Day 12 - garbanzo burger

Last year I highly rated El Matador's vegetarian chickpea burger, so was keen to try this year's 'Fuego Burger': Spicy garbanzo patty with wood-fired beetroot, parrilla-smoked mushroom, preserved lemon and olive salsa in an Arobake bun, served with patatas bravas.

The burger is absolutely huge. You will not leave hungry. As promised, the mushroom is smoky and the patty is spicy. I think there was a key problem with the burger however, in that there were no onions, garlic or cheese to be seen or tasted. Without meat (which is not an issue for me) I think these are key ingredients to get a tasty savoury flavour into a burger. Last year's burger for El Matador had feta, which worked really well. This year's burger had aioli, so I don't think a quest to be vegan was behind the burger. The other companion at my table who had the burger commented that each element of the burger was nice, but it was a bit like they were all fighting one another. I agree. I usually like mushrooms, but took mine out because the smoke flavour was so strong. The patatas bravas, on the other hand, were excellent. I award the 'Fuego Burger' 6/10.

Day 11 - an unanticipated venison burger

I didn't have a particular burger planned for Monday (and had gone a little bit off all the paua burgers I had planned). After a 660m swim, I ended up at WBC to try 'The Classic': Ground local venison with house smoked and aged cheddar, pickled Spanish onions in a Pandoro burger bun, with WBC chipped potatoes.

Some other burger aficionados we knew were sampling the burger when we arrived, and there was a moment of drama when the waiter momentarily informed us they were out of patties. Fortunately the moment passed and burgers were available. The cheddar was sharp and the pickled Spanish onions provided savoury flavour which was the best bit about the whole burger. The patty didn't taste particularly venison-y (cf The Portlander burger), but was pleasant enough. The bun was a little dry. One of the other burger aficionados commented (as a compliment) that it was a bit like a really good homemade burger, which I think is fair (if only I could make Spanish onions like that). The fries were satisfactory. I award 'The Classic' 7.6/10.

Day 10

A rest day.

Day 9 - pulled pork and a wedding

Saturday brought sunshine and an early afternoon wedding, but I was determined to get a burger in. We went to Ti Kouka on Willis St and had the 'Aporkalypse Now' for brunch with a group: Slow roasted bourbon glazed Longbush Pork shoulder with ginger ale bacon, apple and smoked BBQ mayonnaise in a Leeds Street Bakery grilled bun, with hot sauce, crackling and pickles.

I questioned whether this was in fact a burger, or rather a pulled pork sandwich. It was the only burger I had ordered thus far that I had to eat with a fork and knife. The burger was quite greasy, and the bread (not really a bun) that the pulled pork came in was also fried. Some thought this may have been a strategic move to keep the bread from becoming soggy. The pickles were left separate to the burger. The actual pork was well flavoured. Overall I was not hugely impressed, but I know there are quite different views on this. For example, in the sauna at the pool post-swim one evening I overheard a burger conversation along the lines that the rumour was there was somewhere that was better than Duke's (the person had it on the tip of their tongue: "it's on Willis Street... Ti.... Ti.... Ti something".

I award the 'Aporkalypse Now' 7.4/10.

I can confirm that the wedding was a lot of fun and that on Sunday there were fish and chips, but no burgers and no swimming.

Day 8 - more quack quack oink

On Friday I had Beach Babylon's 'Oriental Bao Burger': Braised Longbush Pork belly with BBQ duck and Asian slaw in a steamed bun, with sesame-salted Asian street fries and sriracha mayonnaise. 

I was a huge fan of this burger. First, the steamed bun was not at all doughy (unlike Dragonfly's bun). Second, the flavour combination from the 'Asian slaw' and the roast pork was just right. Some in my group did not like the large bits of fat that came with the roast pork, but to me they just made the burger all that more delicious (albeit, they potentially drowned out the duck - but the five spice flavouring shone through). The mayonnaise that accompanied the fries was not very sriracha-y, but all in all a delicious burger that I would eat again. I award the Oriental Bao Burger 8/10. 

I did a big swim (1km) up at Karori pool before this burger.

Day 7 - friendly crustaceans

On Thursday night I tried The Larder's bug burger - not an actual bug, but a Morton Bay Bug aka a little lobster. The lobster was lightly battered and came in a house made bun (or so it seemed), with chilli, cucumber, ice burg lettuce and capers. There was some kind of mayonnaise and the fries came with a rich aioli. The flavour was delicate and luxurious, and The Larder did well not to over power the flavour of the seafood. The chilli was spot on and the size was just right for me. I award the Bug Burger 8/10.

Another 660m swim on Thursday night, and the lights around Oriental Bay were very pretty.

Day 6 - twice as nice

Today was a big day with two burgers on the menu and no swim. I've done over 3.5km though, so am making good progress. 

For lunch I had The Portlander's most excellent 'The Hunter Games' burger: venison patty, cherry relish, Swiss cheese, onions, lettuce, bacon. This was superb, as was The Portlander's burger last year. Every item in the burger had a role to play. You could tell the cheese was Swiss cheese. The lettuce was crunchy. The relish gave the necessary tangy sweetness. The bacon and onions added flavour and the patty itself was exceptional. To top it off you get fried potato skins. I award the Portlander 9.5/10 (I don't have anything to report home about the bun, but it didn't detract).

For dinner (luckily sometime later) I had Dragonfly's prawn shui mai burger with wasabi slaw and chilli jam - it comes with prawn chips with nori salt. The prawn patty was fragrant, generous and tasty and I really liked the pickled vegetables in the burger. There was a nice hit of heat (although it didn't taste too wasabi-like). This burger was good to have after some meat-heavy variations and I didn't miss the usual grease load you get with potatoes as the side. My one complaint is that the steamed bun is a little doughy in places. I award Dragonfly 7.8/10.