Deli Classic

We’d been up to the Botanic Gardens for a walk and to admire the tulips. They’re only just beginning, so had mercifully escaped the ravages of the storms of the last few days, and a lot of them have yet to bloom. Some years they get absolutely ripped to shreds in the Wellington wind, but so far this year they seem to be OK.

Heading through town, we called Pickle & Pie to see if they had availability under the current 50 person maximum (now thankfully relaxed back to 100 people, which is what the old Covid Level 2 maximum was), and yes! They could. At the oddly-specific time of 1240. We arrive in time and were seated, then both went for the Deli Classic.

Pickle & Pie normally specialise in…anyone?...anyone? Yes, pies, served with pickles. We’ve been there in the past and always been pleased with their fare, each time resolving to go there more often. But with Wellington City Council’s war on cars we hardly ever go into the CBD these days, depriving them (and other venues) of our custom. Ah well. When the CBD is a deserted wasteland I’m sure the council will be happy. Pickle & Pie's burger is what I call a "meat sandwich": Pepper-crusted beef with truffle cheese sauce, mushroom, capsicum and onions in a Dough Bakery brewers grain bun, with gravy, dill pickles and fries. The Garage Project beer match is once again Arvo XPA. I had that, and Nicola had a glass of rosé.

It looks like this: 

This was quite a dry meat sandwich, and easily pickup-able…so I did. There wasn’t much hint of the pepper crust in mine, so it was a little bland. Also the cheese sauce had been sparingly applied – I felt it could have done with more. The pickle was super vinegary, and I didn’t finish it. The chips were good, and the gravy (more of a jus, really) was tasty. It was a very acceptable meat sandwich, but not really anything out of the ordinary. I scored it a 7/10.

Big Yen

Iron Horse, formerly known as Gasworks, has been a Miramar institution for a number of years now. Not noted for fine dining, but they can produce decent pub grub. We’d tried to get there earlier in the week only to find them closed (even though all their media said they were open), so took the precaution of phoning and booking in advance this time. This was also due to trying, and failing once more, to get into Café Polo, who couldn’t accommodate us until 1:30pm because of the 50-person maximum rule currently in force. As Nicola was working this wasn’t feasible.

Iron Horse was practically deserted. There was one other table, and that was it. Still, we ploughed on, and ordered a burger. The Big Yen (did they mean Big Yin?) is described thus: PrimeStar prime Angus beef patty with fried haggis, Whittaker's 72% chocolate and chipotle mole, smoked tomatillo salsa, pickled onions and baconnaise in a Brezelmania bun, with hash bites. The Garage Project beer match is Cereal Milk Stout – not a style of beer I usually go for, but I gave it a try anyway.

It looked like this:

 The unique feature of this burger is the haggis component. Now, haggis is normally quite soft and squishy, but this one had been formed into a patty and then fried to within an inch of its life. The chocolate and chipotle mole was superfluous as it was completely overwhelmed by the salsa. The baconnaise appeared to be simply mayo with bits of bacon in it, rather than a proper mayo made with bacon. Given the chewiness of the haggis and the large quantity of salsa, I didn’t even attempt to pick this burger up, as this would have been a recipe for instant burger collapse. The hash bites were crisp and salty, so a good accompaniment. I felt that although this burger had some good components, they’re tried too hard to stuff everything into it, and the ingredients were unbalanced – way too much salsa, and the haggis overcooked. Not the best, and I scored it a 6/10.

Brekkie For Dinner

…Always A Winner! We drove round the coast to Seatoun at lunchtime, to sample Arcimboldi’s Burger Wellington offering. Arcimboldi is the latest iteration on this site and has been for a number of years, but it has previously hosted Lambanjo and Zico's before that.

See if you can guess what’s in this burger…that’s right! Breakfast ingredients! Yes, there’s a beef patty, but there’s also: Houseground beef patty with Cameron Harrison black pudding steak, bacon, a fried egg, aioli and Shooting Star's Eggplant Relish in a Zaida's challah bun, with handcut fries and BBQ plum sauce. The Garage Project beer match is again Arvo XPA.

It looks like this:

And boy, was it tasty! I thought the egg might defeat the pick-up-ability of the burger but, despite losing a significant quantity of the yolk initially, it held together until the end. The black pudding was a bit friable and had to be contained, but otherwise, this was a very good candidate, and certainly the best I’ve had so far this Burger Wellington. I’m going to score it 9/10. Why not 10? Well, the chips were OK-ish, but lacked crispness and crunch. Everything’s got to be perfect to get a 10.

Under The Sea

What is it with people not being open? Today, we wanted to go to Iron Horse, the pub formerly known as Gasworks, to try their burger for lunch. Better check they’re open, though, so I looked on their website, on Google, and on their facebook page. All said they were open…so, they’d be open, right?

Wrong. They’re shut. Now, the reason we’d selected them is that many of our local Miramar eateries do shut on a Monday, and open up on Tuesday (or Wednesday). But Iron Horse is a 7 days a week venue. Except today. Our choices were limited, so we took a look at what Park Kitchen were offering. It looked OK, so we went round there, and, thankfully, they were open.

My best-laid plan to get back to beef had seriously gone up the spout though, as their burger is a fish-based one. You probably guessed that from the name? The Under The Sea is described thusly: Smoked fish and coconut patty with cucumber, seaweed and ginger salad and wasabi dashi mayonnaise in a Brezelmania coconut bun, with prawn crackers. The Garage Project beer match is Arvo XPA.

It looks like this:

 And it tastes…fishy. Not noticeably smoky, though, and also you wouldn’t know the bun was a coconut one if you hadn’t been told. Nor was there much wasabi in the wasabi mayo. In fact, although it was a nice enough burger, I felt it lacked oomph. None of the promised flavours were big and bold, but rather muted. The most notable things about it were the chewy seaweed, and the prawn crackers. It did the job, but it failed to deliver on its promise. I’m scoring this a 5/10, and I’ll probably continue to avoid PK for the future, as I have been doing so successfully for the last few years – although this has previously been down to their lackadaisical attitude to actually providing a service.

Mr Miyagi's Karaage

On Sunday we were heading back through town, and decided to stop off for a burger. My first choice was once again thwarted by not being open, so we rounded the corner to Chow on Tory Street. Chow has been around forever, and used to have a branch on The Terrace which has since closed, but, amazingly, I’ve never been in the Tory Street one. It’s up a flight of stairs and has a connecting door to The Library as well. We hadn’t booked, but they were able to accommodate us as long as we were out by 1 o’clock, as they had bookings which would hit the 50 person maximum at that time. No problem.

The Mr Miyagi's Karaage is, as you’d expect, a burger with an oriental flavour. Nicola decided to forego it and have dumplings instead. The burger is described like this: Toasted rice and panko crumbed katsu chicken cutlet with sesame, lime and radish slaw, housemade pickles, sweet and tangy Apostle Hot Sauce sauce and tonkatsu mayonnaise in a Zaida's turmeric bun, with fries and katsu curry sauce. The Garage Project beer match is, once more, Transit of Venus.

It looked like this:

And boy, was it tasty! A generous double layer of crumbed katsu chicken, nice and crunchy, and tasty sauces and accompaniments. Good chips too, with curry sauce – a combination not usually seen in New Zealand (I know, you UKians, that curry sauce with chips is a thing). The turmeric bun was a bit crumbly but maintained integrity to the end. This was also a drier burger than many of the ones I’ve tried so far, so there was less mess and general stickiness. I awarded this another 8/10.

Tomorrow, back to beef.

Flamingonaut

Our best-laid plan this Saturday was to check out Capitol Restaurant’s burger offering. That plan went aglay like nobody’s business, as they're taking advantage of the lockdown by doing some reno's; so I looked on the Burger Wellington website to try and find something to replace it. I liked the look of Bin 44’s burger, but their website said no availability until 2:00pm – it’s that dratted 50 people maximum that’s hampering hospitality businesses up and down the country. No matter, let’s try Flamingo Joe’s. We’ve not been there for a while, and they’re doing what appears to be a tasty combo. And they were able to accommodate us.

Their burger is called Flamingonaut, and is described like this: Grassfed beef patty with onion rings, smoked cheddar, coloured poppadom, basil aioli and housemade Jack Daniels sauce in a Brezelmania silver potato bun, with curly fries and burger rings. The Garage Project beer match is Transit of Venus, a cloudy IPA with tropical flavours with which I am already familiar.

It looked like this: 

Silver potato bun actually means black, it would appear. Either that or it’s badly tarnished. Taking the lid off revealed two onion rings and a blue-painted poppadom. As you can see, this was going to make eating a difficult proposition, so I ate the onion rings and poppadom, then reassembled the burger into something that could actually be eaten.

The trend these days is for messy burgers, and for sauce and cheese to dribble down your fingers. This one was no exception. Pace the description, it actually contained two burger patties. Despite this, and the slipperiness of the sauce, the burger maintained its stability and integrity to the end. The curly fries were served with aioli and some burger rings scattered on top. This is a good burger, and better than any of the others I’ve tried so far this competition, so I’m scoring it an 8/10. Tomorrow, I’ll go off-piste and try a non-beef burger.

Smash ’em Bro

One of the best places to eat burgers in Wellington is Grill Meats Beer. Unfortunately, they’re usually only open at lunchtimes on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, so I didn’t consider them yesterday as a likely burger venue. When I got home, however, I found a Facebook post advertising their Burger Wellington entry, and disclosing the fact that they’d be open from Wednesday…information which would have been useful to me an hour earlier.

Oh well. Thursday was a bright sunny day, and I decided to take myself off to Zealandia for a walk and to see what I could see, not having been able to visit for three weeks. And after a refreshing walk around the sanctuary, what better way to relieve one’s appetite than with a burger? I took a detour on the way home and stopped off in Cuba Street to try their wares.

Grill Meats Beer’s burger offering this year is called Smash ’em Bro – a clear reference to the segment on sports comedy show The Crowd Goes Wild called “Smashed ‘Em, Bro”, where they summarise the best smashings – hard tackles where the tacklee is smashed – of the week. These are mostly garnered from rugby (both Loig and Union), but also sometimes include unintentional smashings from other sports, like netball. But I digress…the burger is described like this: Houseground beef patty with Swiss cheese, cheddar, pickles, red onion, lettuce and Epic Burger Sauce Vol 3 in a Brezelmania milk bun. The Garage Project beer match is Beer, so I had one. It looks like this: 

Again, a messy burger. Cutlery is provided, but I decided to forgo it. Also, this is another one without a side of chips and again, no offer from the waiter…which is a shame, as Grill Meats Beer do make tasty chips. Despite the mess, bun integrity was good, and the bun had been toasted. Overall, not a bad burger, but it was a bit…meh. This is GMB, folks! You’re supposed to be good at this stuff! Frankly, their normal burger is better than this, so I don’t know exactly what they’re trying to achieve. Again, a score of 7/10 from me.

Cheesy Louisey

After the hiatus caused by the Level 4 and 3 weeks, Burger Wellington is back with a rescheduled bang! Now running from 8^th September until 3^rd October, lockdowns permitting, so I’ll be trying some of those tasty burgers over the coming weeks.

First up, I went local. After my adventures on the first day at Level 2, I decided to reward myself with a burger from local joint, Gorilla Burger. Their offering is called the Cheesy Louisey, and is described thus: Juicy Lucy gouda-filled patty with Swiss cheese, smoked brisket, pink pickled onions, bacon jam and cheddar mayo in a Brezelmania cheese milk bun. There’s no Garage Project beer match as Gorilla have a tie-in with rival local brewers Double Vision. The waiter offered me a taste of their cream ale, currently on tap, but I didn’t like it – it tasted of cream soda. So I had a tin of Fortune Favours Adventurer instead. It looked like this: 

How was it? Well, messy would be a good way to describe it. They don’t offer you cutlery at Gorilla Burger. You’ll also note an absence of fries. Now, some burgers come with fries, or other accompaniments, as part of the deal, and some don’t. Where they don’t however, the waiter should ask whether you want fries with that. In this case they didn’t so I went without. Flavour-wise, it held up, although half of the cheddar mayo deposited itself outside the bun on the first bite. Despite this, the bun maintained integrity to the end. This despite the bun being cold - not even room temperature - and had clearly not been toasted in the required fashion. The smoked brisket, however, was surprisingly good: the right amount of smokiness, and well-cooked to fall apart – sometimes it remains chewy, and this is not what you want in a burger. Even so, it’s not a brilliant burger. I rated it 7/10.

Level 2 Again

After a further week at Covid Level 4 with takeaways, aka Level 3, we are now back to alert Level 2. Of course, they’ve changed the rules (again) so this is the Delta variant of level 2. It involves more compulsory mask-wearing (with no-one to compel you, obvs), and restrictions on the number of people who can be in the same place, reduced to 50 from 100 last time. How long these restrictions will remain in place remains to be seen, but at least we can go out now and start to do some normal things. Today, I went to the dentist and got a haircut (not at the same time). Nicola has got some Driving Miss Daisy work so she is also able to do that. 

Other things that are starting up will be volunteering at Zealandia, from next week onwards; training the new volunteers, which is still to be arranged; my photography course (so I’d better get on and finish (start) my homework); and, hopefully, pub quiz in an actual pub again. Toastmasters have decided that at level 2 they’re still doing virtual meetings via Zoom…I’m not quite sure why, but I’m sure they have their reasons.

Auckland, of course, is still in hard lockdown Level 4, whilst they deal with the 800+ cases of the outbreak there. How long that remains the case is still anyone’s guess. The next review of levels is on Monday 13^th September, but I’m not optimistic that anything will change then.

Down One Level

As of 11:59pm last night, all of New Zealand apart from Auckland and Northland went down to Covid Alert Level 3. Auckland and Northland remain at Level 4 whilst the current Delta variant outbreak is contained, as they are still reporting new cases daily. This is largely as a result of the delay in testing and getting results. Unfortunately, the instruction to “self-isolate at home” if you have the disease is impractical in many households where multigenerational families all live in cramped conditions, so once one person gets it, the chances are the whole household will eventually become infected.

 

Level 3 allows the opening of take-away food for contactless delivery and pick-up. I had high hopes of being able to get back into our Loggy B’s ordering for LB At Yours, but could find no mention of it on their website…so I emailed them, and they replied that they’re not doing it this time. Their logic is, presumably, that we’re expecting Level 3 to only last a week before being reduced to Level 2, at which point they’ll be able to open up with distanced tables. This is in marked contrast to last time, when we didn’t know how long Level 3 would last (it turned out to 16 days). The review for this time around is on 6^th September, and with no new cases reported in Wellington since the weekend, and the expectation of no new cases in the community, it seems likely that we’ll go to Level 2 at that time. All the Wellington cases reported so far have been linked to the Auckland outbreak, and subsequently travelled to Wellington, and infected family members here.

I also took a look at The Larder’s offerings on their website, but when I looked in the morning they only had coffees. Since then they’ve updated their website, but I’d already put in my order for Gorilla Burger. We’ll give The Larder a try tomorrow – they’ve got quite a wide selection.

Other than that, Level 3 looks much the same as level 4. We can, theoretically, go swimming, surfing or paddleboarding, but I don’t think we’ll be doing any of those just yet. Quiz will continue to be online for at least one more week, but maybe by mid-September we’ll be back at the Old Bailey.