Having tried one of Flingate’s burgers before and being mildly impressed, I thought giving the Mac Daddy a review wouldn’t be a bad idea. Remember the size of Flintgate’s Big Smoke? It was a huge burger, and I was hoping that the Mac Daddy would be of similar stature on this fine Sunday evening. Too hot to cook indoors, too much effort in the heat to walk to town, a Deliveroo order would be the only option. Read on to find out how it went.
The Bun: 15/20
It’s a pretty standard brioche that tasted nice. The bun had quite a lot to hold in place, and the Mac and Cheese croquette added unusual height to the burger stack. The brioche was light and fluffy and did a good job. Perhaps a single observation would be the position cutting of the brioche, it could have been a little higher up the bun allowing for the heel to be a little thicker. The weight of the stack all but crushed the heel of the bun, and although it did not come apart, it was certainly close.
The Toppings: 7/10
Huge Tomato, Bacon, Lettuce, and a Mac and Cheese croquette. A feature-rich lineup of toppings did not really come up trumps in this burger. To be honest, I could have done without the tomato and lettuce. The tomato was so big and did not really add too much flavour, just created more liquidity in a burger that already had enough with the condiment and burger patty. I won’t comment on the lettuce as I did not taste it but it did bring some colour to the burger! The bacon was excellent, was a lot better than the ‘Big Smoke’ bacon that I tried from The Flintgate. Had a decent smoke and great texture, slight crisping without being overcooked.
The Mac and Cheese Croquette has to be one of my biggest disappointments in this burger. The croquette outer texture had a good amount of breading that I expected to crisp as I bit through but it didn’t instead, a slight resistance then through to pasta sporadic cheese remanence. I would assume mac and cheese in a burger to be extremely cheesy, and unfortunately, this croquette had hardly any. It was just a bit of a flat performance from what should have been the standout topping in this burger.
The Condiments: 9/10
Flintgate offered an Onion Jam in this burger and I have to admit, it was one of the best parts about it. The heel-added onion jam really showcased itself, taking prime real estate on the heel and being one of the first things you taste. Sticky and sweet, adding a really good flavour to the burger.
The Cheese: 18/20
The Smoked Cheese offered with the Mac Daddy is brilliant. It was full of flavour and added a good smoke balance to the burger as it was not overbearing but certainly present. There was enough of it to give good visuals, enough to make a difference to the taste and enough to balance the freshness of the tomato and its incongruity.
The Patty: 14/20
I commented before on the three patties that came on their ‘Big Smoke‘, which were a little overcooked and pretty average. The aged beef patty that came in this burger was really good. It was chilled outside but it had a good texture and moistness inside, and was definitely an improvement. The patty was nice, had a nice aged beef flavour but just didn’t do enough inside the stack to be ever present. I have an inkling that it was actually better than I have scored but the flavour profile balance doesn’t showcase the patty enough in my opinion.
The Taste: 14/20
The Mac Daddy is a good burger. The balance is a little out of sync but the taste overall I liked. The Mac and Cheese Croquette, being one of the main features of the burger was actually the diminishing factor in the burger overall. It steals the taste slightly with tasteless pasta but with a good patty, brilliant onion jam and a smoked cheese the overall taste is definitely one I would go back for.
Our Verdict: 78/80
The Flintgate is making some pretty great burgers. They are creative and bold in their approach. I like the Mac Daddy, and I think it could probably score at least 2 points more by getting rid of the Mac part! Ultimately, the dry pasta weakened the flavour of the burger and definitely changed the texture balance.
