Emma Reclaimed wood – check, filament lightbulbs – check, metal cages bolted onto random areas – check, beards – check. Yup it meets all of the pre-requisites for Glasgow’s “Burger Boulevard” (well, that’s what we like to call it anyway).
With the opening of Five Guys and Gourmet Burger Kitchen next door to each other on near enough the same day, something needs to stand out, does Handmade Burger Co. do it?
The outside is impressive, such a solid grand-looking building. Someone must’ve forgot the large ladders to remove the old Paperinos sign!
Straight into the cash area and the wait to be seated area – did someone design this?
We were seated on the comfy seats – it was cold outside. However every time the door opened a blast of cold air would still reach us. Brr!
We were talked through the immense menu, offered table service (hurrah!) and ordered our drinks.
Menu perused and eventually 15 mins later we received our drinks and ordered food.
Yum! creamy, thick and not overpowering. Although we both thought there had been some kind of stand off with the top of the cup! Nope, seemingly there was something wrong with the milk so were were offered free soft drinks. We placed our order trying to disentangle from the up-selling, which seemed to centre on mushrooms, mushrooms, mushrooms! Was it mushroom appreciation day somewhere?
I went for the Greek lamb burger £7.95 – Greek feta, freshly made tzatziki, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and onion. Huge chunks of feta, so much I felt I was doing my bit for the Greek deficit – keep buying those burgers – help Greece! Thankfully I do really like Feta, and just as well as the tzatziki was nowhere to be seen or tasted. The lamb burger was a good size but needed the feta for moisture. More onions and tomatoes would have been good.
The Colonel went for the barbecue, cheese bacon burger (£8.45) mature cheddar, smoked bacon, smokey barbecue relish, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato and red onion. As always to keep everyone on their toes (or is it a hatred of salad?) the Colonel specifically asked for no lettuce, tomato or red onion – all noted and the delivered burger came as requested with relish on the side.
An OK burger, not cooked to any specific order and it did need the relish to give the burger some taste.
We also ordered fresh cut chips (£3.25) and peri peri chips (£3.45) as well as corn on the cob ( £2.25) and garlic mayo (85p) which is a bit of a sneaked in up-sale… Keep a note of that one if you get offered it! 😉
The portions of chips were large, so one split between two should’ve sufficed. I found the chips to be a little strange like dry fried diet chips. Not really my thing so Mr Foodie had a bonus lunch leftovers afterwards.
Staff asked if we enjoyed the meal, needed anything else and were helpful. They asked if I wanted the chips to go without prompting.
Overall £35 for this so slightly cheaper than GBK with more chips, bigger portion of corn on the cob as well as bonus table service.
TL;DR
+ impressive menu selection
+ big portion of chips
+ good feta
– still pricey for a burger meal
– up-selling a tad annoying
– a bit draughty at the comfy seats
Groupon City Guide article: Where are the best burgers in Glasgow?
