Honest Burgers Bacon Plant

Taylor Tries Her Best

Aug 1

It has been a while since I went to a decent burger place. There aren't very many around where I live as the whole global pandemic meant a lot of the restaurants had to close and eventually decided not to bother re-opening the local branches. But recently, Honest Burgers opened in my area and I was quite excited for a real burger joint again.

I have heard decent things about Honest Burgers. Their menu is not huge - including the vegan options there are still only 9 burgers on their menu - but they do seem to pride themselves on using locally sourced products. They also appear to do a specialist burger based on the town and surrounding area in which the branch is based, which I guess is a good idea and helps give it a 'community spirit' feel to the branch. It also means that should you travel around the branches you may get a different flavour combination that reflects the local area. Now this is a meat burger so I will never be able to test that theory so...

I decided to go all in and try the full bacon plant. This comes with a Beyond Meat burger, applewood cheese and vegan bacon, as well as all the toppings you would expect from a burger. I have tried a Beyond burger before so knew what to expect from it. Personally I still find the Beyond Meat burgers to be a little TOO meat like - I do prefer my meat to taste and look like fake meat as I have never really enjoyed the taste, texture or look of actual meat. But when mixed with all of the fixings it does cover a lot of that so I was still able to enjoy the burger.

The vegan bacon is exactly like every other type of bacon - it's really good when mixed with other bits but on it's own you can tell it is not bacon and doesn't overly come close. Again, I never really liked meat bacon to begin with so I am quite neutral to the vegan alternative - I can usually take it or leave it and I rarely find it adds much to a meal other than a crunchy texture and a slight smoky flavouring. But in this burger it did give a nice extra layer and did add to a very tasty burger indeed.

I think the real stars of the show though were the chips. For starters, most specialist burger joints make you pay extra for chips, but these come included with every burger. But they are also very generous with the serving of chips. The burgers alone are pretty filling but I have struggled many a time to finish all the chips. Although they taste so good it is hard to leave any - they are very moreish and have the most satisfying crunch I have ever had on chips. They are also slated with rosemary just adds this lovely extra layer to the chips. Hands down the best chips I have ever had before.

Now as always you could make this type of burger way cheaper at home if you really wanted to: the Beyond Meat burgers are readily available at supermarkets and vegan bacon is easy to come across as well. But there is just something special about having a burger properly cooked for you when you're out at a restaurant. Now each burger is £15 - but does include chips - so it is not the cheapest meal out but I find burger joints charge more for...whatever their reasons are. While it is not something I would have that often, every once and while it is a really good treat. Definitely worth a try if you wanted a slightly posher burger than you can make at home.