Saturday 31 January 2015

What's Your Beef? Urban Burger's burger competition winner announced.

I was honoured to be invited to judge Urban Burger's design-a-burger competition which has been running for a couple of months. The event happened at the restaurant on Thursday, which saw the finalists have their burgers cooked and brought before a panel of judges, including little old me, for the ultimate taste show down.

The panel included John Harvey the Exeter City Centre manager @ExeterCCM , Chris 'Bentos' Bentley former Exeter Chiefs Lock and now Corporate Sales manager for the team @CCBentos and Steve who runs +DevonHour, and me who writes about food in Exeter and also has a small obsession about Burgers.

We were going to judge the burgers on Appearance, Taste, Texture and Creativity and give them a score out of 10.  "easy!" I thought, but this was much tougher than I envisioned given the high standard of the entries.

The first contender was The BRIEoche, which used an interesting combination of barbecue beans and Brie.  I love Brie and a Brie Burger might have been a winner in my eyes, but the use of beans for me didn't do it.  A combination that for some of the judges really worked, but a little too strange for my taste buds.  It was a clean and tidy burger, and very enjoyable to eat in that sense.

The second to enter our gaze was the Ay Caramba, a Chipotle laden spice mountain with Guacamole and some strong flavours.  I loved the taste of this one, but it was very sloppy and a little too messy for my liking.  This was my second favourite of the night in the end, and had I not been quite so bowled over by the winner, it would have been my favourite to win.

The third burger of the night was the Oh My Mexican Cheese, using Afterburner Chilli Cheese and an interesting salsa, this burger looked amazing as it came out.  But its appearance was part of its downfall as it fell apart very easily when trying to eat it, I enjoyed the taste but there was an expectation of heat which didn't come through.

The last burger of the night was the Duck n Dive, which won the evening for all of the judges. Smoked pulled duck with a chinese coleslaw was the one that got approving noises from all of us at the judging table.  It was light, clean, fresh and easy to eat without feeling too overbearing.  Part of me was sad that it wasn't a beef burger that won but Urban Burger have an impressive track record when it comes to Smoking things.  Take a look at their Smoke House menu if you get a chance :)

The winner was announced, the prize awarded and photos taken.  Take a look at some snaps from the evening, all credit for photos goes to Urban Burger for photos taken. I edited them, but didn't take them!


The entrants and their friends came to support and cheer for their burgers!

Team BRIEoche

The burgers came out from the kitchen in batches of four, divided amongst judges and contestants

The judges eagerly awaiting the next batch of burgers

 
#burgerboys

We didn't all agree sometimes, but that is what makes this process so much fun!





The Duck n Dive, an amazing burger which rightfully won the competition.

The judges with Lucy, winner of the competition who won £250 worth of Urban Burger vouchers and the addition of her Burger to the menu...

#burgerboys looking 'ard







Lucy, the creator of the winning burger





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