Where it all started...
Captain Americas, this is where it all began, the downward spiral in which I tumbled quickly down into burger perfection, only to be tormented upon reaching the flaming grillpocalypse at the bottom with unbearably overcooked meat. What am I going on about and what does this have to do with my review you might ask? A long time ago, in a place far far up a flight of steps I had my first ever medium rare burger. Captain Americas took me on a rollercoaster ride of pure taste. It was like a party in the mouth to which a socially acceptable number of people were invited, and maybe Darren Huckerby too. In the months to follow the meat became more and more overcooked, promises of medium pink burgers ended in disappointment and an overall not that good dining experience. My love had ended just before it had truly began.
Until the day when I heard a rumour that Captain A's had cursed the health inspector and cast his and slash or hers draconian views aside (I'm still certain that's an excuse and it's not a real person).
So, the burger
I went for the deluxe: 'the classic, melted cheese, lettuce, onion, dill pickle, and mayonnaise, with crispy bacon as extra. Totalling a whopping £11.20 for a half pounder plus the 65p for bacon. It was a Saturday why not treat myself, and my word that was a lot of food for minimal sterling. After selecting a burger the waiter lunged straight in with the all important question 'how would I like it cooked?'. Ticket to taste sensation booked. Now let's get one thing straight, the bun, the dressings, they are all fairly standard middle of the road, bought in from makro* would be my guess, all the focus is on the meat. Which, is high quality, well seasoned and pink as hell! It's an American diner so for that I don't want fancy brioche, I don't want onion marmalade, i don't want chips served in a small pot on a large plank of wood and certainly don't want to look presentable and civilised whilst on a date. This was packed to the brim, overflowing and messy. Just what you expect with American food. So the burger slice produced a 10/10 cooking on the burger, the half pounder is essential as the rest of the burger isn't anything spectacular so you need as much meat as possible, never a bad thing! (unless you're vegetarian of course). The pickles cut through the rich meaty texture perfectly whilst the good amount of lettuce added a well needed freshness. Overall it was a very well balance piece of eating and really accentuated the burger. Now a point worth mentioning, although the flavour of the bacon was incredible, it was not in fact crispy at all. If you advertise it as crisp, make it crisp. Grill the thing until it's like a Jacobs cream cracker.
Too messy for instagram...
The fries
Not the best I will admit, again I'm guessing some sort of mass purchased makro style fry. These would be ok if they were fried until insanely crispy and seasoned whilst still piping hot and slightly oiled. Unfortunately they were a tad anaemic, and not seasoned at all. Genuinely think McDonalds could of achieved higher. One thing they did win on was quantity, though limp they were edible and in vast quantity. It took me a solid 10 minutes of eating to discover my plate.
...Salad
A pile of lettuce, tomato, onion and cress. A palate cleanser maybe?
Overall
I have to also add we weren't offered drinks at all during our meal, so service was not quite there. I know it was a busy Saturday, but the place is tiny so not really an excuse. If I was to judge burger alone I would opt at possibly an 8.5/10 purely based on the 'patty' itself. however taking other aspects into consideration I'm having to knock down a few points.
7.5/10
Captain Americas Hamburger Heaven
4 Exchange street
NR2 1AT
*Makro: A bulk buy wholesalers of some description, they sell everything anyone could possibly ever need in ridiculous quantities at fairly low (tax free) prices for businesses.