King Creole

It’s the last day of Wellington On A Plate, and I chickened out. “What?” I hear you cry "you didn’t have a burger?” No, that’s not it. I went for a chicken burger.

Coco At The Roxy have gone all Creole for WOAP. They’ve changed the name of the restaurant to The Kings Of Creole, and we went to see King Creole at their Eat The Film event. Their Burger Wellington offering also fits this theme.

It was a sunny winter’s day, and we’d been for a walk along the Eastern Walkway, building up a mighty hunger. A burger was just what the doctor ordered (he’s a very, er, burger-friendly doctor).  We arrived at the restaurant to be told that they were serving the creole brunch, and if we wanted the burger, we’d need to order at the bar and sit in the café. So we did.

The King Creole burger is described like this:

Creole spiced and fried Meat Direct chicken with bacon jam and pickled shrimp in a Pandoro brioche bun, with crispy grits.

There’s no Garage Project beer match, so I chose, on the barman’s recommendation, a Tuatara Ardennes.

The burger is served in a plastic basket like this:

First impressions: One of the components, the bacon jam, had leaked all down the side, and into the tray, making this a sticky mess to pick up. Inside, there were two bits of chicken, as well as some shrimp. The whole thing looked unstable and slippery, so I didn’t bother trying to eat it with my hands. There was some sort of pesto spread on the top of the bun, which clearly didn’t make the credits. The chicken was breadcrumbed, but the creole spices were hiding, I think. There certainly wasn’t any overpowering flavour sensation associated with the chicken other than, well, fried chicken. It was very well fried – moist and juicy – but I was expecting a bit more of a kick from it. The fries were grits. What is a grit? Apart from the unappealing name, it’s similar to polenta.

Overall I felt a bit let down by this. I scored it a 7.

So that’s the end of my burger odyssey for 2016. Over the past 17 days I’ve tasted 18 burger recipes, which have ranged from the classic beef, including two wagyu; and kangaroo, venison, lamb, pork, chicken, duck, salmon, crab and octopus. I’ve had sweet burgers. I’ve had a burger where the bun was made of lasagne. My favourites have been the pork burgers put out by Capitol and Zibibbo. All I’m waiting for now is the invitation to join the judging panel for the final decider for the winner of Burger Wellington 2016.