07\ THE FAT HIPPO BURGER
Fat Hippo, 2-6 Shakespeare Street, Newcastle upon Tyne
FLIP OFF DOMS
“We’re not about fancy cuisine,” says Mike Phillips, founder of Fat Hippo. “We serve the ultimate comfort food – good old dirty burgers filled with high-quality, gourmet ingredients.” It helps, too, that a single serving will crush your daily macros in one monstrous swoop.
Its signature item is the eponymous Fat Hippo burger, a protein-stacked, double 114g beefburger with cheese, lean bacon, chorizo, onion rings and the company’s secret sauce – all crammed into a brioche bun. And while you’d have to be a literal hulk of a man to stand a chance of synthesising its 42g of protein (or near-equal measure of galvanising fats), it does form the perfect fuel for the most hardcore of workouts.
Patties are made from scratch, blending various cuts of meat to create the perfect balance of fat and protein, helping to power your endurance, muscle growth and recovery without overloading you with waist-expanding carbs. While 1166 calories in a meal may sound like a lot, remember you can’t pull your deadlift PB on willpower alone.
As Phillips says, quoting TV show How I Met Your Mother, “This is no mere sandwich of grilled meat and toasted bread. This is God, speaking to us in food.”