The Burger Joint Review 2017: our take on the new menu at Bristol’s favourite burger haven
If you’re hankering for a burger in Bristol, then The Burger Joint should probably be your first stop. Solid cookery, delightful staff and endless variety have helped the local outfit grow to three locations across the city. The company just unveiled their new menu for 2017, so we headed down to the Bedminster branch to try out some of the newest additions.
We arrived at the North Street joint in the early afternoon, just ahead of the rain clouds that had been shadowing the city. We were met on arrival by lazy guitars and the ever-effervescent manageress, Danielle. She showed us to a table, where the new menus lay scattered in carefully coordinated irregularity.
The way it works at The Burger Joint is that you’re given a tall piece of paper and a pencil. You go down the page, checking off which starter, bun, toppings and sides you want from the sixty or so options available. There’s a discount for getting three toppings and you get two free sauces and a free side as well. A standard burger will cost you around £11, when all is said and done.
Our orders were as follows:
A brioche bun made into cheesy garlic bread to start, with a latte and fresh orange juice to drink.
Beetroot & feta burger on a brioche bun, stuffed with halloumi cheese, homemade pesto and a fried egg. Parmesan truffle fries, and two little tubs of basil mayo and truffle mayo completed the plate.
Kangaroo burger on a ciabatta bun, with cheddar, chorizo, pineapple and a fried egg. This was accompanied by a dish of roasted vegetables, wasabi mayonnaise and barbecue sauce.
So, how was it? In a word: delicious. The Burger Joint has always managed to outperform most of its competitors with the quality of their ingredients, and the new additions are no exceptions to that rule.
The new veggie burger, the beetroot & feta, was brilliant — fresh and filling without being greasy or oily. It also avoided being too slippery, which can have disastrous consequences when you’re stacking a burger high with extra toppings. The halloumi and fried egg provided that salty hit that I so love, and the pesto was tasty too. In future I’d probably go for a slightly lighter combo, perhaps swapping out the halloumi for a flatter cheese as well.
My partner in crime reported that her kangaroo burger was to her liking:
“The kangaroo meat was more tender and juicy than your average beef burger — not too hard, not too soft, just right. The chorizo added to the complexity of the food, making it a little spicy and smoky, while the egg made the dish taste pleasantly moist and even a little healthy. A triumph.”
She hadn’t picked any of the new ingredients, but her side was a recent addition: a dish of roasted vegetables. These were nicely seasoned and packed with flavour, and for my companion, a highlight of the meal:
“The roasted vegetables were amazing. After eating these, I feel like I’m in the Mediterranean. I watched ten videos on how to prepare roasted vegetables after I got home.”
The Parmesan & truffle fries were also a big hit; altogether more grown-up than normal fries but no less delicious… although I would have welcomed a slightly stronger truffle flavour to really do justice to the name. The Burger Joint has always been solid when it comes to chips, but these fries have become my new favourites.
We left the place a couple of hours later with full bellies and smiles on our faces, and you can’t ask for much more than that. The new additions to the menu certainly proved themselves, and I hope that we’ll see them stick around for a long time.
If you’re in Bristol, check out The Burger Joint — you won’t be disappointed. And if you’re at the Bedminster branch, say hello to Danielle for me.
