Tiki Lounge, Lower Hutt - Beef Burger - 5/10

Tiki Lounge recently moved from its previous location in Waiwhetu to the Hutt CBD in the premises vacated by the Cadillac Diner (which has moved into Wellington).  Mental note that I need to go and review a Cadillac Diner burger!!

By chance happened to be at the Carpet Court across the road and thought it would be a grand opportunity to try their burger (which I had looked at with envy when at the Waiwhetu cafe a few months ago).

So I was excited when the burger arrived looking every bit as majestic as I had remembered.  If presentation was anything to go by, this was going to be a winner.  It was billed as a “beef burger, grilled cheese, bacon, caramelised onion and lettuce.  The patty looked juicy and the bun looked perfect.  As you can see it came with crinkle cut fries.

Messy!!  Note the burnt top bun!

However, upon opening it up I was a bit disappointed at the way it had been thrown together.  Perhaps this was a sign??  Lettuce was mesclun and the caramelised onions were, well, onions.

To be fair, there was a nice sear on the pattie.  But that is where the praise stops.  Okay it had everything there but it just wasn’t quite there in terms of flavour.  The top half of the bun was burnt making it like a piece of toast.  The bottom half of the bun was mushy from the liquid (which came from??).  Further the burger just crumbled when you tried to pick it up (even after cutting it in half!!).  The pattie itself crumbled.  It was messy eating.  Might as well have been mince on toast.

Perhaps I had just worked myself up too much and my expectations were too high.  I reluctantly score it 5 out of 10.  But to be honest, I would take the Burger Wisconsen over this, particularly as it costs $17.50 and i am pretty sure i enjoyed the Wisconsen burger more.   I had better stop here before i talk myself into scoring it a 4.