Maggic Burger

Today I’m going back to basics. I’m looking for a good, solid beefburger from Burger Wellington, so I consulted my spreadsheet and decided that Burger Liquor would be the people to supply me with it. Burger Liquor has been around for a couple of years, selling burgers and liquor. So far I’ve managed to avoid actually crossing their threshold. How can this be? Well, they’re down the long end of Willis Street, so a little bit of a walk from the office…but really. Must try harder.

Their Burger Wellington offering is the Maggic Burger, described like this: Preston’s aged beef patty with onion dip, cheddar, salt ‘n’ vinegar pickles and Randwick Meats bacon jam in an Arobake brioche bun, with housemade agria chips. The Garage Project beer match is Hāpi Daze – another favourite that they’ve been brewing for a while.

Burger Liquor was packed. There were people waiting for tables but I, as a solo diner, was able to secure a spot at the bar, and my order was quickly despatched to the kitchen.

I managed not to forget my phone today, so here’s what it looks like:

Were all the components there? I was particularly on the lookout for the bacon jam…and there it was. Right tasty, too. These people are burger experts, and have clearly put the work in to create a burger that doesn’t fall apart, is easily manageable, and cooked correctly (medium rare). Everything was in proportion, and it wasn’t too wet, which is also important. This burger had it all…except for one thing. A close inspection of the photo will reveal an elephant in the room, or rather, not in the room. Where are the chips? Turns out what they call “housemade agria chips” are in fact housemade agria crisps (like Americans, Kiwis use the term chips for crisps, and chips will be called either fries or “hot chips”), and they’re inside the bun. So if you want chips, you have to order them extra. It would’ve been nice if the barman had asked “do you want fries with that?” but I guess he’s not a Humanities graduate. As it was, it was a damn fine burger, but I’m not awarding it 10 because of this. It was a better burger than the Charley Noble one, though, so I’m happy to give it 9.