All eye's were on Buddy's to maintain their number one slot at this years Ad Lob burger competition. There were 19 contenders all fighting it out to win what has become the Burger chef's holy grail in Glasgow and say that they are the number one burger joint in town. The atmosphere was tense but the crowd were electric, with the beer flowing and the judging panel ready to fill their faces the night started off with a brief chit chat about the rules and regulations and the chefs popped into the kitchen to make their magic happen. At this point I grabbed a quick chat with a few of the judges to find out what their predictions maybe from what they've seen before. James, Jennie and Rab were all hoping Bread meats bread would step up to the plate "I think they're going to choke tho with the pressure, It's tense in there..." was the line muttered by Rab.
First up was El Perro Negro, tipped to win it by the crowd with their rare breed burger with bacon, bone marrow and roquefort butter, caramelised onions, black truffle mayo and a brioche bun. An instant hit with the judges, the guys weren't best pleased with the end product but it looked the part. The contestants started to flow out every 4 minutes, up next was Guy Bradshaw from The Drake with his creation Jerky Goodness made with herb crusted jerk chicken, house relish, mayo, gem & plum tomato's in a homemade sweet potato & poppyseed bun. Next was NY Grill then Robert Singleton representing Ad Lib with their classic Ad Lib burger, smoked bacon, swiss cheese & chunky 1000 island sauce. This burger is what made Ad Lib what it is today, with such a high standard of patty, you can never go wrong.
Up next was meat bar followed by Bread Meats Bread with their "Wolf of St Vincent street" burger. I had a quick chat with their Exec Chef Ylli Dushi. "Our product is a secret 3 way cut with excellent marbling to give natural flavoured fat without having to add white fat to the meat". In his eye's, a burger that 80% of the other competitors couldn't produce. You can tell this guy loves what he does, you can see it in his eyes. Before I realised, Steak, Cattle & Roll were up at the judges shortly followed by Burger meats bun. They'd both presented good looking burgers especially BMB, it was rammed full with Double beef patty & brisket, double cheese, tom rasheria & fourme d'ambert, double sauce of smoked garlic mayo, honey & thyme ketchup, pickled & crispy onions, smoked brisket, smoked mayo, fresh tomato & tomato ketchup... An absolute beast of a burger. All the guys at BMB obviously worked their back sides off to produce a real blokes burger, the way they should be.
Buddy's up next, followed by BRGR then MEATHAMMER with their special ingredient... Peanut & bacon jam, this was a total masterpiece. Then Roastit bubbly jocks, Blacksparrow, Slouch, Blue Chair, Inn Deep, Libertine, Cocktail burger and finally HHBC.
The judges took 10 minutes or so to go through their scores and they were tallied up and check. In 3rd Place was Burger Meats Bun. 2nd place was split between 3 awesome burgers from Roastit Bubbly Jocks, Bread Meats Bread & the mad ones "El Perro Negro". 1st Place went to MEATHAMMER.
I grabbed them for a quick chat at the end to find out how they were feeling. "It was brilliant, amazing competition from so many great burgers like Bread meats bread and Burger meats bun but I'm pleased to beat them all".
"It's all down to the chuck steak, short rib & bone marrow patty" known as the "Beefy sex". This was definitely a laugh out loud moment which was continued by the judges when I caught up with them.
Quote of the night goes to Jennie Cook "the Meathammer burger was outstanding, the peanut & bacon jam was mind blowing, I could die on the toilet like Elvis tonight". I'll leave you with this one tho from Rab Florence "i'd like to think I get a free burger everytime in go into Sleazys from now on, I'm going to get a MeatHammer tattoo on my arse!"
Outstanding night, full of laughs, beer & burger brought to us by one of Glasgow's finest, Ad Lib.
