CHEESEBURGER CHALLENGE
PIZZA MAFIA INTRODUCES GIANT QUINTUPLE BURGER
MAMMOTH 8in burgers have made their way onto a Hull takeaway’s menu – and we had to try the greasy ground beef towers for ourselves.
As a major foodie, when I was made aware of some gut-wrenching 8in “impossible to complete” burgers on my doorstep, I knew it was something I had to see for my own eyes.
Pizza Mafia in Princes Avenue, west Hull, has released its new menus – dedicating an entire section to the “Mafia 8in Special Burgers”.
There are five to choose from with each beastly burger bun filled with eye-watering amounts of beef and/or chicken, complete with an array of takeaway delicacies including onion rings, doner meat, hash browns, chips and cheese.
Lemi Gezer, owner of the takeaway, which opened in November last year, said he hopes to open Pizza Mafia up to customers to challenge one another to see who can finish the “monster burgers” – to see how many people can eat and who can finish the fastest.
He said: “I don’t think any other takeaway does it in Hull at the minute – it became the most popular thing on our menu in just one week.
“I get tonnes of messages literally every night with people saying they are proper stuffed – many get half way through and just give up on it, there are many different outcomes.”
Lemi says people ordering the burger have seen the challenge as a bit of fun in lockdown when there aren’t many things to do, and loves seeing people attempting to take on his invention.
After being told by Lemi that each burger was “more crazy than each other”, we decided to go for the traditional option, the “Bouncer Special”, which consisted of one large 8in bun topped with five beef burger patties, five slices of cheddar cheese and a mountain chip spice fries and mozzarella.
Departing from Pizza Mafia with the burger, which was given to us in a 10in pizza box, I was left with a tingling sense of nerves as I prepared my mind, body and soul to take on large bun of minced beef.
Opening the box, angst consumed me as the waft of melting cheese hit me in the face. I realised I now had to take on the challenge set in front of me.
Picking up the thick bun, I could feel the pure weight behind the beef inside ...
THE FIRST BITE
Using a knife and fork after realising a hands-on approach would not suffice in these circumstances, I took my first bite – hot meat, melted cheese and chips filled my mouth – which would normally leave me feeling satisfied, but the looming feeling that I still had 7.5in of burger to go made me slightly concerned.
With beads of sweat forming, as I thought of the 567 grams of beef and a bucket of chips all smothered in cheese, I took a second bite. Despite the taste sensation and reluctance to admit defeat, there was no way I could continue. Not because I wasn’t confident in my abilities to take on the entire dish, because I could, but there was no way I was prepared to force 8,000 calories worth of burger into my body.
PASSING THE TORCH
Much to my housemate’s delight and with only two tiny bites taken from his idea of heaven, he went on to consume the entire thing in the space of around 30 minutes, taking a short interlude to walk off some of the thick beef and melting cheese.
Speaking of the bread fuelled meal, he said: “It was more about the challenge for me, which left me feeling in need of a nap – sort of like after a Sunday dinner.”
THE RESULT
He rated the burger a seven out of ten in terms of difficulty to complete, describing the taste as “like eating five traditional takeaway burgers in one”, and from my two bites of the beast, I would agree.
THE AFTERMATH
My housemate’s condition the following morning left his plans of a run “hindered” as he felt “slightly sluggish”, but otherwise was fully functional and continued to eat scrambled eggs for breakfast.