The Great Geordie Burger Quest Part 2: Fat Hippo Underground.

Since my first Geordie Burger Quest, I’ve visited quite a few burger toting establishments and I’m now running up a backlog of burger related blog posts. My next visit was a highly anticipated one; The Fat Hippo Underground was probably one of the most recommended to me, via Twitter. Was I in for a treat or a complete anti-climax?

I’d heard the Fat Hippo’s latest venture, a city centre restaurant, tends to get extremely busy, so I booked a table for a Tuesday evening. The restaurant itself is situated next to The Theatre Royal and is entered by stairs taking you into the subterranean burger restaurant.

To be honest, FHU annoyed me before I even got the chance to eat anything. I’d booked a table, four days previous. Despite this, I was told abruptly by our server, as soon as we were seated, that we could only have the table for an hour. Now, if we’d walked in off the street, that would be fair enough, but I’d booked in advance and wasn’t told any of this at the time of booking.

Despite having a time limit for our meal, we choose some starters to begin. I opted for the deep fried pickles, which were encased in a crispy batter and came with a garlic mayo. They were nice. ‘Nice’ is such a crap description, but that’s how they were. They didn’t blow me away, but then I’ve had Meat Liquor’s version and there’s no competition really. The pickles were also really greasy and due to our server not supplying us with any cutlery or napkins, I ended up wiping my hands on my jeans. Lush.

I’d tried to extract some information from our server about the burgers whilst ordering, but any questions were answered with singular words and a ‘can’t be arsed’ gaze. It didn’t seem that I was going to get any help with ordering, so I figured that the ‘Fat Hippo Burger’ would be a good choice. The burger features a double 4oz patty topped with smoky bacon, chorizo, cheese, onion rings and ‘Fat Hippo sauce’.

Our burgers arrived quickly and were piled high onto serving trays, accompanied by hand cut chips, lettuce, tomato and pickles. I’d also added some ‘Problem Child’ hot sauce to my order, to spice things up. So the big question is- Did the Fat Hippo Underground live up for my high expectations? Sadly, in a word- no.

The burger looked impressive, towering on the tray, stacked high with toppings. The chorizo was tasty, however the cheese was a tad on the rubbery side and the bacon was too fatty. I had to remove the onion rings from the burger, they were far too greasy and I couldn’t fit the burger into my mouth with them in (I’ve got a big mouth, but it’s not that big). The combination of the burger and the grease from the toppings was too much for the bun (which was a decent effort, but too soft) and I ended up with most of the contents slopping back onto the tray.

The burger patty itself was a pretty decent bit of beef, which was nicely seasoned. Though despite being asked my cooking preference, my burger wasn’t served pink, not even close. This was probably down to the fact it would be pretty difficult to cook a burger that thin, medium. One single, thicker burger, instead of two might have been a better option. Overall the burger had a lot going on, maybe too much for me to handle, but elements of it were really tasty.

The burger was accompanied by hand cut chips, which I left pretty much untouched, I ate two of them. They were horrible, big chunks of watery, tasteless potato. They were too chunky; there was no crisp to the outside and no fluffiness on the inside. They were just really, really poor. I probably should have mentioned my disappointment to the servers, who did four half arsed check backs during our main course, but by that point I think I’d just given up.

Fat Hippo Underground has all of the elements, to become my favourite burger joint, but it just didn’t happen. Having said that, I would visit again,for some reason I feel like they deserve a second shot. I’ll also be paying the Jesmond branch a visit on my Geordie Burger Quest, to see if the original is better. Unfortunately Fat Hippo Underground wasn’t what I’d hoped for, so I’m going to give them a 6.5/10 and cross my fingers for better things next time round.

Claire.

Eating Out: The Old Boathouse.

HEY! HELLO! HI! Does anyone remember when this blog was written by two people?? Probably not, because I’ve been slacking for about a year now, leaving poor Bryden to keep this thing going, but I’m finally back! I’ve tried to write a couple of posts to get me back in to the swing of things, but nothing seemed right. There’s been a couple of attempts at tedious ‘catch up’ posts, which I ended deleting. To be honest, I’d kind of fallen out of love with blogging, I had a lot of ‘real life’ stuff going on, with work, moving house etc. and poor old Trebz & a Mixer fell by the wayside. Anyway, let’s pretend I haven’t been the world’s worst blogger for the past year and get down to the important stuff- food. 

Towards the end of last year, my mam kept telling me about a restaurant that she’d visited with my dad a few times and based on her description, I demanded a visit. The Old Boathouse is located in Amble, Northumberland, just up the coast from my parents’ house, and is situated right on the marina, meaning the seafood they sell is literally fresh from the sea. After my dad forced us to participate in a stroll along the promenade, on a freezing cold, bleak January day, we arrived at the restaurant.  As the name suggests the building was once a boathouse for the local lifeboat. Inside the restaurant is quite small, but doesn’t feel cramped, with various nautical décor as you would expect from somewhere named The Old Boathouse.

The food, naturally, focuses on fish and seafood, with a lot of produce brought straight from the local fishing boats to the restaurant (I spied a box of freshly delivered, poor crabs waiting for the chop) with menu staples such as fish and chips, crab and lobster. There are also extensive lists of daily specials on the walls and for the seafood haters amongst you (seriously, what is wrong with you??) there’s non fishy options such as steaks and pizzas, which look equally delicious.

Naturally, as I’m a fan of devouring crustaceans, I opted for the lobster. This is usually served with salad, chips and garlic mayonnaise, but as I’ve been trying (and mostly failing) to curb my calorie intake lately, I asked to swap them to oven roasted new potatoes, which wasn’t a problem. My mam went for crab, which was absolutely huge and delicious, and my dad chose a salmon dish from the specials board. The portion sizes are decent; however there isn’t any scrimping on the quality of the ingredients.

I’ve been back to The Old Boathouse for another family meal since my first visit and I’ve got a feeling it’s becoming a place that we’ll be going to for a long time to come. It’ll be a lovely place to visit in the summer, as there’s seating outside, where you can sit and watch the boats sail past, whilst getting elbow deep in lobster. 

Does anyone else end up with lobster EVERYWHERE when they eat it, or is it just me? I’m talking- on your forehead, in your hair and even in your eyebrows? Nope? Just me then….

Claire

x

The Redhouse, Newcastle.

Steven and I have been to The Redhouse twice now. The first time we went we decided to go on a Wednesday where the meals are two for £10. This is a great deal and leaves some spare cash for a cheeky shared pudding afterwards.

Mince Pie, Mustard Mash, Meat Gravy and Mushy Peas.

Between us we have tried 4 of the pie varieties now. Steven has tried and chicken and gammon and the steak pies and his favourite of the two was the chicken. I have tried the mince and the sausage, onion and apple pies. I can't choose a favourite as I loved them both equally.

If you haven't been to Redhouse before the concept is quite easy to follow:

• Choose a pie - Steak, Mince, Chicken, Sausage, Cheddar/Potato/Onion, Sweet Potato/Goats Cheese/Spicy Tomato or Spiced Mutton and Apricot.
• Choose a mash - Creamy, Mustard or Cheddar.
• Choose your peas - Mushy, Minted or Pease pudding.
• Choose your gravy - Meat, Red Wine or Parsley Liquor.

With loads of combinations to be made you're bound to be able to find something you will love.

Chilli Vinegar.

We were excited to find chilli vinegar on the tables. This was new to me but I gathered this was to be used on their pies so I doused my pie in chilli vinegar. I am so glad I did. This stuff is amazing! Who would have thought pie + gravy + chilli vinegar would be so delicious! I found myself adding more and more. I am currently trying to replicate this at home by steeping some dried chilli's in some malt vinegar. 

Apple Crumble with an Oaty Topping

The pudding we had was pretty good too. After ordering this though we noticed the couple after us were eating a lovely slice of cheesecake which wasn't on the menu so it might be a good idea to ask at the bar if there are any other puddings available. We noticed they sometimes have pudding pies from the Pet Lamb girls to offer but they didn't have any available when we visited.

Back - Steak Pie, Mustard Mash, Minted Peas and Meat Gravy.
Front - Sausage Pie, Mustard Mash, Pease Pudding and Meat Gravy.

Notice the Chilli Vinegar lurking at the side there...

If I had to give this place a score I would give them a 10/10. I can't fault the place! You can even 'double up' on your pie if you're particularly hungry!

After writing this I am absolutely dying for a pie now. I think it's time to try and convince Steven we should go next week...

Bryden x

Mobile Montage - July

Bryden

1. Claire and I on our way to the Stag do.
2. Stag do - Group shot.
3. My friend Ami and I.
4. Let's Buy Happiness.
5. Grumpy Cat.
6. Sushi.
7. My Parent's fruit trees.
8. The garden so nice she posted it twice..
9. Playing with my Dad's coffee machine.

Bryden x