Annie’s Burger Shack for a light bite on a Friday Night?

This Friday we were out and about in the Lace Market and somehow perhaps by some kind of divine dining intervention we found ourselves at Annie’s Burger Shack. Now I have dined here before on many an occasion, and it is pretty well established that I find Annie to serve the best goddam burgers in the City, and almost everyone tells me the same thing too, so what stops us dining here more often?

Well tonight I was to find that two of the reasons for not frequenting her doors more often were in fact false, just myths. perhaps whispers that we had heard on the wind or hot air drifting across the public bar.

What are those reasons? those common things people tell me when talking about Annie’s?

“You can’t get a table and it is always booked up” and “The burgers are just too big”.

Well here is the thing, I realised that is just ‘hokum and bunkum’!

I have never booked, and even on a Friday night I have just walked in around 6-7 o clock and been able to get a table for two. OK sometimes I have to wait at the bar for 15-20 mins but hey they serve excellent beer here so that is not a great hardship. Note I am quite lucky 🙂

Yes if you do choose one of the burgers with a lot of toppings it will be huge, but you know if you want a burger with your Sunday dinner on top of it what do you expect? I mean its not rocket science to imagine that it might be rather a lot of food to eat.

The key then must be to choose sensibly from the menu? So this time I did and you know what it worked, as I ate comfortably and was gently replete as opposed to being stuffed.

It was a straight choice between the Bacon Blues, the Bacon Cheddar, and the Mushroom Swiss, all classic simple variations on the cheese burger.

The Mushroom Swiss won, just as it did on my first ever visit to Annie’s at the Navigation back in 2012

Mushroom Swiss

The Mushroom Swiss is one of my all time favourite burger toppings. It is clean and simple, with well balanced, and time tested, flavour combinations. With all of the other ‘in your face’ combinations that you can choose from at Annie’s it is sometimes just too easy to over look the classics.

Lets not forget that this is a classic burger, the simple description on the menu of ‘sautéed mushrooms and melted Swiss cheese’ is an understatement in itself. It just does not fully express the joyous way that it makes my tastebuds sing as I eat one. Having said that it does not need a clever name as it is just good as it is described.

Truly a delight to eat.

The Thin Lizzy

OK so we had the classic and then now it was time to play in the fun section of the menu with The Thin Lizzy which is an Annie’s classic in itself. What you have here is a burger topped with Guinness soaked sautéed red onions and mushrooms in a home made gravy topped with melted cheese.

Yum juicy and flavoursome, this could be a messy affair with gravy dripping down your fingers and cheeks. If ever there was a 5 napkin burger this could be one.

Size wise this also is quite a sensible choice here at Annie’s as you can eat one, drink a pint of one of their excellent real ales and still be able to waddle walk away from the table with your waistline an belt-buckle relatively intact .

The Menu Temptation

So did I learn anything new today? Yes I learnt that usually when I have dined at Annie’s Burger Shack my eyes have been bigger than my belly! Although I do like to tuck into one of her larger more expansive combinations, it may well be that the key to surviving without needing a really long lie down with your top belt buckle undone is in fact moderation. Is that as much fun? well maybe and maybe not.

Just for the record I had to hold firm and strong with my mental resolve as I just settled for that modest Mushroom and Swiss burger. Just below her on the menu The New England Yankee Brisket lay in wait trying to tempt me in with it’s stack of ‘slice tender homemade brisket beef topped with melted American cheese’ and just a few inches further I my senses were being pelted with the offer of The North Carolina ‘topped with 8 hour slow cooked BBQ’d pulled pork’.

Christ on a bike, it is not easy writing this food blog with some much temptation on offer!