Final rankings and reflections

You can find my spread sheet of rankings here. You will see there are quite a few burgers that I don't have initial rankings for.  These were burgers of happy circumstance (particularly given my top three were unplanned!)

Here are my reflections on burgers:

1. Just because a restaurant has a nice description for the burger, if you would not normally go there to eat, it is unlikely that you will enjoy the burger very much. The reverse is not always true.

2. Wellington has some excellent suburban restaurants (Taylor's in Petone, La Boca Loca in Miramar and Spruce Goose in Lyall Bay).

3. You have to have a good bun and a good patty as your basics. After that you need a good condiment (and the right amount) and some form of extra luxury protein (bacon, goats cheese, avocado, fried egg). The best burgers also offered a good range of textures.

4. If you are eating a lot of burgers, don't eat all of your fries first. Potatoes can wait and you don't want to spoil your appetite for the burger.

5. If only: the Duke's Double Down was served with more sambal sauce and more than 3 (!) chips; the Dragonfly tempura crab burger included some of Dragonfly's excellent papaya salad; LBQ hadn't added thyme (?) to their burger and had fresh or toasted buns...

6. Thank goodness for well seasoned chick peas (El Matador); the perfect melted cheese (St John's/Rockwell & Sons); rare wagyu beef (Taylor's); and the perfect beetroot chutney (Portlander)!

GP burger

The last burger I ate was at the General Practitioner, on high recommendation. The burger is slices of rare beef with caramelised onions and cheese. It comes with a bowl of gravy and you are encouraged to dip the burger in the gravy. I liked the interactive nature of the burger, and the beef was supreme. I wish the gravy was a little more 'refined' in terms of flavour - it was quite salty. But overall, a very good concept. A satisfying end to my 20 burgers. 4.2/5

One more burger to go!

I have now eaten 19 burgers and will have my 20th tonight for dinner. To be honest, on Thursday night (after having a two burger day) I didn't think I would make it. I thought 'maybe 15 burgers is enough'. I couldn't face another burger. But, after a break from burgers for lunch on Friday I was back into it by Friday evening. I then completed my running goal on Saturday morning with my longest run yet, and after that had a superb burger from the Portlander - which was closely followed by another superb burger at WBC. This came after a week of fairly ho-hum CBD burger lunches. Once I was at 18 burgers I knew I had to do two today to finish off the goal. I am going to eat my burger tonight very slowly and take the time to enjoy it.

Spruce Goose burger

I had the pleasure of eating the Spruce Goose burger outside in the sunshine today. The burger was a good bun with a large, folded over, whitebait fritter with some kind of creamy tarragon sauce inside. There were slices of ripe tomato and crunchy lettuce on the side to add to the burger as you pleased. My only suggestion is that the whitebait fritter needs to be seasoned a little more. Also, the taste of the whitebait has a tendency to get lost with all of the bun. The fries were chunky - crisp on the outside and fluffy on the inside - just how I like them. 4.3/5

WBC moki burger

For dinner on Saturday I went to WBC (on Victoria St, across from World - upstairs) and had the moki fish burger. First - WBC does an excellent pisco sour. You should order one (or more) if you go there. The burger was surprisingly good. I had been worried that the moki 'fishcake' would be reminiscent of a tinned fish cake (ridiculous I know - it is WBC). It was more like a fish patty or fritter and came with a delicious tangy dressing/sauce (coconut, lime, coriander?) The burger also had a refreshing cucumber salad. The chips were pleasingly crunchy. Overall, I felt 'fresh' after eating this burger (is that possible?) The size was just right. 4.6/5

Portlander Burger

After a tip-off from a friend that the burger was good, I headed to the Portlander for lunch after the 10km run on Saturday. The burger was good. Very good. It had a beef patty, fried egg, bacon, cheese, lettuce and a delicious beetroot chutney. The patty still had texture (potentially some beetroot mixed through) and the beetroot chutney cut through the richness of all the protein. It came with crispy potato skins. This is a top-ranked burger, up there with Taylor's on Jackson St and Rockwell & Sons. 4.8/5 with potential to go higher on reflection

Ninth run - running mission achieved!

I did my last and longest run on Saturday morning. 10km around Wellington's waterfront. It was a beautiful morning and there were lots of interesting things to look at on the way - dogs, a rowing regatta, birds getting at mussels, candy floss, more dogs etc. The last kilometre was tough (partly because it was uphill back to Thorndon) but I'm glad I knocked it all out in one. So the total distance I have run during WOAP is 43.8km! Mission achieved on the running part.