Fast Fooding at Five Guys

Five Guys, when it arrived in the UK caused quite a frenzy. The American chain of burger fast food eateries had been long rumoured to be the best burger pick for a lot of people. Now we have a couple of Five Guys in the UK word is spreading fast, whispers of  'best burger' were floating about the ether, a bold claim I hear you cry. Anyway Rich and I were invited to Five Guys in Cabot Circus in opening week to see what all the fuss was about. We chose to go after work and I was starving by the time 6pm came around.

When we arrived Five Guys was crazy busy there was a queue out the door, it was moving fairly swiftly however so we weren't waiting long. There is a very simple menu, your burger can contain cheese, bacon or cheese and bacon. As for the salad parts, these are completely customisable and free, options include; chilis, mushrooms, tomatoes, mustard and mayonnaise. You might be a bit taken aback by how much a normal sized bacon and cheese burger costs for a fast food restaurant, how do you feel about paying £8.75, not including fries? I was a bit shocked to be honest, to our order of bacon and cheese burgers we added two small fries of both standard and cajun seasoned. 

One of the big sells of Five Guys, for most people, is the 100+ soft drinks and free refills. For £2.50 you can sample as many varieties as Schweppes, Coca-Cola and Fanta make, and most of these you won't realise existed, mainly because they are US only. I am not a huge consumer of fizzy drinks to be honest but this selection is rather impressive. 

As we were waiting for our order to be called from the highly organised preparation area we helped ourselves to cherry and vanilla coke and a diet raspberry coke, the raspberry one was especially nice, shame it's not readily available in the UK. After about a 5-10 minute wait with complimentary peanuts, if you help yourself from the huge stack at the front of the restaurant, we were in possession of our brown paper bag of burgers and fries. 

bacon and cheese burger

cajun fries

oozy cheese

Compact and meaty burgers greeted us when unwrapped from their foil confinements. I had chosen to add gherkins and chilis to mine as well as the obligatory lettuce and mayo. The cheese was American and very oozy and melty, the bacon had been cooked so it was crispy and dry, which was a nice touch.  The burger was tasty and juicy, very American diner style, which I guess is what they were going for. The best burger I've ever had? No but it was pretty good. The chilis were nice and spicy and the portion of gherkins was generous which was great because I love them. The buns were surprisingly resilient and I love sesame seeds on burger buns. The cajun fries were spicy but over salted I found so I didn't finish mine for fear of dehydration but also because I was full.  The standard fries fared a bit better but still too salty for me. 

Five Guys does create a tasty burger, but for £8.75 without fries and considering it is a fast food restaurant I would expect it to be astounding because of the restaurant experience you are losing. I am not really sure what I was expecting to be honest but my personal point of view was this is not my favourite burger in Bristol but I think people do have different view on what makes a burger great to them. Five Guys might be further up my list if the price was dropped a bit more. If you go to Five Guys I would love to hear what you thought of it. This meal was complimentary but that did not affect the outcome of my review. If you want to learn more about Five Guys visit their website.

A Saturday Evening Catch Up at Tampopo

Last Saturday two of my oldest friends decided we needed a catch up. And as Steph had to travel in from Bath and Helen was working in the centre I suggested Tampopo in Cabot Circus. Named after a Japanese girl's name for dandelion from the film of the same name they aim to help in the search for the perfect noodles. I'm not usually one for reviewing chain restaurants on the blog, but when I researched Tampopo I was surprised to discover that only five other branches exist, three of which are based in their origin city of Manchester. So after a quick drink at the cinema we met next door and were greeted by a much needed warm shot of hot air. The front of house was very welcoming and we were told that the wait would be about five minutes, as you cannot book tables unless you are a party of seven or over, so we were given some menus to paw over. 

Tampopo boasts a menu composed of faithfully reproduced classics and signature dishes without their own interpretive spin, whilst combining the best from across East Asia's street food scene. Certainly you will get the expected pad Thai, katsu curry and nasi goreng but there are also quite a few unknowns, unknown to me at least. Once seated we were brought some Thai crackers and dip to fuel our decision making.

Steering away from my usual choices I opted for khao soi (aka changmai noodles) a dish from Northern Thailand comprising of chicken, yellow noodles, garlic and ginger. Steph chose the yaki udon and Helen daging lembu goreng, a Malaysian dish of rump steak in oyster sauce with onion and ginger. We also chose some edamame and Helen had a starter of coconut prawns.

Khao Soi

Yaki Udon

My khao soi arrived and it was not at all what I was expecting but it was nonetheless delicious. After removing the coriander, to some people it genetically tastes like soap and I am one of these people,  I tucked in with gusto. The noodles were soft and the chicken plentiful, sitting in a spicy coconut curry sauce topped with crispy onions this was moreish to say the least. I would definitely order this again. Steph's yaki udon was also really good, the portion sizes at Tampopo are very generous and they don't stint on the meat and fish like some places. Helen's dish was nice but personally a little too much onion for me but it was very fragrant and worked well. 

daging lembu goreng

With a number of different dishes and nearly all main courses coming under £10 I feel that Tampopo definitely beats Wagamama on quality, flavour, personal touch and price. Tampopo feels fresher and more vibrant, I for one cannot wait to visit again, it really surprised me and I will be exploring more of their menu next time, there is a lot to choose from after all. To check out the menu visit Tampopo's website.