Che Burger

We’re onto the final day of Wellington On A Plate – the last chance to grab a burger. We decide to head out to somewhere local. Both Café Polo and The Larder are usually packed out on weekend lunchtimes, so we head a little (but not far) off the beaten track, to Franziska in Seatoun.

We were fortunate in arriving ahead of the rush, as, although only one table was occupied when we arrived, the place was full by the time we left. Franziska’s offering is the Che Burger: beef patty with fried egg, cheese and chimichurri mayo in a housemade bun, with fries. The Garage Project beer match is Hāpi Daze, which is a great beer. It looked like this:

It fell open as I took the picture. D’oh! So what’s not apparent from this is how tall the burger is, nor how thick the patty: This was going to be a knife and fork job from the word go. In we tucked. The cheese was melted over the burger, and the egg cooked enough so that the yolk didn’t drip all over the place, but was still liquid (just). Due to the thickness of the patty there was a hint of underdone-ness in the middle. A minor cavil is that those aren’t fries, they’re sauté potatoes, and weren’t crispy. Not that I ate much of them – the carb to protein ratio here was somewhat out of whack, with a dense bready bun as well. A good concept, but could have been executed better. I scored it a 6.