Spielburger’s – 1216

I loved the name when I first heard it, but Covid has kept me from making a trip to Spielburger to give them a try.  So I was pleasantly surprised when a Spielburger option appeared for Deliveroo, although I was less pleased when the night I tried to order that option was gone.  But a few days later my wife noticed the option was back and we gave a few of their burgers a try.  This is the review for the very tasty 1216. 

The Bun: 13/20

Good but not spectacular.  Lightly toasted, simple bread taste.  Held together very well during delivery (that is a clever box they use).  Perhaps just a little dry and a tad big for the patty.

The Toppings: 9/10

I really think they have this dialled in.  The bacon was very good with some excess hanging off to nibble on.  The menu didn’t mention onions but it came with some really good fried/marinated onions that were cooked to the perfect point where they were soft and flavourful, but without any sort of pungent taste that some people don’t like.  There were a lot of them though.  Good pickle slices that got thumbs up from the pickle aficionados in my house. The lettuce didn’t add much, but equally didn’t cause the burger to slide apart like it can sometime.   But what really impressed me were the fried potato scraps.  Have had similar toppings elsewhere that can be overwhelming but these were cooked just right and used sparingly so provided a subtle crunch and taste that complemented well with everything else.

The Condiments: 8/10

The sauce was Harissa mayo, and it was excellent.  For those that might not now, harissa is a North African spicy chilli paste and the blend with the mayo was pretty close to ideal.  You could still taste the tang of the mayonnaise but then picked up a subtle heat from the harissa.  Hard to get that balance right and to blend both with everything else but I think they did it.  We did add mustard to half of a burger and preferred that, and a dab of ketchup improved it even more for me.

The Cheese: 17/20

Simple but effective Red Leicester, but just the right amount and cooked perfectly, which is tough to do with a delivery.   A nice texture and smoothing flavour that was just detectable between and behind the other elements.

The Patty: 14/20

I have been a little generous with the score here because of the impact of delivery.  I ordered “not pink but still juicy” but there was not much in the way of juiciness.  A nice thick patty with a good beef flavour and no gamy aftertaste.  But it was just a little dried out, which is maybe why the added mustard and ketchup made the burger better.  And the patty didn’t get to the edge of the bun, but again that could be the impact of delivery as it was a 15 min drive and could have shrunk a little in transit.

The Taste: 15/20

I really liked this burger.  Lots of flavours to pull together and Spielburger gets the ratios just right.  Onions, fried potatoes, spicy mayo, cheese, and bacon all come together.  The bun and beef were a tad dry so those other flavours could have been overwhelming, but it still tasted pretty good overall.  You can read another review from Spielburger, the Classic Burger here

Our Verdict: 76/10

A really good cheeseburger, especially for delivery.   If the patty was a little bigger and juicier, and perhaps a smidge of butter on the bun it would have scored even higher, but again that could just be the impact of delivery time.  I look forward to the end of this pandemic so I can visit Spielburger in person and have one of these cooked fresh.  I should add that the skin-on, hand-cut fries were excellent as well. You can try Spielburger out at Esher Everyman cinema!