WOAP 17: Concrete, Glasshouse, Hillside

How are we all going with Wel­ling­ton on a Plate then? As we tweeted today, there’s no less than three altern­at­ives to the offi­cial site in order to help you nav­ig­ate your way to a bur­ger (One, two, three). Maybe they’ll be incor­por­ated next year?

In the mean­time, here’s what I’ve been eat­ing

• Lock Stock bur­ger at Con­crete
• Everything on the menu at the Glass­house in the Thorndon Hotel
• The Smokeac­cino at Hill­side Kit­chen

The Lock Stock Burger at Concrete

“Smoked cheese and Rock­et Fuel-stuffed Angus beef bur­ger with cof­fee rub, can­died bacon and tangy ranch slaw in a Pan­doro bun, with fries”

Every­one I saw at Con­crete on Monday lunch­time was eat­ing this bur­ger, but I don’t think any­one else’s was as burnt as mine, alas. It’s a shame about the bun’s char­coal, cos the patty had a great fla­vour, and the slaw was good for break­ing up the rich­ness. This was­n’t the easi­est bur­ger to lift and bite into, (it was def­in­itely an extra ser­vi­ette bur­ger with juices) but it was sat­is­fy­ing to eat. I would have liked maybe a bit more of the cheese. But import­antly: those were the best fries I have had in a long long time. You know how when you order chips some­times there’ll be a couple of extra crispy ones that you might end up fight­ing over? All of these chips were those chips.

Con­crete has com­fy tables & chairs along with its high tables, and the wait­resses were lovely. It’s a shame I did­n’t see any news­pa­pers or magazines for solo diners though. Oh, and the toi­lets are really weird though, like you’re pee­ing on a yacht. And just so you know and don’t spend ages look­ing for the tap, you’ll need to push the wooden lever in the mantle to get the water to run to wash your hands after­wards. You’re wel­come.

Glasshouse Bar & Grill at the Thorndon Hotel

Steph and I were invited along by the lovely new mar­ket­ing man­ager at the Thorndon Hotel by the Rydges to come and try out their Wel­ling­ton on a Plate menu, so of course we did. They’re a DB bar, which means no Gar­age Pro­ject to match with bur­gers. Instead, they’ve been really work­ing on their Tuatara offer­ings, and will sug­gest a beer to match everything you eat.

I’ve eaten at the Glass­house before, both at their invit­a­tion and also on my own dime because it’s in a really handy loc­a­tion for me, and what I really like about it is it’s very friendly, quiet (usu­ally), and there’s room to spread out your news­pa­per. They primar­ily serve a hotel guest audi­ence, some of whom will stay 2–3 nights a week, so they serve com­fort food, but with a focus on loc­al ingredi­ents (brands are name-checked on the menu). I think the chef really likes the oppor­tun­ity that Wel­ling­ton on a Plate brings to do some­thing dif­fer­ent. So this is what we ate:

Fest­iv­al dish: Smoked pork and pūhā cro­quette on hāngī-style kūmara purée, pāua meat­balls, black pud­ding and white wine cream

Bur­ger: That Chick­’s a Real Jerk – Char­grilled jerk chick­en thigh with bacon, pine­apple salsa and Bax­ter­’s Ori­gin­al chi­potle may­on­naise in a Pan­doro milk bun, with shoes­tring fries and stuffed jalapeño

Dessert: Saus­age Roll – Choux pastry filled with Gelis­simo Whit­taker­’s Pea­nut Slab gelato with cherry sauce

The Dine Menu also gives you the option of a Beef Wel­ling­ton, which I have eaten and enjoyed before, but it’s kind of cheat­ing, because they have that on their menu nor­mally.

The chef sent out Steph­’s hangi dish with the pāua on the side, cos I’m mildly aller­gic to shell­fish, so hap­pily I got to try it. There was incred­ible fla­vour in the smoked pork cro­quette. I must admit I have nev­er actu­ally had a boil-up, so I don’t know how it com­pares, but I did love this, and the pur­ee too. Steph says she’s not a huge fan of the fla­vour of pāua in gen­er­al, but thought the frit­ters were well-made. Mean­while, back on my side of the table, the chick­en was super juicy, and there was so much of it in the bur­ger. I might have liked it a little spi­ci­er, but I accept that they do need to play safe in the Thorndon land of pub­lic ser­vants. The salsa gave it fresh­ness to bal­ance out the bacon. The bun sadly nev­er stood a chance against the juici­ness of the chick­en though, and as it fell apart the flat board it was presen­ted on (com­bined with my lack of skills, no doubt) meant this was a mul­tiple nap­kin event (oh yes nap­kins, because they’re cloth). Shoes­trings are nev­er my favour­ite fry, but that char­grilled chick­en though, that was the busi­ness. I hope it comes back in the near future, maybe on rice?

Mean­while, speak­ing of pub­lic ser­vants, the saus­age roll dessert! Excel­lent! I think this was a logic­al fol­lowup to their pea­nut but­ter & jelly sand­wich dessert they had last year, and it was fun. The pista­chios scattered across the plate gave a good con­trast to the Pea­nut Slab gelato, which was very very tasty.  I really enjoyed eat­ing this, but thought maybe there was a bit too much lem­on curd and cherry sauce for my less sweet pal­ate – Steph cleaned hers up for con­trast.

The Smokaccino at Hillside Kitchen

Smokac­cino bur­ger: Smoked Itali­an saus­age with brisket, bacon, red-eye may­on­naise and pickles, in a din­ner roll (NF). Matched w Gar­age Pro­ject Hazel­nut Bru­in

This bur­ger. Oh sweet Lorde. Oh my stars. This bur­ger. Hooooooooly. The brisket was so thinly sliced it seemed to melt in your mouth, while the saus­age was really sat­is­fy­ingly chewy. Hav­ing the pickles on the side was ideal for being able to con­trol your own level of bit­ter­ness, and the bun was abso­lutely per­fect. This bur­ger was ideal to pick up and was the per­fect level of moist to eat without mak­ing a mess. But that redeye may­on­aise, that was truly the crown­ing glory. I’ve just looked it up cos I did­n’t know what it was, and it’s mayo made with cof­fee and sri­r­acha. I want a huge vat of it to swim in please. I want to spread it on everything. The bur­ger went incred­ibly well with the deli­cious Gar­age Pro­ject Hazel­nut bru­in too. My only com­plaint is now my bur­ger is but a memory. I might have to go back. I think this is going to be very hard to beat. Don’t for­get Hill­side is pretty tiny, so remem­ber to book. Hurry up, do it now.