The GBK Duck Confit Burger
I did a pretty good job of ignoring GBK alerting my inbox of the presence of a new Duck Confit Burger from New Zealand chef and original GBK menu creator Peter Gordon, until I saw somebody else caving on Instagram. And then it was all over for me; I engineered a trip to Brent Cross the next day.
I like GBK. I think they do great burgers (albeit with slightly too whacky accompaniments - yes Kiwi burger, I'm looking at you) and as with all chains, you kind of know what you're going to get, don't you. Aside from Carluccios and Leon, acceptable eateries are fairly thin on the ground in Brent Cross too, so the prospect of a duck confit burger in a shopping centre rather than having to get down to Borough Market for one is quite novel.
Here's the full menu from Peter Gordon:
The banana biscoff milkshake sounded out of this world (I ate my bodyweight in lotus biscuits when I worked in a coffee shop at uni), but I'd made this mistake before and there was no way 1000 calories of dairy was standing in the way of me being able to manage the hallowed confit. I compromised with an organic beer instead, feeling nigh on virtuous:
It's also gluten free, which is brilliant news for actual coeliacs (no point avoiding gluten in things like bread/pasta if you're not; the alternatives are often full of fat and sugar and not healthy at all, just eat fewer carbs). Very refreshing and tasty.
Onto the burger. If you saw my post on Spielburger, you'll know my thoughts on the brioche bun already but suffice to say it was well baked and well grilled but overly sweet.
The duck was portioned generously and sumptuously pullable, as expected after hours of slowly bathing in its own fat. The rocket provided a clean, peppery bite and the cheddar was mature enough to add depth to the flavour of the burger and not just more squidgy fattiness. The pate was lost in the mix and the ginger chilli jam a bit too sweet again with the brioche / onion combo, but with a lot more chilli would have been great - I like spice a lot though. The supposed crispy onions were not.
We rounded off the meal with the dukkah and tamarind sweet potato fries which I thought were good and interesting but R found to have an odd smell. Swings and roundabouts.
Go and try for yourselves and see what you think. It's what I'll be eating there until they bring back the Pesterella!
PS. R had the Persian Lamb special which was a knock out. Two burgers, drinks and a couple of sides came to £40.