Boulcott Street Bistro, The T-Rex - 8.5/10 (Burger Wellington 2012)

Preston’s Hereford BBQ short rib and ground chuck patty with horseradish celery salad and beetroot relish, with handcut fries - $29

A real burger is served on bone!!

Bravo!!  Take your hat off Boulcott Street Bistro!

Finally, a burger that comes close to our vision of what a GREAT burger should look, feel, and taste like.  

And well done Wellington on a Plate, for providing a medium that allowed us to partake of The T-Rex!!

Brad acknowledged that this was probably the best burger he has had in New Zealand (apparently Bite Me in Sydney had something better - but they no longer exist?).

Best thing about the burger?  The pattie - a standout!!

Worst thing about the burger? Interestingly while the presentation was amazing the bone was not the most effective dish.  While they did supply a plate on the side, I somehow managed to spill beetroot relish onto their nice white starched table cloth.  Luckily I had just put the starched white napkin on my lap, because that wore it as well.  Hey!  We needed something to criticize and it was pretty hard to fault the actual burger.

So we came into Boulcott with extremely high expectations considering the establishment (flash), the price ($29) and the enthusiastic review from the Omnivore.  Lets just say that we tried not to be swayed by the impeccable service and sophisticated ambiance.  Our jackets were whisked away (wallets included - incase we tried to do a runner i guess?) and our table's rickety leg was jambed (without us even asking - so maybe they knew?) 

The bun was nicely charred...

 We stopped the waiter as he was going through the menu specials at "…but the best thing on our menu at the moment is the burger".  As if we were going to have anything but.  Two of those please!!

Brad was obviously swayed by the class of the joint by ordering Antipodes sparkling water and a red wine match (sorry no idea what it was but it was the one recommended to go with the burger...)

Chit chat aside, the burgers arrived stunningly presented on a bone Lenny (my dog) and Brad's dogs (Tana & Titan, two extremely large and constantly hungry dobermans) would have been content with.  Skewered through the top was a smaller sharper bone that could probably double as a toothpick if needed.  

Chips were delivered Jenga style.  Brad loved them.  And the homemade sauce was in another saucer shaped bone.  Probably one of those hip socket ones.  If I hadn't already known how it was going to arrive I probably would have been clapping my hands with glee!! - Like a caveman of course.

Opening the burger up, the bun (sesame seed) was nicely toasted with a bit of a char (a positive thing).  Order of construction was - Bottom bun, (forgot to check under the salad leaf so not sure if there was anything on the bottom bun), salad leaf, chuck steak pattie, BBQ short rib,beetroot relish, horseradish celery salad, top bun.  Wonderfully put together, it needed no rearrangement.

and the pattie was perfectly pink in the middle with a meaty texture.

The cross section was a bit trickier, considering the pattie was crumbly; while the bun had a bit of a firmer (chewy) texture through the crust.  So I sort of tore through the burger as I cut it, even though i had been given a steak knife.  Impressive pattie, still pink in the middle.

First bite.  Meaty.  Smoky.  Chewy.  Sweet.  Crunchy. Juicy.  Awesome texture from both meat and bun, perfectly supported by the beetroot relish and celery salad.  The combination of flavours in your mouth was amazing.

Superlatives flowed as we devoured the burgers.  The fact that Brad confided in me afterwards that he didn’t even like celery (no way!!) was testament to the sheer awesomeness of this burger.  Neither of us noticed there was no cheese in this burger. There was no evidence left on our plates.

So to the scoring.  You just cannot give a 10 on the second burger you review.  Especially when the previous review only scored a 3.5.  And you need to have room to move, just in case we get surprised by an even better burger.  

And then we need to consider the burger in relation to the establishment and the price.  This is the Boulcott Street Bistro AND the burger cost $29 (which I am guessing is the priciest of the burgers on show).  We suggest it is worth every penny and would recommend it to anyone who was a bit hesitant dropping that amount of moolah on a burger.  Considering the environment, it is the total package.  We scored it 8.5.  

In qualifying that score, we are not sure whether it will be beat.

On the downside, they didn’t have the Burger Wellington voting information available on the tables.  And when we asked for it they had to search for the placard.  How will you make the top five, Boulcott, if people aren’t aware to vote?  You have created something special here.  We need this burger in the top five cook off, so remind your clientele to vote!!

As you can see, Brad was extremely excited by the handcut fries, completely ignoring his burger for an instant!!

Epilogue:  And to show we know what we are talking about on this blog, the T-Rex won the Burger Wellington 2012 competition.  Well done Boulcott St Bistro!!!