The Gobbler Burger - Ruby Modern Diner, Queen St. Exeter

Tis the season to be jolly!  Tis the season of late night shopping, Amazon wishlists, family logistics, Christmas meals and a very empty looking bank account.  There are a lot of things that really annoy me about the whole season, but the one thing I look forward to, being the pig that I am, is the culinary side of it.  Mince pies, seasonal specials, Christmas pudding and roast potatoes (not so much Brussels sprouts) but definitely the season of indulgence and good ‘ol gluttony.

One place in Exeter that has really got into the indulgent spirit is Ruby Modern Diner and for the Christmas season they’ve introduced an almighty burger which will warm the cockles of your celebratory cerebrum – but with a Ruby twist. Introducing The Gobbler, a portion of free range turkey breast coated in cranberry sauce which has been crumbed in panko breadcrumbs in-house, layered with streaky smoked bacon and garnished with salad and some delicious Hawkridge Cheddar, married between two served in Ruby’s signature light brioche buns – baked for Ruby everyday by Emma Parkin at the award winning Real Food Store.

Eating Exeter was lucky enough to have a sample of this tremendous turkey creation, but this was the second one in two days having been the organiser of our work Christmas meal which had the pleasure of choosing from the Ruby Christmas Menu.  It was so tempting I just had to have a sneak preview beforehand!  I’ll do a write-up of the Christmas meal itself in a later post as this was definitely worth some positive kudos.

Ruby have been creative with their take on the classic Christmas combination of Turkey, Cranberry and Bacon; all being the ingredients to the traditional sort of meal you might have at your In-laws. The team have managed to balance three ingredients that traditionally go together and have created the ultimate turkey burger, given this is a first for me as Turkey Burgers being served in restaurants are just not really that common.

And there is a reason for this (imho), Turkey is a naturally dry and bland meat if over-cooked but this meaty monster was cooked beautifully, remaining moist throughout the time it took me to photograph it, argue with my camera (you will take a photo at this distance I shouted…!!), eat/drink my Peanut Butter Jelly Five Dollar Milkshake and finally get around to eating it.  The classic cheese and bacon combination works well with the cranberry sauce (real cranberries by the way!) and the fresh salad garnish just finishes it off.  A word of warning, make sure you have about 5 paper napkins nearby before you start eating it because it got very messy!

So this brings me on to the other seasonal visitor to the Ruby Modern Diner menu; which was literally one of the nicest things I have had in a long time.  Ruby has to be one of the only places in Exeter that do ‘Five Dollar Milkshakes’ (I believe a reference from Pulp Fiction?) and certainly they are quite epic the rest of the year.  But a Peanut Butter Jelly Shake?  Yup. Peanut Butter, Strawberry Jam, Liquid Chocolate, Vanilla Ice-cream and Milk. Whizzed up and garnished with cream and a cherry.

After Ollie (Restaurant Manager) came over to see how I was getting on the only words that I could muster was ‘…that was epic’ and ‘I would live off these if I could’…I still hold to my hashtag #lostforwords that I used on Twitter afterwards.

Ruby have put their own spin on a Christmas classic.  For £8, The Gobbler can be part of your life and for £3.75 you can let the Peanut Butter Jelly Shake work its magic!

Ruby Modern Diner
74 Queen St, Exeter, EX4 3RX

Telephone: 01392 436168
Email: info@rubyburgers.com

www.rubyburgers.com