The results are in

The top 5 burgers, by my own biased ranking, are:

Charley Noble's (my winner)	10/10
Portlander	9.5/10
Duke's	9/10
Egmont	8.2/10
Five Boroughs	8.2/10

For your interest, there was some cross over between my independent rankings and the official results:

• Café Medici
• Charley Noble
• Egmont St Eatery (official winner)
• Five Boroughs
• Grill Meats Beer

Thank you for following along! I have loved receiving your comments, snapchats, texts, tweets and emails about burgers.

Final burger

My final burger was at the Bresolin. It was a very good cheeseburger called 'The Game Changer': Double beef patties with cheese, streaky bacon and The Bresolin BBQ sauce in a wagyu fat brioche bun, with fries. The burger was not huge, but felt right in terms of size given the two patties of meat. In the words of my dining companion (fresh from a cross-fit competition): BBQ sauce just makes everything better. The BBQ sauce was delicious. Overall a solid effort, but probably not an absolute 'must-do' on the burger list. I award The Game Changer 8/10.

What is an absolute must-do however, is the peanut butter chocolate fondant pudding you can also get at the Bresolin. The perfect way to finish 17 days of 20 burgers...

Day 17 - final swim

I went for my final swim this morning (990m). This brings me to a grand total of 10km (10,012m to be exact). I am very pleased that I have achieved the swimming goal. 10km seemed like a bit of a stretch at the start, but anything less doesn't sound very impressive. Looking back I wish I had pushed myself to swim further than 660m earlier (my standard 20 length swim). By the end of the 17 days a 1km swim is manageable - but then maybe this is only because I built up to it.

My final burger will be tonight at The Bresolin. They don't take bookings, but did assure me on the phone that they would not run out of burgers (fingers crossed). I will report back soon.

Day 16 - rarebit sauce and a venison burger

I did a 1,054m swim on Saturday morning and was suitably hungry when I went along to The Hideaway to try the burger everyone has been talking about. Much to my chagrin it was not open for lunch, so I went along to the GP instead. The GP can always be counted on for doing a classic, solid beef burger.  This year they are doing the 'Rare-Bit Burger': Handmade beef patty with Kingsmeade Wairarapa Jack rarebit sauce and beetroot relish in a Pandoro bun, with twice-cooked hand-cut chips. 

The burger was big, the patty was juicy and the rarebit sauce was nice and sharp. I am a big fan of Kingsmeade cheeses so was pleased to see the Wairarapa Jack making an appearance. There was something of an astringent note to the burger (kind of like a vinaigrette) that did not work that well, and the bun didn't seem to be anything special. I give the Rare-Bit burger 6.5/10.

I had another encounter with Kingsmeade cheese later on Saturday evening when I went to try 'Some Sort of Burger' at Five Boroughs: 'Wild venison patty with truffled Kingsmeade Ngawi brie, exotic mushrooms, black garlic mayo and foraged blackberry ketchup in a Zaida's squid ink milk bun.' 

The squid ink bun was good - soft but not so soft that there was a loss of structural integrity. The patty was juicy and well seasoned, and the brie was hidden inside and came oozing out. I am a big mushroom fan so was hoping there would be more of a mushroomy flavour. Despite this, the burger was very flavourful in terms of the venison itself . I couldn't really taste the blackberry in the ketchup, but it was a beautiful mauve colour. I award Five Borough's 8.2/10 (more work needed on the name!)

Day 15 - a triumphant fish burger and a solid chicken burger

I had lunch at Charley Noble's on Saturday. I was very excited to eat their 'Ebisu Burger', and it did not disappoint. To the contrary, it was outstanding. The official description of the burger is: Moana Pacific fish burger with house chutney and Japanese mayonnaise in a Brezelmania squid ink bun, with shoestring fries. The presentation of the burger was the best I have seen yet. It comes on a bed of hot rocks with a lemon half for squeezing attached to a fish hook. The fries come in their own woven flax bag.

The fish patty was light and well seasoned. It was miles away from probably every fish patty you've had before. It felt flaky in the mouth - like they had just managed to bind the fish together. The chutney and mayonnaise accompaniments worked well - just the right amount to lubricate the bun with no dripping. There were also very thin strips of cucumber to add crunch. The squid ink bun was novel (and very, very dark) - but not at all squidy, which I think was good given how light the burger was. Overall, I felt the burger was innovative, unexpected, refreshing and fulfilling. I could not fault it so will duly award 10/10. I know some may disagree with such a high score - but I think that it is important to keep in mind that this burger was not trying to be the ultimate cheeseburger. Instead, it has set its own criteria and met them with aplomb.

NB: Charley Noble's won the official competition last year with a burger that I didn't particularly like (even after vacating the pineapple from the bun), but everyone else seemed to love. I think Charley Noble's would be truly deserving this year.

Later that evening I went to St John's bar to try the unofficial 'Biggies Burgers' menu. St John's does have an official burger entry, but it didn't make my shortlist and I had heard good things about the Biggies Burgers. I went for the chicken burger. This was good - it had a large piece of juicy chicken, cheese, lettuce and creamy mayo. The bun was nice and soft. It also came with a fun paper hat to wear (not pictured). I think the chicken burger was good solid stuff, so would give it a 7.3/10. There was also a delicious pina colada shake.

Day 14 - overcome by offal

Another 1,054m after work on Thursday and then to Capitol to be brave and try 'The Brain Burger': Lightly crumbed lambs’ brains with celeriac and caper remoulade, and crispy sage in a Pandoro brioche bun. 

I am not a huge offal person, but do eat things like lambs kidneys and would happily eat just about anything Capitol can serve up. The burger came out. It looked and smelled beautiful. The bun was golden, there was inviting remoulade poking out and two crunchy crumbed bits of lambs brain were perched inside the burger. I took one bite. It was creamy. It was very unfamiliar. I thought about what I was eating and then just could not go any further. The burger wasn't devoured by my table companions, but they did a lot better than me. I feel it is unfair to rate a burger that I only had one bite of, so I am not giving it an official score. I do think that the creaminess of the brain may have been a bit much with creamy remoulade in any event. I very much enjoyed the pappardelle the person next to me ordered.

Day 13 - the BK style

I realised today (Wednesday) that I was going to have to ramp up the swimming dramatically in order to meet my 10km target. I did 1,054m after work (32 x 33m lengths), and was ravenous afterwards.

I had the Egmont St Eatery burger for dinner. It is called 'Cheese, Beets and Meat', which is a fair description but fairly unimaginative as far as names go: PrimeStar aged beef patty with housemade smoked beetroot relish, fried pickled onions and Jack cheese blend, in a fresh steamed bun. 

There was quite a wait for our meals (there were a lot of burger eaters, even at 8.30pm), but eventually I got to set into the burger. It is in 'the BK style', by which I mean the bun is steamed and the whole thing is quite soft. I personally quite like this, but I know some people like a bit more form. What saved this from too much squidgy-ness was that there were fried, crunchy onions in the mix. These were very enjoyable. I liked the simplicity of this burger - it was a classic cheese burger done well and the beetroot relish was enjoyable and necessary to cut through the cheese and beef. I award the 'Cheese, Beets and Meat' 8.2/10.