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.

Dragonfly burger

I had the Dragonfly burger on Friday night. It is a whole tempura battered soft shell crab in a burger with some slaw and dressing. The crab was crispy and tasty, and the burger bun was good. However, I ended up adding some of my green papua salad to the burger to give it more flavour/zing/freshness. The burger came with fried lotus crisps which were nondescript but stackable - as most fried things are. 3.6/5

Duke's Double Down burger

After a week of mediocre lunch burgers Duke Carvell's Double Down burger has brought me back in the game. Two crispy pieces of chicken sandwiching cheese, sambal sauce and cos lettuce. I would have liked more of the sambal sauce and am not a huge fan of smoked cheese (which is what was used) but overall a great take on the fast food concept. And you don't actually feel that bad about yourself after you've eaten it. I told someone at work on Monday that I was 'planning to have the Double Down on Thursday', and they looked at me like I was actually planning a trip to KFC four days in advance. You do need to book this to get in and I highly recommend it. A shame though, that it only came with THREE fries. This seems to be a strategic tactic though. Everyone got only three fries. Maybe to encourage the ordering of dessert? 4.5/5

Astoria burger

After so much red meat I was keen to try Astoria's pork tonkatsu burger. The actual crumbed pork and katsu sauce were nice. But the bun was a bit dry and needed more of the sauce. I liked the toasted nori strips that accompanied the burger and fries but to be honest the bonito flakes added a fishy pungency that wasn't too appealing with the pork. 3.2/5

Eighth run

I went for a 3.2km run before work this morning. It was very light out for how early it was, and nice and sunny in some parts. I definitely needed the run after the double patty Ti Kouka burger. Even after only salad for dinner I was pretty full last night.

Ti Kouka burger

Ti Kouka restaurant had the winning burger last year. It was a light steamed bun with three different types of pork, pickled cucumbers and coriander. It won the overall Burger Wellington award and was in such hot demand that Ti Kouka would tweet how many more buns were available at certain times of day. This year the Ti Kouka burger did not even make it on to my top 20 list based on the description. Nevertheless, I found myself at Ti Kouka for lunch on Wednesday and had the burger. The bun was good and so were the pickles. I also liked the addition of (non-pickled) beetroot. But for me there was just too much meat. Two huge patties made the burger difficult to eat. So the burger had good components but overall didn't come together that well. The chips were also rather disappointing compared to Ti Kouka's normally excellent, generously sized fries. The salted caramel biscuit at the end was excellent. 3.1/5

Seventh run

Went for a 3.3km run after work, just as it was getting dark. It was odd to be squinting into the headlights but I felt a lot better for it. I am now over 30km (!) But am behind on burgers and need to fit in quite a few more runs to get to 42.195km before Sunday...

Bin 44 burger

The Bin 44 burger is a big venison patty with gorgonzola, crisp pear salad, a battered onion ring and BBQ sauce. I really enjoyed the BBQ sauce - not too much of it and not too sweet. The crispy pear and the onion ring also added some good texture. I thought the gorgonzola was unnecessary - there were so many other big flavours in the burger that the blue cheese was a bit confusing. I was also disappointed with the actual patty. It was huge and very very hot. Sometimes I only got huge hunks of patty without any of the nice accompaniments. The burgers took 40 minutes to arrive and cost $25 (which is high compared to most other burgers). No comment on the garnish. 3/5

St John's fish burger

I ended up at St John's for the second saturday in a row to watch the rugby. I decided to try the fish burger from the Rockwell & Sons pop-up burger tent. Similar to the beef burger ('double smash patty'), the bun was excellent. There were nice red onion pickley things and cheese too. The fish was fresh. I thought the condiments (a kind of tartare sauce) made the dish quite rich with the battered fish. But apart from that, no complaints. Delicious tater tots accompany this dish 4.1/5 [NB - I am aware I am reviewing a second burger from the same establishment, and Rockwell & Sons is not formally entered in the Burger Wellington competition but is instead a WOAP special event/meal option. But the burgers are so good! Like fancy BK.]

Half way

So, I have now eaten 10 burgers and am over half way to my goal of running 42.195km (I have run 27.3km). I have a problem with how i have been rating my burgers. The second burger I ate was the wagyu beef, pastrami and sauerkraut at Taylor's on Jackson Street in Petone. It was outstanding, but because it was only my second burger I only awarded it 4.3/5. I thought 'maybe all of the burgers will be like this and I don't want to overdo the scoring too early on in the game'. The problem is, now I eat a burger and I think: is this as good as the Taylor's on Jackson Street burger? So the bar has become 4.3 with a lot of awkward squishing in of rankings. Accordingly, I have scaled my scores so that I am using more of the range. In order to be transparent, I have created a spread sheet that shows the anticipated score, the 'heat of the burger score' (which is what is recorded in my posts) and the 'scaled on reflection score'. All very unscientific, but I feel it is only right to extend the range so I am not constricted in my scoring. Also, I should note that my scoring is only an indication of my personal preferences - for example, Thunderbird is currently the lowest burger on the list - but it is still up there with the best. A group of people from my work all went and had it yesterday and loved it. Once I have figured out how to share the spread sheet with you via this blog I will do so.

Sixth run

This morning I ran 7.4km (my longest run yet!) I went around the waterfront and struggled in some head winds. The sun was not out today, but I did see a very well groomed Burmese mountain dog, a husky and one of those dogs that looks like a piece of crispy fried chicken from a distance.

Laundry burger

We went to Laundry (on upper Cuba) for dinner last night. We had the Wellington on a Plate meal where you get two courses (one of which can be the burger, without fries) and a glass of wine. The burger was a shredded slow cooked lamb patty that was very well seasoned with good depth of flavour. The burger does not have any cheese in it, which I was worried about - but it did have a crunchy coleslaw that offset the richness of the lamb. I only wish there had been more of the coleslaw! The burger was, again, human sized so I appreciated the lemon meringue pie for dessert. A final note on the burger - they had toasted the bun to perfection. 4/5.

La Boca Loca burger

Out to the 'burbs tonight (through the hail and wind). La Boca Loca is doing a pinto bean burger with a blue corn meal 'bun'. It comes with feta, avocado and a nice tomato sauce. On the side is wedges and a green creamy sauce. I thought the bean patty had a depth of flavour that is to be commended and the corn meal tortilla-style bun was really superb - toothsome but worked well at holding most of the burger together. One suggestion is to add a bit of spice and more feta to the burger. Nice margaritas and guacamole were a plus. 4.1/5

The Canteen burger

The Canteen (or just 'Canteen' as I like to refer to it) is situated on Bond Street near the excellent Vietnamese fish and chip shop. It does good trendy food but for a long time seemed to suffer from a lack of a deep fryer for the all important chip-accompaniment to a meal out. This seems to have been resolved. My burger made for good eating. Nice slow cooked beef with a gravy style sauce and bacon. The bun was fresh and soft. The chips had cheese melted on them. All in all a solid effort. But... nothing special. Also, I think I may be becoming a burger fiend. I ate the burger and felt like I could have had a little more which is ridiculous. I think this may indicate that the previous burgers were over-sized and Canteen is actually doing a decent human-sized lunch. 4/5.

Fifth run

I went out for my fifth run this morning before work. I was hoping for 3.7km so I would be at 20km but unfortunately my route only took me 3.62km. It was quite cool and cloudy. Listened to some Eminem on the advice of a running friend - good, but you certainly need to have it on a playlist with some up-beats. Eminem and then Hole was not a great combo.

Charley Noble Burger

This burger had all of the classic elements done well - a nice patty, bacon, a good bun. There was sufficient sauce and good chips. However, the burger comes with PINEAPPLE, which was not notified on the website but was notified on the menu at the restaurant. I ordered my burger with no pineapple, which was successfully delivered on the second attempt. My eating companion did have the pineapple and enjoyed it - although we both agreed the texture of the burger was all a bit samesy. The burger came with a side of rum punch in the form of a brassy tall thimble. This was odd - as rum punch is good with ice, and not in a little thimble. All in all Charley Noble showed it can do decent meat in a bun, but personally I was not a huge fan of the concept - but that's just my pineapple prejudice showing through. 3.7/5.

The Green Man Pub burger

So this was a good pub burger. Massive, lots of reasonably yummy things (fried chicken, a lot of bacon, guacamole, onion rings, tomato, dressing, lettuce). But part of me thinks that simplicity could have helped. For example, the onion rings (which were the main attraction) couldn't really be tasted in amongst all the bacon. The dressing was quite over-powering. I think I would have preferred a burger with just: a lot of guacamole, onion rings and the chicken. The fries were standard pub chips (but done well). Also, the burger is obviously very popular - we had a (notified) delay while they went out to get more buns. The buns were certainly fresh. 3.5/5

Fourth run

3.6km including some hilly bits. Pretty mild morning. Gearing up for a burger tonight. Breakfast (green smoothie with ginger and orange) is looking very similar to lunch (cannellini bean and watercress soup). Perhaps the office gingernuts and saladas can liven things up...

Break day

No burgers, no running. Green smoothie, salad, cauliflower... Started thinking about burgers at 12.49pm. In other news, I made a batch of marmalade.

El Matador - Chickpea burger

This was delicious. The chickpeas were well seasoned and the goats cheese was creamy. The burger comes with spicy arugula and roasted red pepper. I was disappointed with the bun - it was bit dry and not on the same level as the other ingredients. I also wonder if some people might take issue with the chickpeas not being in a patty? The patatas bravas were spot on and had a great tomato sauce. The other good thing about the El Matador burger is that you can get it as the main in a Wellington on a Plate special with another course (like dulce de leche crepes for dessert) and a glass of wine, all for $35. 4.3/5

Third Run

After the Big Mac style burger I definitely needed to get out and about. I was a bit slower this time (sore legs from previous running or weighed down by burgers?) The sun was out again and I felt better for the run. 3.7km

Little Beer Quarter 'Big Mack Daddy'

This was the burger that topped my initial rankings based on the description of the burger. It is in the style of the Big Mac (and was served in a brown paper bag). Two lovely beef patties and a good sauce. The use of dried thyme made for some odd flavouring, and the bread was not as soft as competing brioche buns. Nice beer match and good crispy fries 3.8/5

St John's Rockwell & Sons pop-up burger restaurant

I went to St John's on the waterfront for lunch on Saturday. They have a sort of 'invitational' burger - an award winning burger restaurant from Australia has come over and set up a tent on the lawn. I had the 'double patty smash burger' - beef patties with melted cheese, pickles and sauce. This was served with tater tots. I thought the bun was very good and the cheese was melted just right. 4.3/5

Second Run

I ran 5.7km on Saturday morning - the longest distance i have probably ever run (at least outside). I went along the waterfront and it was very enjoyable. The sun was out along with a group of sleek greyhounds, a huge German shepherd and a beagle puppy. I wound back to the Hill Street Farmers' Market to stock up on veggies to eat between the burgers...

Taylor's on Jackson Street, Petone - Wagyu Burger

This burger was superb. A huge, rare wagyu beef patty and smoked wagyu pastrami, sauerkraut and russian dressing. The chips/potatoes also had some kind of delicious chicken salt on them. The sauerkraut gave the burger a particular 'barnyard/forest floor' smell which was different but agreeable. A cosy restaurant with great service. 4.3/5.

Thunderbird - Crayfish Burger

I went to Thunderbird for lunch on Friday. This was the first burger of the season. I had reserved a table which was lucky as they were jam packed. After a suitably Thunderbird-length delay, our burgers arrived. The crayfish is battered, which seems a bit rough for such a delicate protein. However, I thought the crayfish was delicious and there was a generous amount of it. The bun was good and the sauce was zingy. The salad in the burger was disappointing. Too much stalky lettuce and two big slices of out of season tomato. Also you have to order fries separately. Kudos for doing crayfish though.

Rating = 3.2/5

First run

Did 3.3km this morning before work in preparation for a double burger day. Beautiful morning and the wind was only in my face for the last bit. Pumped up some Minaj Super Bass which was particularly enjoyable.

Trepidation

I have a number of worries in setting out on this endeavour. First, I am not very good at running. The hardest part is going to be getting up early to run in a struggling manner before work. Second, 20 burgers is quite a lot. Last year I probably had 12-15 burgers and that was very full on. I am hoping that with the running I will be hungrier. Also, there are three weekends over the course of Burger Wellington (16 & 17, 23 & 24, 30 & 31) - so hopefully that will give me more time to go out and do things (like swim at Freyberg Pool) to work up an appetite. Last, I love cooking. With all this burger eating there are fewer opportunities to make dinner and lunch. Anyway, enough grumbling - it is in all senses a luxurious thing to do for two weeks. Onwards and upwards!

Context and Goals

Burger Wellington is on from 15 - 31 August 2014. 17 days. 20 burgers. 42.195km. Note: I am not a runner, so 42.195km is a lot. I am an experienced burger eater, but even then, 20 burgers is a lot.