A hot weekend calls for a seaside trip. Ask our son and he’ll always choose Felixstowe, but we did it with a difference this time, visiting the port and wandering round the nature reserve before spending some time on the beach.
Before all that, though, we needed some lunch, and Beach Street Felixstowe came calling.
If you’ve never been to Beach Street, you’re missing out. Built from colourful shipping containers, it’s home to an ever-growing collection of independent food and drink (and other) businesses, meaning every member of your group can choose exactly what they fancy. For our son, it meant a slice of pizza from Slices Pizza 2 Go, while we had our sights set firmly on Bertram Black’s.
The team behind Bertram Black’s are also the people behind The Forge Kitchen in Ipswich, which has earned itself a great reputation for quality burgers and smoked food. We’ve not yet made it over there, so our trip to Bertram Black’s served as a great introduction to what they’re all about.
As with most of the vendors at Beach Street, you order at the counter before being given a buzzer that lets you know when your food is ready to collect. There’s seating both inside and out, as well as a takeaway option if you’re heading back to the beach. With the hot summer sun beating down relentlessly, the shaded indoors won on this occasion, and we were happy to stay cool while admiring the fantastic artwork covering the walls.
When our buzzer sounded, we collected our brown paper bag containing our order, grabbing a couple of sachets of Stokes Sauces to mop up with the fries.
Then came the first clue that we’d chosen a winning lunch venue…
…latex gloves.
If a burger restaurant hands you gloves as standard, you know things are about to get deliciously messy!
Before tackling the burgers, we dived into the skin-on fries (£3.90 a portion). The serving size was generous, and the fries were perfectly crisp, fluffy in the middle, piping hot and well-seasoned.
My husband went for the Smokin’ Swine burger (£12.90), which wasn’t short on fillings. Two smashed beef patties were layered inside a beef tallow-brushed sesame seed brioche bun with double American cheese, Swiss cheese, home-smoked BBQ pulled pork, caramelised apple sauce and pickled red cabbage, the top of the bun sprinkled with honey crispy onions and bacon crumble. It looked every bit as outrageous as it sounded and was certainly messy to eat. His reaction, though, suggested that he thoroughly enjoyed his first Bertram Black’s experience.
I went a bit more traditional with The Forge burger (£11.90). Again, it featured two beautifully juicy smashed beef patties, double American cheese and Swiss cheese, but mine was simpler, with the addition of beer & black treacle bacon, pickles and burger sauce.
There was no doubt as to the quality of the beef: the patties were rich, juicy and packed full of flavour. That bacon was absolutely incredible too, smoky and sweet. Even with all those toppings, the burger held together surprisingly well (I passed on the gloves!)
If I were being really picky, I’d have preferred the pickles sliced a little thinner – I think they’d sit better within the burger that way and make the whole thing easier to eat. That’s totally down to personal preference, though: there was no fault with the food itself.
We were really impressed with how well everything was executed at Bertram Black’s: a winning combination of quality ingredients, great cooking and brilliant combinations of toppings. We left Beach Street full and happy, and with a promise to make a trip over to Ipswich and The Forge Kitchen to try even more of what the brand has to offer.
A trip to the seaside normally comes with a side of fish and chips, but I’d highly recommend switching that up for a burger on your next visit, and giving Bertram Black’s a go.
Just don’t forget the gloves…