The Lion at Basford is one of the pubs along the Nottingham Tram Line that should be on your list of pubs to visit. It has a lot going for it; a fantastic selection of beers and real ales, a lot of regular good music, and for a writer of a food blog and self confessed glutton, some pretty good food.

The primary reason for our visit here today is to sample the offerings from the Rock ‘N’ Roll Burger Company, but we are also here for the beer too. They offer around 10 different beers on tap at any one time including a lot of local beers including those from the Blue Monkey, Castle Rock, Oakham, Navigation, Shipstones, and the Nottingham Brewery. You should also look out for the offerings from the closest brewery, The Black Iris Brewery which is no more than 100 yards from the back door! I am loving the beer local scene right now!

It is so easy to get here from the city, you just have to jump onto the tram and ride it up to the Shipstone Street Tram Stop. Once there just look to your right and you can see the back door to the place just 1 minute away up the rise.

So foodwise, as noted above, it is the home of the Rock ‘N’ Roll Burger Company. I have had my eye on this place for months now so tonight was the night and we were riding that tram from the City over to Basford specifically to sample their fare. I had been reading the menu online for weeks and had in mind what I would be eating but I was open to be swayed if I saw something special.

The menu starts well “All burgers are served with salad in a sweet and buttery brioche bun with fries and homemade slaw on the side, topped with beer battered onion rings”. We have not even started to talk about the burgers themselves yet and it all sounds mouth-wateringly delicious, Yum!

The menu itself is in the form of a playbill for a Rock ‘N’ Roll gig with each burgers themed on a famous singer or music style. You need to read between the lines to find the burger topping of your choice. As always I found so many things that I wanted to eat, but in keeping with recent blog tradition I will tell you about what we did eat before I tempt you with other items on the menu that we could have eaten. Tweet me if you fancy coming with me to eat some of those other dishes by the way 🙂 @myfoodhunt I am always just a tweet away from the next myfoodhunt outing.

We ate this —–>

“Wake Up Little Susie”

My Choice was the burger called ‘Wake up Little Susie’. It is billed on the burger playbill just like this;

I could not resist ordering this particular burger topping combination as I am a total slut for a fried egg on top of my burger patty. I thought that the highlight was going to be that fried egg complete with a runny yolk, but the star was actually that whole grilled Portobello mushroom. I hate to admit it, but the combination of that meaty mushroom with the egg was so good that I would eat that alone without the burger.

This a phenomenal combination to put on top of your burger, but there is just one problem, you need a bigger and stronger burger bun to contain all that goodness. Structurally it was tricky to eat, it is was too big to put in your mouth and falls apart as you eat it and back into the bowl. Just like many other ‘massive burgers’ being sold in this city of ours. So hey ho that is how it rolls.

Now I don’t mind so much as I can eat a messy burger with the best of them, but having said that, I do like to be able to get a bite of all the components with each bite of my burger. Just while holding that sandwich in my hand. So I think what I am saying is give me an even bigger bread bun that can hold all that lovely stuff without breaking apart under the stress of feeding us hungry burger munching bar hopping dudes!

There is no place for a burger on my plate that I have to use a knife and fork to eat, but there is however a place for a burger on my plate topped with Fried Egg, Bacon, and Mushroom. When it comes to my burgers I will forgive all for the perfect combination of topping.

The Johnny Cash Burger

My erstwhile dining and beer supping companion Martin opted for the “Johnny Cash” Burger which did in theory based on the menu appear to be a more sensible choice.

This was essentially your traditional bacon cheeseburger all dressed up with a fancy name. It looked every bit the show star though when it arrived on it’s plate (or plastic basket). It was a far more manageable affair and if I was not such a ‘fried egg slut’ I would have had this, only my eyes were bigger than my stomach once more and I just had to order a burger with a whole load more.

Other stuff I fancy eating

Even though I had spent time planning this trip and had been checking out the menu, I had failed to see their latest offerings “The Hound Dogs” a whole selection of 12″ Pork Sausages in buns. This was tempting but I really had my sights on a burger and anyway I am not so sure about this (yet). I like (actually love) a good hot dog,I know my hot dogs, random encased meats, all beef Franks and the like. So if this is a really good ‘sausage sandwich in a bap’ then I am on board. Can we call is a sausage bap instead? saw a couple being eaten and they looked like pretty decent ‘sausage sandwiches in a bun’. I might come back for one, but there are a few other sandwiches I would like to try instead.

Although I am generally pretty rude about pulled pork offerings I do really like the way that they describe the pulled pork burger “The King” here at the Rock ‘N’ Roll Burger Co. I am assuming that this is just a big bun filled with pulled pork and it sounds good . Cajun spices? Yep that’s for me, ‘fried onions, cheddar cheese, smoky BBQ sauce’ on paper this sounds awesome, will have to try this on a plate.

The Tamla Motown sounds like my kind of burger ‘A burger with soul’? I hear you sister, ‘Venison Pattie topped with Melted Blue Cheese’? I am intrigued. I have to try this too. I love a Venison Burger!

The last item on the Menu that I feel I need to try is the “The Bluegrass Burger” as I love my Cajun southern style food. It says that there is a taste of the Bayou and after all my trips to NOLA Lousiana I hope that this could live up to expectations. I would give this a go when I am in the mood for a chicken sandwich.

I love eating and drinking at the Lion at Basford. The food was good and the beers excellent. To get here ride that Tram up to Shipstones Street. The official address is at 44 Moseley Street New Basford, but you can also walk in the back door from Shipstones Street.

Beer wise I have to quote them from the website;

“The real success of the Lion however comes from the exposure that is given to local and regional micro breweries. In the past 12 months over 500 different ales from micros have been on sale. These include many local to Nottingham including Nottingham Brewery, Mallard, Magpie, Milestone, Springhead and Castlerock. Kelham Island, Abbeydale and Ossett from Yorkshire have always proved popular. As have those from further south like Hook Norton, Crouch Vale, Exmoor, and many others.”

I like the beer and the burgers, in no particular order!

You can follow them on Twitter and Check them out also on their Facebook page