Last month I was invited to a fantastic event at Hawksmoor Manchester. Buffalo Trace Bourbon, matched food from Hawksmoor. To say I was excited was putting it mildly.
Typically I was struck down with a bug. A nasty vicious gastric bug, that knocked me off my feet for a week. No matter how hard I rested, or how much sleep I got, or how little I ate, it was no good. I missed the event.
If you want to read all about it, Dave the Drinks Enthusiast wrote about it here.
I was heartbroken.
However, Hawksmoor did take pity on me, and following my recovery invited me in to try their new Christmas burger – obviously, I couldn’t refuse. Seriously, if you haven’t been in for a burger, steak, or even a bar snack, please, treat yourself.
As with everything Hawksmoor, it’s pretty. Glossy bun, thick sausage meat patty, glistening cheese that’s just that perfect level of stringy without compromising on flavour (no plastic cheese here), and a sliver of green as a nod to health at the bottom. It suits the classically elegant surrounds perfectly.
Oh wait, did I mention it comes with gravy? Here, it is peeking around the side of that magnificent burger.
The layers in their all are:
The burger is just small enough to squish and eat burger face style, but personally, treat it like a French dip and take that rich turkey gravy and smother it. Soak the bun, drench the meat and then (blasphemous I know) but use a knife and fork.
I did try to eat it burger face style (i.e. like a normal burger) but the pressure of all that filling with the soft buns meant that they failed. So on went the gravy, and I kind of wished I’d done that in the first place.
Flavour wise, it covers all the bases of Christmas – the sprout top acts like the lettuce for that hint of green, but it’s structure means it doesn’t disintegrate like a piece of iceberg would. The sausagemeat patty adds fatty, peppery meat and with the bacon mimics your stuffing or pigs in blankets. The cheese is the right balance of flavour and texture to add without dominating and because they’ve used thigh in the patty and a good crispy coating, it stands up to everything else.
Oh, and you also get chips for your gravy too. The northern girl is me is a very happy bunny.
If that’s not enough to satisfy you, can I just quietly rave about the turkey nuggets? Forget chicken and the golden arches, these are turkey thigh coated and deep fried so that the inside is soft, and buttery, I mean look at it.
The spiced cranberry ketchup is a work of genius. Cloves, cinnamon and a light astringency from the cranberries cuts through the fat perfectly.
It’s so good, I might need the recipe…
So far (bearing in mind it’s only the first week of December) it’s the best Christmas burger I’ve had. Which means I may need to pop back for another helping.
With thanks again to Hawksmoor for the opportunity to sample it. The food and drink supplied by Hawksmoor were done so free of charge. As ever, this doesn’t guarantee a positive review, but sod it, it was bloody lovely.