WOAP 2016 - Maggic Burger, Burger Liquor 7/10

Preston’s aged beef patty with onion dip, cheddar, salt ‘n’ vinegar pickles and Randwick Meats bacon jam in an Arobake brioche bun, with housemade agria chips. $16

My second burger of the WOAP Burger Challenge and I decided to go for another sure thing.  My second favourite burger joint in Wellington - Burger Liquor.
 This year they have gone for a classic beef burger, which is a relief considering their detour into a roast lamb burger last year which tasted more like a souvlaki...

Unfortunately while the recipe was an improvement on last year, I don't think they quite stepped up this time. Being completely honest, I would take one of their double standard* burgers, over the Maggic any day of the week.

Don't get me wrong. This is a good burger (hence the score). It just not quite meet the expectations I had. An actual burger joint should be held to a higher standard!! And in a competition with some stand-outs, it doesn't sing out and jump up and down.

Back to the burger. The individual ingredients were all good. The onion dip and the bacon jam were up there and gave the burger a good contrast between sweet and salty. The salt n vinegar pickles were fundamental to the overall flavour and gave the tart/sour. The meat pattie was well seasoned. The cheddar cheese was right. And it all held together well. Excellent burger-ability with no need for a knife, fork, or bib.

On the downside the burger was a bit dry.  This was probably down to the pattie but also the limited offering of onion dip and jam. there were two agria chips (think potato crisps) in the burger. 

I had actually thought it came with a side of chips, which would have made it good value for money!! 

The bun was a bit too toasted, with the top bun in particular almost toast-like in texture. It was sort of slapped together under the hood, which resulted in a lack of consistency (although it did give you flavour pockets which you could argue is a good thing?).

While I would like to score these guys highly as they do do good burgers, I can only give them a seven out of ten. Maybe next year they will hit the mark. Please.

*Double beef, double cheese