A simple Google search of “burgers near me” will see you face to face with a long list of businesses serving them up in your local area.
Fast food chains will undoubtedly make an appearance, most likely at the beginning of the line-up.
But it’s the lesser-known, independent venues that sometimes end up serving you the best quality, which is something I have picked up on over the past few years.
With the menus of restaurants, cafes and takeaways across the north and north-east featuring burgers, it must prove difficult to make yours stand out.
A secret sauce, perfectly seared patty, oozing with filling. There needs to be something there to ensure it grabs the eye and satisfies the tastebuds.
It wasn’t until fellow food and drink journalist Julia Bryce mentioned The Feed Baron some time ago that I snooped their social media. And one thing was for certain, their burgers definitely caught my attention.
The Feed Baron: What is it and what’s on offer?
Situated behind the Ashdale Hall in Westhill and founded by Jamie McLeod, The Feed Baron, a gastro food truck, launched in summer 2020.
It has become well-known in the region for its variety of mouth-watering, hearty chicken and beef burgers that are packed with delicious goods.
And the truck also offers a range of sides including classic and loaded chips, chicken strips and wings, as well as breakfast rolls and hot dogs.
With weekly specials always on the go too, there’s plenty to fill your boots with.
The order
The results
So, did our grub from The Feed Baron live up to expectations? Was there anything we would have preferred?
Bigger Rab
One word springs to mind when reminiscing about the Bigger Rab, and that is “wow”.
The street vendor launched a special menu item earlier this week paying homage to Scots poet Rabbie Burns, named Big Rab, consisting of a beef patty, haggis, an onion ring, mustard mayo, lettuce, whisky sauce and crispy leeks.
But what is the Bigger Rab? Well, it’s the Big Rab but with double the ingredients. Yes, you read right.
We only had praise for each component perched inside two toasted yet pillowy brioche buns. The haggis had a lovely kick, the sauces all complemented each other and the patty was juicy.
Julia noted that the bun did eventually become consumed with the peppercorn sauce resulting in it becoming soggy, but it is a small price to pay for the flavour explosion the burger was.
The only real downside to the burger was that it needed to be deconstructed due to its monstrous size and we couldn’t sample all of the ingredients together. It was also hard to eat, even after Jamie cut it in half for us.
Maybe the Big Rab, which cost £3 less, would have been the better option. But where’s the fun in that?
Presentation
Julia: 4/5
Karla: 4/5
Taste
Julia: 5/5
Karla: 5/5
Triple Cooked Chips
There is something so special about the humble chip.
While they may seem straightforward to make, there have been many occasions where I have visited an eatery and their chips have fallen short. But in this case, they delivered.
A stunning golden brown in colour, they were ever so fluffy on the inside and coated in a few sprinkles of sea salt which really elevated them.
The outside could have been a smidge crispier, but they were definitely one of the finer chips we’ve had in our time.
Presentation
Julia: 4/5
Karla: 5/5
Taste
Julia: 4/5
Karla: 4.5/5
Chicken Wings
Last but certainly not least, the chicken wings.
There are two homemade sauces to choose from to have the wings tossed in, barbecue, and mango and habanero, and given that Julia loves food with a bit of a kick we decided to go with the latter.
We opened our box to find six tasty-looking chicken wings (however it can be less depending on the size of the wings) covered in sesame seeds and chilli flakes.
While I struggled to pick up on the flavours due not being the biggest fan of spicy food, Julia really enjoyed the fruity notes the hot sauce had but said she didn’t get much heat. It was a warming heat, which she much prefers, rather than punchy in-your-face one.
Nevertheless, there was plenty of meat on them and the crispy parts of the skin were delicious.
Presentation
Julia: 4/5
Karla: 4/5
Taste
Julia: 3.5/5
Karla: 3/5
While we enjoyed all of the dishes at The Feed Barron, it was the burger that came out on top with a score of 18/20.
Can you think of any local venues or dishes you would like the Drive-Thru Diners to try?
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