Crazy Awesome Take-Away

With the globalization of American fast-food chains like McDonald's, Burger King, and KFC, it must be more difficult than ever to operate a small take-away restaurant in UK and Ireland.  Fish and chips are still popular here for traditional fast food, and we have certainly enjoyed chipper meals since we've been here.  Luckily, there aren't any American chains near our home, but there is a nice little take-away shop just down the street.  The other night, we had visited a pub and were in the mood for greasy, salty goodness, so it was time to pay a visit.

The menu had what one would expect from a UK/Ireland take-away joint- fish and chips, burgers, pizza, curry, kebabs (yes, the Middle-East and Indian influence is strong in fast food here), and what I saw as a fascinating piece of foodery: the batter burger.

I had to ask the staff about the batter burger.  It was on the value menu for a price lower than a regular burger, so I wondered, could it be just fry batter shaped into a patty and placed on a bun?  What was it? 

"It's a regular beef burger patty breaded and fried instead of grilled, it's quite good!"

Nice, a breaded and fried burger.  Only in America Ireland.  It brought a bit of a tear to my eye thinking about such inspired innovation.  I simply had to try it.  Sara ordered the veggie falafel (fried and slathered in a mayo-based sauce, so don't let the 'veggie' part fool you!) and we were on our way.

We got home with our greasy brown bag of fried food and dumped it all out on our plates.  The batter burger was exactly what I had dreamed it would be.  It was served without a bun or any other encumberances, so I was able to hold it in my hand for dipping in our salty, sweet, neon-bright ketchup.  I guess the falafel was good, too...

Batter burger and veggie falafel