Burger me!

[jian]

Cafe brunches or burger brunches?

We dont go out for dinner much now but breakfast or brunch is most Sundays.

Long weekend or week off it can be every other day.

Cafe brunches. They were just consistently excellent.

Vancouver isn’t at all bad at them either but I’m perplexed that a) apparently almost every restaurant does them, like happy hours* and b) they always come with bottomless mimosas. Who wants a Bucks Fizz at 10am?

*Happy hours here are 2-5 and 10-close and offer a range of discounted food and drink, which is not a thing you see in the UK or NZ.

 

[Clint_L]

My first premise is that the cheeseburger is the finest food ever conceived. It is the Platonic ideal of yumminess, IMHO.

My cheeseburger of choice is the classic: brioche bun, lean patty cooked medium (you don't want to go less than medium with ground beef unless you really trust the source), lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mayo, mustard.

But that's just to start! I'm all about adding stuff to suit the mood, and some favourites include avocado/guac, cooked onions, bacon, different cheeses, and so on. It's God's own food.

 

[Ryujin]

I wish more people took this advice to heart. An overstuffed burger is pointless to me. I think the reason we see so much of it is pure marketing. Got to have a burger description that one-ups the competition and blows you away with the extravagance of it.

I have two go to combinations for basic everyday burgers. The first is mayo, dijon mustard, sweet-hot pickles, and tomato. The second is BBQ sauce, cheddar, bacon, lettuce, and raw onion sliced fairly thin.

But my ultimate burger? The one that I make if I want to use 100% of my power? Let's do this.

Burger seasoned with salt and freshly ground black pepper, applied before cooking. You should do this for all burgers, but I'm calling it out here just in case someone doesn't know this is important.
Bacon
Homemade BBQ suace - something that is more tangy and spicy rather than sweet.
Caramelized Onion
Cheddar Cheese
Parmesan Cheese Frico - This is grated parm that is cooked on a non-stick surface until golden brown and crispy.
Lettuce sliced very thin and seasoned - Finely slice the lettuce into thin strips, coarsely chop some parsely, mix together with a simple dressing made with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, and pepper. The dressing needs to be very light, we're just seasoning the lettuce here.
I need to do some more testing for the bun, but something yeast risen and with some structure to it.

(Thumbs UP) If there's so much crap on it that you can't taste the meat, then what's the point?

IYKYK

 

[Zardnaar]

Cafe brunches. They were just consistently excellent.

Vancouver isn’t at all bad at them either but I’m perplexed that a) apparently almost every restaurant does them, like happy hours* and b) they always come with bottomless mimosas. Who wants a Bucks Fizz at 10am?

*Happy hours here are 2-5 and 10-close and offer a range of discounted food and drink, which is not a thing you see in the UK or NZ.

Sone places her do happy hour. 5-7pm used to be $5 small craft beer.

Daily specials are usually more common. Burger night for example often mondays-wednesday depending on the venue.

We got the house paid for January 2020. Europe trip was being considered but some event happened instead so we went to Christchurch and Central Otago instead.

Ive been watching UK for reviewers. London has the fine dining, pubs and cafes look nothing to special.

The food trucks look great though. And everything is super expensive. Your fish and chips are comparable to blue cod meals here.

Burgers depends on the place from the look of it. Blackpool 1 pound burgers and a pint for 2 quid (cheapest was 99p not Blackpool).

 

[jian]

Sone places her do happy hour. 5-7pm used to be $5 small craft beer.

Daily specials are usually more common. Burger night for example often mondays-wednesday depending on the venue.

We got the house paid for January 2020. Europe trip was being considered but some event happened instead so we went to Christchurch and Central Otago instead.

Ive been watching UK for reviewers. London has the fine dining, pubs and cafes look nothing to special.

The food trucks look great though. And everything is super expensive. Your fish and chips are comparable to blue cod meals here.

Burgers depends on the place from the look of it.

I’d say the following generally about eating out in the UK vs NZ in recent years:

1) It’s generally more expensive and the service is often worse, especially in smaller places (such as your average country pub) because it’s harder to get staff. So expect to pay NZD40-50 for a good burger or fish and chips in a pub, that sort of thing.

2) London has the best range of cuisines but damn it’s expensive, more so than anywhere else. Smaller ethnic places and takeaways are cheaper, of course. It also has the weird pub culture thing now where people spill out into the pavement outside and stand around with their drinks, getting in the way of everyone trying to get somewhere.

3) Which reminds me - the UK is much, much more crowded than NZ. Imagine the most crowded shopping centre on Saturday in Auckland or Christchurch. That’s what the average town in the UK is like all the time, and often much worse anywhere people actually want to do or see something.

(I was last in NZ in 2020 and last in the UK this year, for reference.)

 

[Zardnaar]

I’d say the following generally about eating out in the UK vs NZ in recent years:

1) It’s generally more expensive and the service is often worse, especially in smaller places (such as your average country pub) because it’s harder to get staff. So expect to pay NZD40-50 for a good burger or fish and chips in a pub, that sort of thing.

2) London has the best range of cuisines but damn it’s expensive, more so than anywhere else. Smaller ethnic places and takeaways are cheaper, of course. It also has the weird pub culture thing now where people spill out into the pavement outside and stand around with their drinks, getting in the way of everyone trying to get somewhere.

3) Which reminds me - the UK is much, much more crowded than NZ. Imagine the most crowded shopping centre on Saturday in Auckland or Christchurch. That’s what the average town in the UK is like all the time, and often much worse anywhere people actually want to do or see something.

(I was last in NZ in 2020 and last in the UK this year, for reference.)

Down here its crowded if you do on beach and you have to share the beach with another family.

1.3 million vs 60+ in England SI is bigger.

Im converting the prices as double it add 10% for quik and dirty ballpark figures. 15 quid fish and chips is restaurant burger meal plus beer roughly.

USA you're paying double for Indian and thats WV. Burgers bit closer in price

 

[jian]

Down here its crowded if you do on beach and you have to share the beach with another family.

1.3 million vs 60+ in England SI is bigger.

Im converting the prices as double it add 10% for quik and dirty ballpark figures. 15 quid fish and chips is restaurant burger meal plus beer roughly.

USA you're paying double for Indian and thats WV. Burgers bit closer in price

It kind of amazes me when I look how much more expensive eating out in the US vs Canada seems to be (at least in cities). The minimum appears to be CAD to USD direct (so about a 40% markup, since 1 CAD = 0.71 USD). And of course the UK is worse; I just grit my teeth and pretend the prices are in CAD (1 CAD = 0.54 GBP) but even then sometimes it's too much.

 

[Zardnaar]

It kind of amazes me when I look how much more expensive eating out in the US vs Canada seems to be (at least in cities). The minimum appears to be CAD to USD direct (so about a 40% markup, since 1 CAD = 0.71 USD). And of course the UK is worse; I just grit my teeth and pretend the prices are in CAD (1 CAD = 0.54 GBP) but even then sometimes it's too much.

Only thing I can think of is rent. Ingredients are cheaper overseas at least supermarkets.

Your 7 quid coffee is $15 bucks.


$2.40 usd, less than 2 quid. That's a very cheap one though.

Wife had lightbulb moment. My chicken burger other night was great. Has cranberry sauce in it. She hates it. Turns out they will swap it for aioli.

 

[gnarlygninja]

My first premise is that the cheeseburger is the finest food ever conceived. It is the Platonic ideal of yumminess, IMHO.

My cheeseburger of choice is the classic: brioche bun, lean patty cooked medium (you don't want to go less than medium with ground beef unless you really trust the source), lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mayo, mustard.

But that's just to start! I'm all about adding stuff to suit the mood, and some favourites include avocado/guac, cooked onions, bacon, different cheeses, and so on. It's God's own food.

It's interesting how much what counts as a classic burger can change depending on location. To me (from the southern US, currently in California) brioche is definitely more a current fad bun than the classic option.

 

[Clint_L]

It's interesting how much what counts as a classic burger can change depending on location. To me (from the southern US, currently in California) brioche is definitely more a current fad bun than the classic option.

Well, Canada has that French culture!

Edit: but honestly, I'm not picky about the bun, as long as it is firm enough to keep the burger intact!