If you read my post on Rosie's Diner you will of already seen me talk about the rise of burger joints and american style food restaurants in Leeds pop up in the last year or so. (You will also notice I've exceeded myself in pigging out this bank holiday) In fact I've got a little list of burger joints to try. I previously mentioned I'm not a massive burger fan but I am slowly becoming converted and the Twisted Burger Company really caught my eye when I noticed a review on twitter recently. Plus as the original TBC joint starting in Sheffield i felt a little more drawn to the place seeing as it has original northern roots. Plus Bring Me The Horizons front man Mr Oli Sykes has also designed his own vegetarian burger for the menu.
Located at Aire Bar at the bottom of Call Lane seems a good choice for the new burger joint. The bar/restaurant was fairly busy and the new menu seemed to be going down well. I've always been a fan of Aire Bar, it's a good choice for quiet drinks although it always seems to have a nice atmosphere (does that make sense?).
Shall we move on to the food? I think so. Firstly what drew me in was the quirky menu with rather cool burger names. Sitting down the menu took a bit of reading to decide exactly what I wanted and I also found it slightly confusing. I was impressed that out of the 9 burger choices 2 were veggie options. I'm not a vegetarian but it was refreshing to see there was more than 1 options, or in fact a vegetarian option at all. What I found slightly weird was the fact all the burgers were double burgers. There didn't seem any need for it. It would of been nicer to have the option to add this as an extra. The burgers also came with no side dish. Although the burgers weren't expensive it would of been nice for a choice of side.
I finally decided on the return of the mac burger. Double bacon patty, mac n cheese, home made pesto and harley house relish. Although the menu clearly states bacon patty I was still expecting a traditional beef burger with bacon as a topping, it was in fact a bacon patty. It was a bit taken a back by this but it was in fact delicious. The mac n cheese topping (my main reason for ordering this) was a little sparse. I did hear the waiter telling the next table they was then sold out of the return of the mac burger so I'm guessing I received the last portion. The pesto and mac n cheese did make this taste slightly more pizzaesk than a burger but it was still enjoyable.
Now lets discuss the side dishes. Why not eh? I'm a sucker for jalapeños and when I saw the big poppa bites (deep fried jalapeños with smoked cheese dip) I was sold. I was expecting breaded deep fried jalapeños so it was nice to the crispy slices. The cheese dip wasn't anything special but It was a really nice side dish and not something I've seen on other menus. My friend ordered a side of fries which we both thought was weird how they came with the burger not on a separate plate. This was a little weird as we may have wanted to share them, it also left little room for "burger deconstruction".
Overall I enjoyed the food. The menu was cool and I think this is what will draw in the customers over the actual food. The burger was nice and good value and I would happily return again and again for a cheap eat. I feel the menu needs to be a little more thought out. Most the side options appear as full dishes and as much as I would of loved to order the Jalapeño business fries (Fries topped with cheese, guacamole, sour cream, harley house relish, diced jalapeños on top of seasoned fries with a whole chilli topping) this seems more like a main course or lunch time bite than a side dish. Also my friend could help but point out repeatedly "where are the onion rings"
Have you checked out the Twisted Burger Company?
Sammie