BILLED at one stage – including by this newspaper – as a ‘luxury’ burger restaurant, Frankie’s opened to much clamour at the former Pitchers bar in Blackburn at the turn of the year.
Truth is, there’s not really such a thing as a luxury burger. Unless you’re buying it from Harrods, or it comes on a gold plate, it’s just a burger.
These kinds of places do a good burger, yes, with more effort and quality than your average burger van patty – or a Big Mac, for that matter – but I'm not convinced that a burger can ever *really* be luxury.
It would be like calling Nando’s a luxury chicken restaurant – not that there's anything wrong with Nando's – and not that the restaurant itself ever claimed to be luxury.
I visited on a wet Wednesday in Wetuary and it was relatively busy for a mid-week lunch service.
There was ample space for parking outside (only joking, don't park on the pavement, folks) and I was greeted with a smile and a simple explanation of how things work.
There’s no table service as such. You order at the till, then you are given one of those big buzzy flashing pagers, like you get when you go bowling to tell you when your your food is ready.
I’d normally try to give you a full flavour of the menu, but I wasn't going to order a three-course banquet when I had a 30 minute lunch break and a crunch meeting with my boss that afternoon.
The menu has a decent range of beef and chicken, in various guises, each burger with a wild and wonderful name.
Was it going to be the Moody Angus (beef) or did I fancy a Hot Mama (chicken)?
Luckily, I didn't have to choose. Here, you can have the gloriously bizarre Double Whammy – which has both. A bit like surf and turf, but actually, just turf and more turf.
It seems a bit wrong to have chicken and beef together on a burger but it wasn't that weird. It tasted good, as you might expect from anything which contains half your weekly allowance of fat and salt, and had a decent kick, without being too spicy, thanks to a sprinkling of jalepenos and a delicate peri peri sauce.
READ MORE > Pitchers sold for £230,000 to become new burger restaurant
You can 'pimp' your burger, should you so wish, with a fried egg, onion rings, an extra burger, or all three.
It comes, chicken-in-a-basket-style, in one of those red plastic trays, with near perfect skin-on fries and a can of pop.
At £7.99 it doesn’t break the bank. About a third more expensive than a Maccy D’s – but you get more bang for your buck, and it’s a nicer environment.
READ MORE > First look inside new Frankie's burger restaurant
Frankie's is a welcome addition to Blackburn’s nascent restaurant scene, and judging by the crowds there in an evening, this venture, unlike a couple of others nearby, should be a success.
A nice place to treat the kids, grab a bite for lunch or go for a pre-show meal before watching whichever '90s band are gracing the stage at King George’s Hall that week, Frankie's is like Nando's for burgers – and it's surely here to stay.
Frankie's, Pitchers Bar, Salford, Blackburn, BB1 5BD www.frankiesburgers.co.uk Telephone: 01254 926749
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