1840 Shoreline Burger

The weather’s cleared up, so we decided to go for a walk in Zealandia in the morning and take the new lens out for a spin. Having worked up an appetite, we needed some lunch. I consulted my burger list, and first choice was Thistle Inn. When we called them, we got a recording saying they were open Monday to Saturday…so scratch that. Next on our list was Bethel Woods. Instead of calling, as we were halfway down the road by then, we simply drove by. All the stools were neatly stacked on the tables, and no lights on. “Surely The Old Bailey will be open?” I thought. We drove past looking for a park and saw that they were indeed open, and, on the second attempt, found a parking space not far away.

The Old Bailey’s burger offering this year is the 1840 Shoreline burger, describe thusly on the Burger Welly website: Spicy soft cell crab with apple and cabbage slaw, Wairarapa lemon and vodka marmalade in a Zaida's milk bun, with pig tail fries and chilli lime mayonnaise. Sounds pretty good, and different to most of the other burgers on my short list. I'm sure they mean a soft-shell crab, not a soft cell one. It didn't start singing "Tainted Love" at any point.

It looks like this:

This is a burger that sounds good on paper, but it was let down in the execution. So, from the top: the fries were tepid. When serving a burger, make sure the fries are fresh! It’s not rocket salad. Next, the soft-shell crab is coated in batter, then put in the bun, so you’re getting altogether too much carb to meat ratio. The lemon marmalade was definitely there – it tasted like Roses – but I’m not sure if the addition of vodka to the mix was discernible. Finally, there was precious little lime in the mayo. The bun was probably the best bit of the burger, and held up creditably.

This is a burger that failed to live up to expectations, and I score it a dismal 4.