More Burger Wellington

It’s day four in the Burger Wellington competition, and not having had an opportunity to sample anything over the weekend, I was casting about for somewhere nearby that would provide me with a proper, honest-to-goodness burger for my lunch. I looked down the list and selected Trade Kitchen’s Tradesman’s Burger. We’ve been to Trade Kitchen a few times, and they always do good food, so I was confident their burger would be up to scratch. It was served with beetroot relish – beetroot is common in many a kiwi burger – and  Kapiti blue cheese.

The secret to using a strong-flavoured cheese in a burger is not to overdo it, and this one was finely judged. They could have dialled back a bit on the beetroot relish, of which there was an overabundance. The chips were chunky and crisp. The bun was handmade on the premises and was a good, solid bread – it didn’t fall apart in my hands in the latter stages, as some less substantial buns do. It was all washed down with a Renaissance IPA, as recommended to me by the waiter – it complemented the flavour of the cheese where a lesser beer would have been overwhelmed by it. Overall I scored it an 8; the meat could have been cooked a little rarer, and it wasn’t a big burger. Still, better than last week’s steak-on-toast offering from Capri.