A group of us went to Coene's Provisions (the old Martin Bosley's). We had expected to have the 'Filthy Swine' (Island Bay pork sausage patty with Waikanae pork coppa, bacon, black pudding, wild pork salami, Bethel Woods pulled pork and Human's Hot Sauce and pickles in a Brezelmania brioche bun). Due to a change in chefs, Coene's Provisions is now doing the Maimai Burger. This is described on the (recently updated) WOAP website as: 'Coq au Vin – Canter Valley duck, crispy skin, cucumber, watercress, chilli hoisin & plum sauce, Zaida's sesame bun, hand cut fries, aioli.'
The bun is an absolutely stand out. It is a brioche bun (or 'bree-okky' bun as some like to pronounce it) and has just the right 'squidge'. Unfortunately the rest of the burger underwhelmed, primarily because the duck seemed not to have been seasoned at all and didn't taste, well, ducky. There was little in the way of sauce in the burger to add any flavour, and what there was definitely didn't taste like chilli or hoisin. Others at my table objected to the cucumber in the burger, saying that the cucumber became the predominant taste. The fries were standard pub fries and there was no aioli to be seen.
The starters we got were excellent, so it may be the issues with the burger have come about because of the last minute change of plan as to what the burger would actually be. The kitchen also seemed to be under a bit of pressure: our burgers took ages to come out and they had run out of peanut butter parfait which is one of their two WOAP desserts.
I rate the Maimai Burger a 4/10 (although am definitely looking forward to trying some more of Zaida's buns throughout the competition). Hopefully Coene's gets out the salt and pepper and fires up some hoisin sauce for future customers!
