Burgers!
The eagerly awaited (at least in this office...) new menu from Atomic Burger is now live, so we were forced to test a number of burger options. Oh the hardship! Service was quick even on a pretty good sized order, and we came to some conclusions regarding the updates.
First off, new menu new puns, of course, and some other changes like a total lack of refried beans. Am I the only person who liked them? That of course means the Johnny Cash burger is no more. Maybe no-one ordered it on account of the unsavoury image it provoked. Anyway, it's been replaced with (among other things) the Scott Pilgrim complete with jerk sauce. So I don't think Johnny Cash was replaced because of good taste. I got lost somewhere in the hinterland of the Atomic Pizza menu which thoroughly confused me. The website is now a little more labyrinthine than it was, and I could only find the wrong phone number. I think it was low blood sugar.
Consensus on the actual food was that it has improved - variously that the buns, fries and burger patties are all better than before. The veggie burger was good-flavoured and solid, and quite meaty in texture (a good thing). We liked the extra bits of pickle, but we were all suspicious of the teeny plastic pot of coleslaw. Not many were eaten, and we felt it was a waste of packaging, coleslaw and someone's time to fill them up. We would have liked to be offered it, but we would all have declined.
Burgerwise, the Molly Ringwald was very popular (camembert, crispy bacon and cranberry sauce), as was Elisabeth Shue (camembert, prosciutto and loads of sauces). Camembert was held to be a good thing on a burger - like bacon and brie. "Two great things made greater than the sum of its parts." The only criticisms were that more camembert might be good, and that bacon might be better than prosciutto (ie get a Molly Ringwald not an Elisabeth Shue).
We also had some Boris Karloffs, and a Dead Elvis, which haven't changed. I'd heartily recommend a trio of guacamole, garlic mayo and fried onions on a BK. The Elvis eater was pleased that a lone request of a well-done burger was heeded. Our most dissatisfied diner felt her medium burger wasn't medium enough, but most people seemed happy.
The fries and sci fries were heartily approved of (delicious and crispy) as were the sweet potato fries. Dirty fries were "a bit soggy" - not surprising as they're topped with beef chilli, cheddar and jalapenos. But if physics could be manipulated so they didn't go soggy that would, apparently, be better. The bun has always been a bit contentious, and people felt it was better but not perfect, as it is a bit big and leads to a slightly wrong ratio. But a solution was not agreed upon, and going down the brioche bun route would be totally wrong. The gluten-free bun was excellent, and possibly better on the size front than the normal buns. They had also helpfully labelled the boxes (depressingly polystyrene) so the gluten free and veggie burgers were easy to identify.
And finally we got plenty of vimto lollies with our excessively larger order, which went down well. Prices have gone up a bit, but we felt the quality has gone up more. Approve.