Western Daily Press (Saturday)
Well worth the trip for a meal of cheesy, meaty magnificence
GETTING an early-morning train from Bristol to Hereford might seem a bit of a faff just for a lunchtime burger, especially with so many good ones available within walking distance of my house, but I had heard so many good things about The Beefy Boys that the round trip seemed well worth the extra effort.
Named second best burger team at the World Food Championships, The Beefy Boys was started by four chaps who grew up together at school and college and then cooked burgers at barbecues in their back gardens for friends and family.
Still regular competitors at burger championships around the world (they’re off to Dallas, Texas, in October), they have a food truck and events business but now also have a bricks-on-mortar burger restaurant in Hereford after building up their reputation through successful popups around the city.
As anybody who makes regular summer appearances with their rusty garden barbecue will know, it’s all about the quality of the burgers and The Beefy Boys use Hereford beef from a local butchers (apparently it’s 100 per cent chuck and brisket which is freshly minced every morning and never frozen) which they only season on the outside and then steam under a cloche – a nifty little trick they picked up in diners on visits to the US.
Tucked between branches of Costa Coffee and Frankie & Benny’s in the Old Market shopping centre in the heart of Hereford, The Beefy Boys has a suitably on-trend look with slate floor, reclaimed wood tables with rolls of kitchen paper and corrugated metal panels branded with the logo.
By 11.45pm – 15 minutes before they opened the doors – there was a large queue forming outside, although you can book online to save the stress of not getting a table.
Within a few minutes of the manager flipping the door sign to ‘open’, the restaurant was pretty much full with a mix of shoppers, local office workers and teenagers drinking white chocolate milkshakes and taking selfies as they waited for their burgers.
As well as an exhaustive range of burgers, there are salads, wings and sides like mac and cheese balls (breaded balls of mac and cheese with Parmesan, chives, bacon dust and spicy chipotle ketchup); chilli cheese fries (‘a big messy plate of house fries, beef chilli, nacho cheese sauce, sour cream, mustard, pickled jalapenos and chives’) and pork belly bites (twice-cooked Herefordshire pork belly with Willie Gun cider mustard sauce and crackling crumb).
This is not a place for dieters trying to perfect the perfect beach body for the summer. And if you’ve already given up on that, they even serve an Elvis Presley-inspired Peanut Butter Jelly Boy with, you guessed it, beef patty, bacon, peanut butter sauce, bacon jam, American and Swiss cheese. I’m sure there are public defibrillators nearby just in case. I started with the ninja wings (£5.50) – a pile of juicy, sticky chicken wings coated in spicy Korean BBQ sauce and speckled with sesame seeds. They were exceptional wings with plenty of meat on them and the sauce was addictive.
The burgers range from ‘the classics’ – basic burgers around the £7.50/£8.50 mark – to specials like the £9.50 Pizza Boy (beef patty, marinara sauce, breaded mozzarella, red onion, pepperoni, American cheese and Swiss cheese served with garlic and herb dip).
I went for The Beefy Boy (£8.50) which is the first burger they created so a good one to road-test on my debut visit. Inside the soft, light brioche-style bun (made by local baker Peter Cook), the thick beef patty was oozing its juices into the molten American and Swiss cheese, with crisp bacon proving a crunchy contrast to the warm lettuce, red onion and gherkins. It was a riot of cheesy, meaty magnificence and as good a burger as you’ll get this side of the Atlantic. The burger was accompanied by hot, salty fries (£2.50) and a cold bottle of Herefordshire-brewed Wye Valley Butty Bach ale.
I’m far too old to really enjoy messy finger food against an earbashing backdrop of Blink 182 – give me polished cutlery, a linen napkin and a refined dining room any time – but The Beefy Boys is burger joint par excellence and I soon found myself licking my fingers with gusto like the best of them. What a delicious day trip.
RATING
4/5