Crafty, launch night, 30 April 2015
As a massive fan of a bbq and having had a burger and chips in most of the burger chain restaurants, I like to think that I’m a bit of a burger connoisseur! I was therefore really looking forward to going to the launch of Crafty, Leicester’s first independent burger restaurant.
Crafty is located at St Martins, home of the best coffee in Leicester and started out as a pop-up burger restaurant but due to its popularity it is now open every week on Thursday, Friday and Saturdays from 6-9pm. When we walked in our noses were hit with some great smelling food from the kitchen and a great vibe to the place as the staff looked happy and relaxed and were laughing and joking with the customers.
We sat down with a crisp tasty beer and our orange Crafty sunglasses and had a selection of starters; Homemade tortilla type crisps with homemade guacamole, fiery Korean style chicken wings with a hot sauce and ‘pigcorn poppers’. The chicken wings were definitely not your standard 3am spicy chicken wings you have after a big night out, they were delicious, a light crispy coating and really soft chicken with a nice fiery sauce that didn’t blow your head off. The star on the board were the pigcorn poppers, which were little crispy succulent pork belly bites which I could have quite easily eaten a whole plate of. At £4 a portion I would have them every time, and guard them from other people’s fingers with my life!
On to the main story, the burger and chips. I had the Farmyard Jam which was a beef patty with maple onion and bacon jam, Red Leicester and Crafty sauce. As a vegetarian, Lucy had the Smokin Shroom which was Portobello mushroom and red pepper topped off with a smoked cheddar croquette, pickled red onion and paprika aioli (aioli is garlic mayonnaise to those not in the know). When it got served to me the advice given to me was that the knife and fork are there if you wish but pick it up first and see how you get on. I knew I was in for a messy time due to all the sauces and fillings but did I care? Not one bit!
My burger came out in a soft brioche bun and was slightly pink in the middle. Now, i’m a big advocate for a slightly rare burger and it takes a brave chef to serve them in this way as a lot of people are used to their burgers overdone on the bbq. However this burger was certainly not your standard burger, it was absolutely delightful and melted in your mouth like no other burger I’d eaten. All the fillings complemented each other and I was actually quite sad when I finished it as I knew I wasn’t going to be having another one for a while (well a few days at least…). Lucy really enjoyed her Smokin Shroom burger and loved how vegetarians got such a great thought-out tasty meal and weren’t an after-thought like at some other burger chains (no names mentioned!).
Accompanying the burgers were ‘Pimped up’ fries which again showed Crafty uniqueness and provided some great flavours and textures to go with the burger. At £10 for a burger and fries at Crafty you can’t go wrong.
We just about found some space to squeeze in some delicious Peanut and Chocolate ‘Crafty Gelato’ from Gelato Village around the corner in St Martins Square. It capped off the evening nicely and we left Crafty with big grins and satisfied stomachs.
Lucy’s first question when we walked out was ‘when can we come back???’
9/10 – Best burger in Leicester! And don’t forget to try the Pigcorn Poppers!
Crafty is located in St Martin’s Square at St Martin’s Coffee. Find out further info and the full menu on the Crafty website.
Review by Alex Brown @AlexBrown9