Monday 26 March 2012

Almost Famous Burgers - Northern Quarter, Manchester

NO PRESS NO PHOTOGRAPHY NO BLOGGERS NO BLAGGERS NO KETCHUP.  That’s a pretty strong statement on a website for any new start up.

I had to think twice about blogging this meal but to be fair they did tweet me this: “believe the fuckin hype - we're absolute professionals hell bent on serving up the best damn burgers we can”

It’s worth bearing in mind I’d only just heard of them from a chance tip off a few minutes before.  So with attitude like this I thought fuck it why the hell not?

I can’t skirt round the obvious so I’ll just make the comparison now; Almost Famous Burgers reminds me a lot of the #MeatEasy and Lucky Chip pop ups back in London Town. The decor, the cocktails in jam jars, the menu are all cut from the same cloth.

The in your face attitude of the menu is a step above anything Yianni would have written but you can definitely see they share the same influences. I'm not trying to do them a disservice here I just want to give you an idea of my expectations after looking on the website and walking in the door.

Thankfully they fucking delivered!

The cocktails are frighteningly strong; the Bitch Juice had the girls giggling in minutes, the Cut and Dry was sweet and lethal.  The drug store bandit which seemed to consist mostly of Jack Daniels with a splash of root beer was my favourite.

The fries are some of the best I've had anywhere and deserve highlighting; the Chilli Cheese fries were amazing, crisp and light with a generous serving of punchy chilli on top. I loved the Trailer Trash fries though; again crisp and delicious but smothered in a heart attack sized portion of some really good squeezy cheese and some sweet barbecue style sauce.

The signature serve is the Double Burger which blew my Northern friends away! Their words say it all: This is so dirty, I love it!

I went for the Triple Nom burger which, shit name aside, was two patties of dirty meat heaven as well. Pink juicy meat with American cheese topped with slow cooked rib meat, red neck sauce, secret sauce, and coleslaw it was a serious mouthful but oh so delicious.

I wish I had space to try the Crack Wings and Chilli Dog as well but I was done in and we had a party to get to. At the moment you'll only find them open at weekends and only for the next few weeks.

Almost Famous are more than just a copycat act, they are proper contenders so get down soon!

9 comments:

  1. Nice review! My friend was up in Manchester the other week and stumbled upon it with some friends; she isn't a burger obsessive (like me), but she couldn't stop raving about it. In my eyes, there's nothing wrong with trying to emulate the Meatwagon/easy/liquor (and soon to be /market) ethos!

    sam

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  2. Ha! Triple Nom burger - what a name! In all seriousness though, these burgers look delicious. I'm planning on visiting MeatLiquor when I go to London in a couple of weeks - this is definitely getting me in the mood : )

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  3. Nice reveiw - now just don't let them see you've blogged it!

    I've been getting excited about these burgers for a while, but sadly I have no reason to visit manchester in the near future. Next time you're there, can you find out if they do take out to London!

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  4. It's times like this I think shit! Manchester isn't that far from Leeds...

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  5. @Becs it's so easy to get to from Leeds! Go go go :^D

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  6. It's so often you hear about how rubbish food is outside London, so it's good to see this well and truly refuted here. A burger joint will always find a home, and the burgers here sound very good. Like you, i am not sure about the name though...

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  7. Fucking hipsters.

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  8. I went at weekend, the no photography in my opinion is clever marketing! I took loads of pics and they have not batted an eyelid! Amazing burgers!

    http://www.hungrytravelstyle.com/2012/07/the-almost-famous-burger-mcr.html

    Lauren

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  9. just seen this! I went a while back too. Great burger but I felt the inside was all a bit contrived?? loved the sauces though!

    http://www.burgersandbruce.com/2012/08/almost-famous-manchester_28.html

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