Handmade Burger Co.

Handmade Burger Co. is a chain of 20 restaurants around the country, primarily in the North. Their ethos is big on fresh and hand made, from their burgers to their buns to their chips, so although I dine in chain restaurants, I don't usually blog about them, but this time I made an exception when I decided to visit their newest restaurant in Spinningfields in Manchester, with a few friends. 

The venue was nicely laid out, bright, and spacious, but I'm still not sold on the gritty/industrial/rough-and-ready thing that so many burger places have going for them lately. This place's stripped floors, bare sanded walls, and thinly one-coated painted chimney breasts etc didn't really do it for me. In the entryway and at the kitchen there are lovely old fashioned brick-set glazed tiles and green decorative glazed trim. This throughout would've looked really nice. It's also fair to point out that the toilets were nicely decorated and appointed. There are two toilets, both are unisex, and each is its own self-contained room, complete with sink and hand-dryer etc.

The staff were fab! Friendly and knowledgeable, and giving a good service all round! Everyone from the servers to the smiling chefs in the kitchen were all young, enthusiastic, and full of energy.

Before we joined our friends, my partner and I had ordered milkshake each (he had butterscotch, I had strawberry), and we both agreed they were superb, and we enjoyed them thoroughly! They cooled us down after quite a clammy day, and were thick, cold, and loaded with enough ice cream to give me an ice cream head ache (but it was totally worth it!)

Now for the food. The first thing you'll really notice as you open the menus is that there is an overwhelming amount of choice, with over 40 burgers, as well as other foods, sides, desserts etc. I enjoyed that there was a good range, but I think the menu could easily be pared down a bit to say 10 really good burgers, so that the choice is a bit easier than having to carefully read three pages before you decide.

The rather overwhelming menu

The food was good on the whole, but to me it varied. I ordered the classic cheese burger, which for a grilled burger was really juicy and tasty, but the burger bun itself was quite starchy and it started to fall apart quite quickly, something I noticed with my friends' burgers too! My partner ordered his smoky chicken burger in a pitta, which the staff were happy to do, and which he said tasted lovely. The sides however were only ok... the corn was great, the chips were poor (tasted like chippy chips that had gone cold and been reheated in a fryer), which was a shame as their menu gushes about their quality of their chips, and our onion rings never turned up, but we tried some of our friends onion rings instead. Not bad but quite batter tasting, but I'd certainly order them again.

Tell me those don't look like chippy chips

It's surprisingly hard to take a good shot of a burger!

The drinks were good too, with options from beer and wine, to Fentimans soft drinks, Rekorderlig flavoured ciders, milkshakes, and standard soda fountain drinks.

For me the other highlight was the desserts, which were delicious! Big tasty sundaes! Our group tried a chocolate one and a lemon meringue one, the latter being my favourite, with lemon curd, loads of cream, and lots of delicious crumbly meringue pieces! Yum! I'd come here again just for the desserts! 

All in all, I'd visit again, perhaps just for a burger at lunchtime, or on a hot summer's day for one of those lovely big ice cream sundaes! Definitely worth checking out if you're in the area :)




Handmade Burger Co.

The Old Courthouse
184 Deansgate
Manchester
M3 3WB
(0161) 832 0708

www.handmadeburger.co.uk