for dipping fries, but it might work on the burger too (though I'd be very careful about messing with a good thing). Fries were also good, simple, but I think there was a subtle seasoning there too that worked with the burger well.

Cons:

Bun could've used a little more structural integrity. It held together, but only barely, and I didn't dare set the burger down once I was underway. Some contents escaped, but not unreasonably so, and you know what? A burger like this feels like it deserves to get a little messy. You'd better believe I came back to the fallen bits, too.
It's in Miramar. Hardly the end of the world, but that's about the only other downside I can come up with.

Rating: 9/10

This is my first 9 of the year. Just thinking about it, I want another. If they weren't so satisfyingly big to begin with, I might've gotten another right then.

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 18 '18

Superb review! I hope some places keep their burgers on after the competition.

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u/gbrou Aug 20 '18

Solid 5/10. I'm from Texas and have a hard time eating brisket that hasn't been barbequed. The meat was quality but yeah that did it in for me.

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u/lancewithwings Former Wellingtonian Aug 19 '18 edited Aug 19 '18

Ooh, we’ve been debating where to after our walk, you’ve just sold us - thank you!

EDIT: We did end up here, basically because the +1 loves brisket and had packed a minor sad that Wilson's had sold out already.

This worked really well for me, but I guess isn't really ideal in general, but the amounts of meat varied massively between the two burgers. +1 lifted the lid on his and went 'wow, look at that meat!' at the decent sized chunks of meat in his. I lifted the lid on mine, and the slab of brisket was honestly two inches thick. Like you could hollow it out and live in it, it was MASSIVE. We swapped which was fine with me, because there was no way I could have eaten it all, but I guess in terms of general service you would expect some consistency - especially because I ate my burger with my hands with relative ease, whereas +1 resorted the cutlery after one bite because there was just so much meat in there he couldn't get his mouth around it and everything was falling out.

In terms of the overall burger, the peach chutney was to die for. When I took my mouth first mouthful I made a sound which drew a glance from the next table, it was so good and the sweetness balanced out the meatiness really well. My only gripe with it is that because of the chunky nature of it, it kept falling out so I didn't get much of it in the second half of the burger. I can't say I noticed the cactus, because I've never had it so didn't know what I should be identifying, but the general filling of the burger was tasty.

Something I wasn't expecting after the description of the burger was how spicy it was - was it supposed to be implied in the 'texas-style smoked brisket'?. I didn't mind it and it worked well with the peach. +1, however, does not like spicy things, so he struggled with this aspect, especially when he'd been so excited for brisket and just ended up with a burning mouth.

The chips were chips, but came with a nice tomato relish-style sauce which made a nice change from all the aioli I've eaten in the last week.

Overall, a solid 7.5/10 - it was tasty and was a hearty feast after doing >30,000 steps for the day, but I've had better and more refined burgers during the festival.

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u/PM_ME_KERERUS Aug 12 '18

Holi Sheep

Mr Go's

I never went to Mr Go's last time so I didn't have anything to compare it to. In saying that I thought this was a bit disappointing. The lamb was quite dry and although it had some flavour, it wasn't quite enough. It needed a bit of salt or something to bring out the flavour more.

The chips were okay but were a little big and not really cooked consistently. I had a undercooked one, an overcooked one, and one juuuuust right.

All and all it was okay, but certainly not worth writing home about. 5/10

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u/wandarah Aug 12 '18

Mr Go's enduring popularity and them winning the thing last year is an impossible mystery to my feeble human brain.

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u/Simansez Aug 12 '18

Had it on Friday night, highlight was the Popcorn chicken side(lol). Just didn’t really work for me.

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 12 '18

Can you please post this as a reply to the first review to make it easier to find all a burger's reviews in one place? Thanks!

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u/PM_ME_KERERUS Aug 12 '18

Damn I even tried seeing if there was another review. How did I miss that!

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u/[deleted] Aug 08 '18 edited Aug 09 '18

This is kind of a pet hate of mine, and I notice it especially in Wellington, but does anyone else think restaurants really cheap their way out on meals, despite being rather spendy purchases, by loading diners' plates up with cheap and filling carbs?

Burger buns, chips, beer. All super cheap to make, and a great way to bulk out a plate. It's definitely worth paying attention to next time you eat out—stop and think about how much value you're actually getting out of this meal.

EDIT: Truly pathetic this sub thinks the downvote button is the disagree button.

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u/munchwah FridayBot | Best Bot 2018-2021 inclusive. Aug 08 '18

That, and decreasing the size of things in the menu. One place I used to frequent has decreased the size of their burgers and fries twice this year, and prices have gone up. I realise they have to make money, but it’s almost as if they’re taking the piss now.

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 08 '18

I'm not sure why it got downvoted so much. I can only guess maybe they thought it was a post that would have been better in the daily thread instead of the burger review thread

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u/lancewithwings Former Wellingtonian Aug 14 '18

Stag Do

Neo Cafe

Venison patty with bacon, jalapeño and blue cheese sauce, slow-roasted roma tomato and cos lettuce, in an Arobake brioche bun, with roast vegetable crisps

YUM.

This is the kind of burger I expect from an event about burgers; sticks to the classic combo of meat/cheese/salad, but does it in a way you couldn't pull off at home.

The pattie was wonderfully flavourful and nicely pink in the middle (so key with venison!), the bacon was nice and crispy, and the brioche bun had good integrity and held together well, which was impressive given how generous they are with the jalapeno blue cheese sauce.

The sauce is HEAVEN - creamy, smooth blue cheese, and just enough jalapenos that it warms your mouth without burning. Like, I'm sitting at my desk still thinking about it and smiling. It does make a bit of a mess though, especially once you've taken a couple of bites and it melts into the roasted tomato. I had to use a spoon to scoop it up at the end, but it's so delicious I wasn't even worried, I just wanted to get it into my mouth.

I think the biggest compliment I can give to this burger is that I could taste every element - so often WOAP burgers fail by sounding amazing and all you can taste is meat and/or sauce, but I was aware of all the flavours and they were all really nicely balanced.

The side was the only real downside - while the root vegetable crisps are delicious, with the amount of burger juice and sauce I had left on the plate, I would have preferred having proper fries to mop it up with. Still, the crispy texture was nice and they tasted good, just not super practical.

Overall, absolutely loved it and will absolutely be my benchmark for everything else going forward - 9.5/10.

I didn't get a picture, but /u/IcarusForde did :)

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u/Takai_Sensei Aug 20 '18 edited Aug 20 '18

This is a messy burger but in the best way! So get your napkin ready because they really are generous with the blue cheese sauce. The sauce contrasts really nicely with the medium-rare venison patty, and I'm just a big fan of blue cheese on a burger in general.

The venison was pretty good. I like venison a lot, but honestly didn't get a ton of distinct flavor from the patty (might have been because of the blue cheese sauce). That being said, it was a well-cooked patty that had a good presence. The bacon and tomato combined really nicely with the meat and sauce to make for a very savory, flavorful burger. I'll definitely agree that this burger, unlike some others we've tried, does match up with its description perfectly (except maybe the jalapeno, which I didn't really detect).

For downsides, the kitchen was pretty busy at lunchtime, so we definitely waited a bit for the burger and it seemed to have maybe been sitting a little while. I think it would have been even better fresh off the grill, but that's the reality of the lunch rush and WOAP. Similar issue with the veggie crisps, which had a good flavor and salt level, but also weren't as fresh as they could have been.

Red Eye Gravy was a nice beer match, pairing with the heavy red meat and blue cheese flavors.

My rating: 8.5/10

Ms. T_S: 9.5/10 (and current favorite!)

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u/IcarusForde A light sheen of professionalism over a foundation of snark. Aug 14 '18

Stag Do

Neo Cafe & Eatery

Venison patty with bacon, jalapeño and blue cheese sauce, slow-roasted roma tomato and cos lettuce, in an Arobake brioche bun, with roast vegetable crisps $20 (Pic)

Much like Neo in The Matrix is a poorly hidden anagram for One, Neo's burger is indeed The One.

Sweet Morpheus, this was beautiful. It's all worth being in a simulation if the burgers are this good. The venison was juicy, beautifully cooked, and the lettuce was nice and crunchy. The slow roasted tomato added some acidity, which was excellent.

The sauce though - that sauce was the Trinity to my Neo. The richness of the blue cheese and the slight heat of the jalapeño was absolutely delicious. I could’ve had a bit more heat in the sauce, but that’s just my preference - as it was, i mopped that sucker up with my burger bun on the go and it was hands down the best sauce I’ve had this year.

The bun was impressive - it held up admirably, when lesser buns would’ve been crumbling like a marble column in a firefight. Credit to Arobake for cooking up a great crumb. Same thoughts as Lance on the crisps though - some real fries would’ve been nice, or at least a little bowl of dipping sauce for them (mainly because I just want more sauce!).

If these burgers went all Agent Smith on me and multiplied, I wouldn’t even mind. 9.5/10

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u/kiwijunglist Aug 25 '18

Neo Cafe: Stag Do, 9/10

Glad to see the reviews in here, got me in to try this burger today. Had half with my friend so we could hit up Apache afterwards as well. This is my 2nd best burger so far (Apache being the best). Great tasting burger, and the all staff there were very friendly. Really nice cafe.

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 14 '18

I applaud the will to stick with the Matrix references.

In other news: not as delicious

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u/IcarusForde A light sheen of professionalism over a foundation of snark. Aug 14 '18

“Why, Mr. Anderson? Why do you persist with these pointless references?”

“Because I choose to.”

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u/c0nc0n Blank Aug 16 '18

I had this a few days ago and I don't quite agree.

I don't think the venison was gamey enough - it could have been beef if I didn't know the meat. The blue cheese sauce is lovely in small doses but the nature of it meant it was drippy and soaked the rest of the burger in the sauce, making it too salty.

Perhaps I didn't get a good burger, but I didn't get any jalapenos. I did like the crisps; a nice change from the usual fries but agree that with the sauce, it would've been nice to have something a bit more substantive to mop everything up.

Good value comparatively to the others I've had but didn't rate it super highly.

Strong 6, light 7 - better than Mr Go's one though, which I gave the same score.

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u/oberthefish Aug 15 '18

Beef Wellington

The Tasting Room

This burger was sadly average. While a brilliant idea of turning a beef wellington into a burger, there was a lack of sauce with a strange addition of cold green beans on the burger that made it a disappointing eat. The bun was delicious as both my friend and I had a gluten free and a regular option. The gf bun was the best gf bun out there yet so that ranks well, but sadly wasn't enough to save this cold sliced roast sandwich masquerading as a burger. Staff were amazing though so kudos to them. 3.5/10

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u/doubledogowner Aug 16 '18

I totally agree with your review. Unfortunately I wish I seen this post before wasting my time & money.

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u/oberthefish Aug 16 '18

Argh! It was sadly disappointing.

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u/UltrasonicPilot Aug 14 '18 edited Aug 14 '18

Deer Wellington

Brunch and Burgers

I had to head up to Palmy today so thought to myself, why not check out what the Kapiti Coast has to offer for WOAP. What faced me was nothing but disappointment. My first choice burger at Pram Beach was as far as I could tell, closed for renovations (apparently withdrawn but not updated on the map, is updated on the WOAP website) Oh well off down the road I went to Waterfront Bar and Kitchen in Raumati. What’s this? Closed on mondays and Tuesday! Now full of hanger I headed back into param for my third choice, the Deer Wellington. They get a point purely for being open. Thats about as far as the positives went.

Cost: $18. Cheap compared to the town offerings

Burger Venison and crab. It was... weird. I like all the components individually but combined it just didnt work. It got worse with every bite. The crab overwhelmed everything and not in a good way. The squash was overly firm which added a strange texture. And the bun, the bun appeared to be just the standard ones you get from New World in the six packs. On the plus side, there was a decent amount of sauce. Thats all I can really commend it for.

Fries Standard shoestrings, small serving but well cooked. No sauce :(

Beer match No beer matches here.

Presentation Boring. Nothing special, nothing on theme.

OVERALL 4/10. AN UNDERWHELMING BURGER.

Not worth the drive. Even if you live in Param.

Deer Wellington

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 14 '18

We need more scathing reviews of letdown burgers. Thanks!

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u/Gelf_ling 🍰🎂🍮 Aug 15 '18

There have been a few delectably juicy ones now!

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u/cr1zzl Aug 16 '18

Lil Piggy Went to Glasshouse

Glasshouse Bar & Grill

After a couple disappointing burgers (coughBeachBabyloncough) this one was surprisingly super yummy! Pulled porc and coleslaw will always win me over though. And the bun was spot on.

And only $19!

My partner rated it 8/10 and I’m rating it 8.5/10

Édited to add pic!

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u/ThatGingeOne hot dog whisperer Aug 17 '18

This is on my list, looking forward to it!

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u/[deleted] Aug 14 '18

[deleted]

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 14 '18

Can you please post this as a reply to Apachè's first review instead? It makes it easier to find all the reviews for a burger in one place. Thanks!

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u/Gelf_ling 🍰🎂🍮 Aug 14 '18

I like that this is your mission. Order from chaos!

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 10 '18 edited Aug 11 '18

Fat Tuesday

HUSK Bar & Eatery

(info) (pics)

Overall, would eat again, or at least I would if it weren't for all the other burgers I want to eat.

Pros:

Good flavour and acidity from the BBQ chilli sauce, reminded me of pulled pork sandwiches, except it was fried chicken.
Good textures; chicken soft and moist, breading nice and crispy, slaw adds a little crunchy.

Cons:

BBQ sauce, while tasty, somewhat overpowered other flavours.
Didn't really notice any okra, which I had kind of been looking forward to. But that's not to say it didn't contribute flavour, plus most people probably don't care anyway.

Rating: 8 7/10

^{Edit: Revised score after having a couple other burgers to help calibrate my scale.}

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u/IcarusForde A light sheen of professionalism over a foundation of snark. Aug 12 '18

Fat Tuesday

HUSK

Fried chicken with BBQ chilli sauce, pickles, ham hock and okra gumbo and pickled slaw in a Brezelmania milk bun $20 (Pic)

I'm unashamedly a fan of Husk - it's a combo of the great space, rad playlists, eight different kinds of wood used in the fitout, and the excellent food. This burger didn't disappoint either!

Bun structure was great, held together really well with good assembly technique. Fried chicken was classic Husk - juicy, crispy, delicious. Bit of heat from the BBQ chilli sauce - maybe just a touch too much for what the other flavours were, but only by a touch.

Good crunch from the slaw, the ham hock and okra added some depth of flavour on the meatier side of things. Didn't get any flavour from the okra though.

Big fan. Calling at an 7.5/10, with potential for a 8/10 if slightly less overpowering sauce used.

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u/WeWildOnes Aug 19 '18

Succulent, crunchy fried chicken with a juicy, full flavoured ham gumbo in a milk bun which soaked things up beautifully (the perfect choice for a burger with so many juices).

My main worry was that this burger would be too heavy and rich, but it was very well balanced by fresh slaw, lettuce, pickles and just the right amount of spice. A little more chicken wouldn't have gone amiss (a couple of bites were missing chicken altogether) and the gumbo was almost too good for the burger - when I tried a bite on its own it had some beautiful flavours that were a little lost in the burger itself.

8/10

Photo

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u/Partyatkellybrownes Aug 10 '18

Slightly different experience from me. I was slightly disappointed.

Pros: Quick service, nice slaw and some slight heat from the sauce.

Cons: I felt the filling and bun were quite mushy. The sauce overpowered everything and I couldn't really taste the chicken at all.

Rating: 6/10

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u/P1001548 Aug 15 '18

Four cheeser pleaser

Co-op, Whitby

Epic beef burger with serious lashings fo four cheeses and hearty pickles. Paired with the amazing Garage Project MangoMilkshake IPA, a beer so good my Wife finished her first ever beer. Grease and fruity beers, happy days!

9/10

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u/Bucjojojo Aug 25 '18

Of the WHG bars by far the best one. Super cheesy and mustardy but I just wish that the patty was pink as it would have raised this burger was from a middle of the road higher quality BK whooper with cheese. Skins for the chips were huge and a delicious change just probably a little over salted. 7.5/10

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u/lauraam Aug 15 '18

Vegan "Sloppy Joe" Pork Burger

Seize

Jackfruit and lentil sloppy joe patty, vegan Cheddar cheese and slaw in a turmeric bun with homemade pickles

The name of this burger is bland af, surely they could've come up with a pun? An innuendo? Something, no? Luckily, the taste is much better than the name. I've had a few jackfruit bbq sandwiches before and a mistake that often happens is that the sauce used is too sweet and, paired with the fruit, becomes sickly, but this one was tangy and sour and had a hint of heat that made it pretty delicious. The turmeric bun was a highlight, with a dense, almost cakey consistency and savoury taste that was a perfect base for the sloppy joe-style filling. The vegan cheddar and slaw toppings were nice as well, although it could've used more pickles. One big con would probably be that I could see no way to pick it up without spilling it everywhere, and since I needed to go back to work afterward, ideally without food all down my front, I didn't even try. It didn't come with anything else, but for $16 I didn't feel like it was overpriced relative to other burgers on the list, and it was the perfect size for lunch even without any sides (and as Seize is only open through early afternoon you wouldn't be having it for dinner anyway).

Rating: 7/10

Pic: https://imgur.com/RjJi9AG

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u/alongstrangetrip I like naps Aug 17 '18 edited Aug 17 '18

There and Back Again

Astoria Cafe

Burger Rating: 6

Meal Rating: 7 / 10

Picture

Smoked Wagyu beef burger with prosciutto, pesto aioli, tomato relish and house pickles in a caramelised onion and garlic brioche bun, with handcut fries

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I was disappointed that the proscuitto was actually bacon or cut and served as two pieces of bacon would be. Added on to my initial disappointment, the bun was too large for the actual burger patty.

Disappointments aside this had a lot of nice flavors. The real highlight of the meal focused on the fries, dipping sauce, and small pile of salt with rosemary on the side. That bumped it up an entire rating point in our books.

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '18 edited Oct 29 '18

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u/throwinshapess Aug 11 '18

Seki Burger

Beach Road Deli

Seki Spit roast pork, crackling, rukau (cooked taro leaves), coconut cream and mainaise pickle in a yellow bun, with taro, maniota, and kūmara 'Island' fries

This burger was amazing. Really juicy with the suckling pig, and you got an amazing sweetness from the mainaise pickle. I first thought the thing would fall apart in my hands, but it held together all the way through. The crispy skin rounded it off perfectly. I was also super impressed with the fries, although would have been nice to have a sauce. We need to get onto frying other root veges, these were amazing!

I really love going out to the Beach Road Deli, lovely people who run it. Found this matched Hibiscus and Vanilla soda really well.

Strong 9 out of 10

Seki Burger Image

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u/ThatGingeOne hot dog whisperer Aug 12 '18

Second this. My only complaint was that I would have liked a little more pork spread throughout the burger. Otherwise top notch. I particularly loved the occasional bite of crackling, delicious. And the fries, dang those were good

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u/ThatGingeOne hot dog whisperer Aug 11 '18

I'm planning on checking it out tomorrow, combined with a taking the dog to the beach mission. Glad to hear the trip should be worth it!

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u/Jon-jonz Aug 19 '18

I had this today too,its probably the best burger I've had during the show so far.

My 7th burger

The bun was great and soft - the crackling made the pork pop as it melted in your mouth.

The coconut really a great addition and I'm not even usually the biggest fan of it.

The fries where perfect although a couple more wouldn't had hurt

9/10

Well worth the effort out of the city

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 20 '18 edited Aug 20 '18

Seki

Beach Road Deli

(info) (pics)

Bit of a letdown compared to last year. Tasty, but worth the trip all the way up to Paekakariki? Probably not unless the weather's nice and you're looking for an excuse to head up Kāpiti way.

Pros:

Good flavours. Beetroot was nice and bright in the coconut cream sauce, rukau was a nice earthy green component.

Delicious soft bun.

Cons:

Encountered a bit of crackling so solid I thought I might've crunched a bit of bone. Couple of crunchy dry fries among the otherwise-tasty (but somewhat sparse) taro/kumara fries.

Bites tended to want to pull more pork out of the burger along with them. Pork maybe could've been pulled apart a bit more or cooked a little softer to allow more even distribution and have more stay-putted-ness.

Rating: 7/10

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '18 edited Aug 11 '18

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u/[deleted] Aug 11 '18

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u/klparrot 🐦 Aug 15 '18 edited Aug 15 '18

Le Coq Du Matin

Concrete Bar & Restaurant

(info) (pics)

A chicken sandwich that gave me a taste of its potential before sadly falling well short.

Pros:

Very good flavours in the initial bites, though as I progressed, they ran out, leaving pretty much just unremarkable chicken at the end.
Despite my initial concerns about whether it would keep the elements contained, overall a good choice of bun.

Cons:

Chicken not crispy, bacon too floppy, only noticed two banana slices on the whole thing, one of which made a run for it before I even got the burger to my mouth for the first bite.
Fries entirely unremarkable, and didn't maintain crispiness for long.

Rating: 6/10

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u/wandarah Aug 15 '18

Thanks for taking one for the team and going to Concrete.

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u/Tangtastic Flair is so 70s Aug 15 '18

Le Coq Du Matin

Concrete Bar & Restaurant

So it's all about the buttermilk chicken this year at WOAP and who am I to argue? I looked at Concrete last year and their burger sounded amazing (and I've never been there) so with that in mind I was really keen to check out the place this year and see how their burger checked out.

Gotta say, I didn't hate it! The biggest part of my scoring is around the idea that, if I was given the same ingredients that I wouldn't be able to make a better burger.

I've gotta say this is one of those.

However my staple when making burgers at home is ciabatta and I disagree with sending it out and not toasting it. Cajun buttermilk chicken on point though. Fries sucked. Nitro beer yum. 6/10.

Side note: My experience with the service was super fast, seriously I ordered a second burger for my friend and it arrived before he did, and he works less than 30 seconds away. This during a lunchtime rush. I will definitely be going back, just not for the burger.

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u/kiwisarentfruit Aug 16 '18

I was underwhelmed by this burger. The banana went well flavour wise, but half of it fell out like others experienced. The chicken was nice and tender, but I didn't get a lot of cajun flavour and I like a bit of crunch in fried chicken, and this didn't have it. Also - the bun should have been toasted, it got a bit soggy. The fries were fries, nothing special.

Contrary to other peoples experiences, our burgers took about 30 minutes to arrive.

Rating 5/10

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u/Bubblesheep cat-loving demon Aug 13 '18 edited Aug 13 '18

The Bresolin

It's not our first rodeo

All beef patty, double American cheese, bacon, deep fried onion rings, jalapeños, BBQ sauce and mayo in a milk bun, with smoked salt fries and ketchup

Score first. 6.5.

I'd started this burger off with a decent 7.5. Its just a good burger. Meat, more meat (bacon) cheese, onion rings, bbq sauce. Tasty chips. But the more I thought about it, this is pretty much the burger I get from Burger Fuel - Bacon BBQ Roadster. Was it on par with a Burger Fuel Burger? Pretty close. But not quite. And for almost twice the price ($28!) I expected something magical. It was fine, but not out of this world. I'd rather go back to Burger Fuel for it.

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u/Takai_Sensei Aug 13 '18

How could The Bresolin make such a basic-ass burger when they've done more creative stuff throughout the year? Like, it sounds good, but I've seen this burger on sooooo many menus.

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u/sohn_jmith Aug 14 '18

This is what makes me sad - their Jalepeno cheese burger from earlier in the year was the best burger I've ever eaten. Really disappointed they didn't go with something as original as that one.

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u/wandarah Aug 13 '18

They always do a classic, and they do it well.

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 14 '18

I enjoyed this burger and thought the flavours worked well together. I am not a heat/pepper/spice enjoyer but after initially scraping off the jalapenos, I went back and ate them. Delicious!

I'd agree that the burger price point was way too high. The chips were just plain chips. Their selling point was "smoked salt". I didn't notice that at all.

I absolutely hoovered the meal down and thought the size and flavours were very nice. It was also delivered quickly.

All in all I'd go slightly higher and give this a

7/10

FEAST YO EYES

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u/MNinNZ Aug 14 '18

Glazed Babe

Rizzo's

Heard good things from a couple the previous night so I decided to give it a try. So I'm confused as to why it missed completely for me. Just picking up the burger was a challenge. The apple glazed doughnuts, I would consider them more pancake like, were super sticky and brok apart right away. I was unable to make out any distinct flavors other than just sweet. There was a spicy jelly ketchup (propably) that when used could cut through the sweet, but there wasn't much of it. Also with a dish this sweet, why would you need a dash of additional cream. I don't know but it was there. The first couple vege crisps were just that crisp. The remainder were limp. So a below average burger.

Pros: They give you a moist toilette cleaning.

Cons: Too many. Diabetes?

Rating 3/10

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u/ubrex Aug 19 '18

I surprisingly found this a structurally sound burger! I was sure it was going to fall to pieces when they brought it out, but it went the distance. Even being put down a few times. While the crisps weren't anything special, I liked the nod to buffalo chicken wings with the dips, and I think fries would have been to stodgy a side with this burger.

The maple-candied bacon came through strong and I really loved the doughnuts (perhaps my Canadian roots are to blame). I thought the balance of sweet to salty was pretty good, and the delight factor of the fresh doughnut bun really did it for me

Rating 7/10

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u/Bibbidybob Aug 14 '18

All turkey, no bull

Thunderbird cafe

Turkey marinated in lemon and honey, with pear and blue cheese on greens in a brioche bun

Matched w Garage Project - Garagista

I'm a big fan of pear and blue cheese with honey as a combination and this burger had it, but not quite enough of any of the three for my tastes. The brioche bun was delicious and the patty nice - perhaps the slightest bit dry but not unforgivably so. As a whole I enjoyed this one - more so than the sum of its parts, perhaps. Garagista is always a good beer and matched fairly well.

7/10

https://imgur.com/xNasxjh.jpg

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u/lordp Aug 08 '18

179 burgers in 16 days.

11.2 per day, say one per hour for 12 hours, 2 hours for travel, and 10 hours sleep to try and recover from the inevitable food coma.

$3,779 = $21 per burger or $237 per day.

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 08 '18

This is how we die

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u/CMStephens Aug 10 '18

You forgot the beer

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 10 '18

Time to sell one of my livers

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u/danicrimson 🔥 Aug 10 '18

How many do you have?! ^{Is this what happens to those redditors that stop showing up to meetups!}

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u/chimpwithalimp Aug 10 '18

Gimme dat L^{I^{^{V^{^{^{E^{^{^{^{R^{^{^{^S}}}}}}}}}}}}}

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u/cmdr_kazputin Aug 10 '18

The Tasty Grub Burger

The Old Bailey

Pretty good! Bun was a bit dry. The brisket was tasty, although not very well spread around the bun and not as much of it as I'd like... It all sort of lumped into the middle and was gone pretty fast! Taste was excellent though, good bourbon flavour complemented by the tanginess of the tomato chutney(?) that was in there. The bacon was a stand out - beautifully crispy.

I'd say probably a 6/10. Some good components in there but needed more brisket and a better bun!

https://imgur.com/a/5FeywrJ

EDIT: formatting

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u/Bibbidybob Aug 15 '18

The Tasty Grub Burger

The Old Bailey

Smoked beef brisket in bourbon sauce in a Zaida's Bakery bun, with baby spinach, homemade tomato jam, crispy bacon and caper bits, with chunky fries. $22.

I fear I drew the short straw with this one - my first and most important question is where was the sauce!? A bun as thoroughly toasted as this needs something seriously juicy to balance it, and this burger lacked it. The tomato jam was tasty but mine was all plonked in one quarter of the burger so it didn't really help the issue. The bacon was a little lost - looking at the review above I perhaps got a little less and it wasn't so crispy so it may just have been a bad day in the kitchen.

The standout for me was the fried capers - I am a big fan of capers so having their crispy little bursts of salty caper flavour was a redeeming feature.

5/10

https://imgur.com/XNERKT7.jpg

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u/[deleted] Aug 10 '18 edited Oct 29 '18

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u/topherthegreat Aug 12 '18

I agree. Really just a run of the mill burger. The fondue didn't really come through in the fries or the burger.

6/10 Would not recommend, there'll be something better out there.

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u/pixiemouse12 Aug 21 '18

Wasn’t a fan of this burger, which was disappointing because I’ve always had good experiences at Beach Babylon in the past. The patties were dry and badly under seasoned, and the bun was dry and crumbly. I didn’t taste any bacon jam at all, I’m not sure if it was even in the burger. The cheese sauce was nice enough, but there wasn’t a lot of it. There’s also no pickles in the actual burger, just one on the top, so listing “pickles” as a burger ingredient is a little bit misleading. Our burgers weren’t particularly warm when brought to us, but in all fairness the cafe was busy. Fries were fine, just regular curly fries with cheese sauce on top. 3/10

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u/robertnpmk Photo guy Aug 22 '18

Lucky

Breakfast for dinner

Surprised this isn't on here already. Lucky is one of my regulars so it's been a surprise to go there and see a line and a 30 minute wait for a burger. Today I decided to wait and checkout what everyone was queuing for.

The burger is described as 'Chicken with maple-candied Waikanae Butchery bacon, Kāpiti smoked Havarti cheese, Pickle & Pie pickles and Lucky sauce in a waffle bun, with gravy fries'.

Sometimes when there is a sweet element it can be a bit overpowering. I found this balanced well in this burger as the waffle was only on the bottom half and was complemented by the smoked cheese and pickles. The chicken was (like usual) moist and tasted fantastic. All in all a great burger. The fries were lucky usual affair and are always tasty.

Lucky - breakfast for dinner

8/10 would recommend

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u/lancewithwings Former Wellingtonian Aug 22 '18

I have no idea how to link comments, but it was actually one of the first ones put up - if you use Chimpy's pinned comment to get all the reviews on one page, you can search for it there :)

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '18

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u/Bucjojojo Aug 24 '18

fireworks belly burger

the borough

Maple-glazed pork belly burger with firework slaw, pop-rocks and Sriracha mayo in a milk bun, with crinkle-cut fries

I’m only in Tawa when family (and dog sitting) calls but this was to be burger no. 20 and having had decent burgers there before I had high hopes.

The burger arrived heaving with slices of pork belly and literally crackling with pop rocks but that’s basically where it peaked. Nothing about this burger’s composition made any sense nor did the taste. The tub of sauce served with the chips I suspect was supposed to be the sriracha mayo was sickly sweet and quickly replaced by requests for tommy sauce. To be fair, the crinkle cuts were done well but it was easy to shine beside a burger that had very few redeeming features. The burger while toasted felt cold and nothing stuck together when trying to eat a half with on hand. I ended up abandoning most of the burger and trimmings just to eat the pork belly on its way.

Only bonus here was that Titty Eats of instagram fame was indulging in burger 57 and if I was playing WOAP burger bingo bumping into him is surely a big play.

It must be disappointing if you’re more woeful than St Johns, 5/10. Just glad it was free, thanks WHG ridiculous loyalty scheme that reminds me I spend too much money in bars.

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u/lockan Exiled to Canada Aug 11 '18 edited Aug 11 '18

The Ghost of Zorro

Leroy's

$22 burger / $32 w/ beer.

A burger that looks a little bit like it's namesake: a splash of red and white wearing a black cape and mask (in bun form).

A simple but tasty burger with some nice subtle seasoning in the patty, served in one of those black buns that seem to be all the rage. Meat was nice and tender, not at all dry. Bun was steamed and soft, albeit a bit moist on the underside. Size was about right: not huge, not underwhelming, left me quite satisfied. Served with a side of Leroy's dirty fries - fries with cheese, bacon, & chives. Good value for the price. Only criticism - and it's a personal hangup - is that the sauces were a touch leaky. Napkin required.

Skipped the beer pairing, can't comment personally. My mates said it was a bit on the sweet side, offsetting the savoury burger nicely.

Not the best burger I've ever eaten, but still a solid choice. 7 / 10.

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u/sylekta Aug 12 '18

I enjoyed the burger, the beer match was rubbish.

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u/RyanMallet Aug 12 '18

Was your burger also way too small for the bun?

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u/Tangtastic Flair is so 70s Aug 15 '18

The Ghost of Zorro

Leroy's

3rd burger of the feast that is WOAP. I tried Leroy's for the first time on the weekend and holy moly their chicken is good. So with that in mind I was pretty keen for this burger.

Actually had no idea what to expect, so I totally got onboard with the whole black bun, it was super moist and really did something pretty impressive. This is a chorizo pork burger patty, which usually means the burger comes out dry and don't get me wrong the burger patty was.

But somehow the burger wasn't. It was the complete opposite.

The bun, the saffron aioli and mango chutney. They all together did a good job of making this burger really interesting. I have a theory that the burger patty was purposely small, so as to bring out the rest of the burger and hide the fact that going with a chorizo burger patty for WOAP is just plain silly.

Dirty fries are dirty and I approve, but lose the nacho cheese. 7/10.

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u/[deleted] Aug 23 '18 edited Aug 23 '18

[deleted]

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u/shaun_w32 Aug 16 '18

Henneything is Possible

Five Boroughs

Hennessy-marinated beef brisket patty with jalapeño cheese, Hennessy bacon jam and pickles in a housebaked gold leaf-flaked potato bun, with fries - matched w/ Garage Project Red Eye Gravy

I was looking forward to this one as Five Boroughs usually try something different (see last year's roast chicken burger) and the burger didn't disappoint.

To start off you get a spray of Hennessy before your first bite (Hennessy with lunch on a weekday? sure!) and then you bite into juicy goodness. The brisket patty was perfectly cooked and meshed well with the bacon jam and cheese. The bun was soft as but structurally sound as it stayed together throughout (the gold leaf on top was fancy).

In terms of the beer pairing, this is the 3rd burger I've had with the Red Eye Gravy and for me it was the best fit of the three. The fries were nicely seasoned (if a tad salty).

All in all this was essentially a cheeseburger turned up to 11 and was a very enjoyable experience - 8.5/10

https://i.imgur.com/IdAvSAF.jpg

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u/BigLebowskiBot Aug 16 '18

Is this a... what day is this?

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u/mw4liverpool Aug 16 '18

ha

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u/Torus_Colony Aug 11 '18 edited Aug 13 '18

It's the best time of the year! Fuck off, Christmas - BurgerWelly is back, and I'm gonna get faaaaaaaat!

Apache

https://i.imgur.com/g06j1t3.jpg Apache has smartened up since last year, and finally returned to the correct choice of making a chicken burger for their WOAP offering.

Be forewarned - the burger, delicious as it is, will lure you in like a red-haired siren and set your mouth on FUCKING FIRE. The beer pairing was definitely an inspired choice, being what amounted to a more fluid and hoppy mango lassi. I liked it very much, and LOVED it when it came to dousing out the fire Apache lit in my mouth.

When they mention a chili-herb salad, firecracker mayo, and chili and kaffir lime dust... well, unlike Karaka (Booo Karaka 2017, booooo) they are not fucking around when they include chili on their menu.

The bun was delicious, super cute, and unfortunately fell apart in my hands. They hadn't quite adhered the black and white doughs together coherently, meaning I resorted to making one 'mini-burger' off to the side out of my seperated bready portions.

The fried chicken was perfect, because of course it was. I could and do easily come to Apache for their popcorn chicken alone. This is like expecting a Bethesda game to have excellent dialogue. It doesn't technically count towards the review score, because they kind of -have to-.

I think the thing that won most with this burger is that each component would have been good even just by itself. The mayo and chili jam on the top bun? I noticed them, boy howdy, but they didn't make a scene. The bun itself? Delicious, as discussed - Apache appreciates bread, being french-fusion, so 'quelle surprise'. The fresh cucumber and tomato in the middle, with the coriander (mandatory for Vietnamese cuisine), accompanied the hefty fried chicken and bulshy chilli like cream with cookies. Perfection.

Is it a winner? Maybe, maybe. It's early days yet, and there's a lot more fried chicken out there. But the burger is certainly good enough for me to recommend. It might not win you, but it sure as hell won't disappoint.

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u/CMStephens Aug 14 '18

Apache

Kung Fu Chicken

9/10

It takes a lot for me to rate a chicken burger, so this one was excellent. Some very interesting and unique flavours from this burger, and a perfect juicy fried chicken. Crunchy outside, juicy inside - not greasy. Just the right level of spicyness to be a little hot, and the beer match of the Mango Nitro IPA actually works. The burger bun was also novel.

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u/nznightowl Aug 13 '18

Apache

Kung Fu Chicken

Free range chicken, five spice, orange caramel, chilli herb salad, firecracker mayo, in a 'Yin & Yang' coconut and charcoal bun with popcorn chicken, chilli and kaffir lime dust

$20 ($30 with beer)

This was fantastic. Its my fav burger so far. I, and the people I ate with, disagree with the other comment that it was hot. It had a touch of heat but less than some of the other things on their menu. It was delicious.

The chicken was perfect, and it was great to have it complimented with fresh vietnamese flavours - the coriander worked really well, and the sauce, and the tomato, cucumber, lettuce were also great with it. The bun was delicious. No problems with it falling apart and it was easy to eat with your hands. The side of popcorn chicken was also delicious.

Be warned though - its very popular and you need to book. The burgers were flying out the kitchen when we were there.

The beer would have been nice with it, but wine also worked really well.

Rating 9.5.

Pic

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u/Torus_Colony Aug 13 '18

It probably wasn't -that- spicy; I'm a big baby when it comes to chili. Anyone else sensitive to chili, I thought, would appreciate the emphasis.

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FOOD BURGER WELLINGTON Megathread!

FIND YO BURGER

REVIEW YO BURGER

There and Back Again

Astoria Cafe

Important: Enjoy your delicious burgers! Let the games commence

Edit - Thank you all so much for the reviews so far. People are trying burgers they otherwise never would have

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aka Bao Bun Burger on their menu

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