I think it’s fair to say that a Five Guys burger is an event – or at least it certainly seemed that way when I visited the newly opened restaurant in Manchester’s Trafford Centre.
Five Guys has some rather fanatical customers; to give an example, when this branch opened on Monday there were people queuing for a burger 3 hours before it opened. The staff are passionate about the food too (refreshing for what is essentially a fast food restaurant) and the novel touch of being able to totally customise your burger with a range of toppings for no extra cost all adds to the feeling that your burger has been lovingly and carefully prepared.
Arriving, I was talked through the options by the friendly staff member who took my order. The burgers aren’t cheap in comparison to other fast food chains (a meal there can easily set you back £10) so it’s worth adding a good number of the toppings.
Drinks include free refills from a machine which allows you to choose a base fizzy drink and then add a flavoured syrup if you wish. I had coke zero with orange which was less horrendous than it sounds. Again, it adds to the ‘total customisation’ experience.
My colleague and I watched as our burgers were prepared (the kitchen is entirely open to view) and it was nice to see the manager encouraging and motivating her staff. It certainly seemed to be a very pleasant working environment. The burgers arrived surprisingly quickly considering the extensive queue that had formed. I chose a cheeseburger with ketchup, mayonnaise, lettuce, tomato, gherkins, mushrooms and grilled onions. My colleague had a bacon cheeseburger with ketchup, mayonnaise and mushrooms. We decided to share a portion of chips.
Now, that sounds like a fairly standard amount of food. It wasn’t, it was huge. The chips were lovely but we didn’t need them with the burger being a meal in itself. You can get a little burger but the burgers are so delicious that I think it’s worth just filling up on them and forgoing sides.
My colleague and I agreed that this was the best fast food burger we had ever experienced. All the ingredients are fresh, nothing is frozen, and the beef patties are hand made on site each morning from prime Irish beef.
As I sat in the restaurant having finished my burger I tried to come up with a three word summary for how I felt about the burgers and my colleague piped up with the perfect description: “delicious heart attack”. I cannot wait to return.
