France Special | apples-burger-blog

Les Frangins

Lyon, France

Purpose: Burger Assessment
Good for: Taking A Break
Verdict: Following a typically Lyon pleasant welcome, came a pleasant burger experience. The outside seats just off the square (Place Bellecour) to be accurate, between the old and new towns (a guess middle town between the Saone and Rhone rivers) affords fine people watching and rest. The star of the show was undoubtedly the burger, a nice composite taste of meat, salad, cheese and poppy seeds. None of the parts really stood out, although the patty had a nice crust, which didn't stop it being a nice pink inthe middle, but the whole was a fine burger - which was good because the fries were terrible skin on sogginess (unless you like that). A compact but bijou drinks list included normal draughts and a couple of high strength Belgians.
Burger: Have the onion rings.
Cost: ££
Web: https://www.facebook.com/lesfranginsJR/menu/
Stars: ****

Lyon (Rue Merciere), France

Purpose: Burger Assessment
Good for: Frenchness
Verdict: Anywhere describing itself as King anything, with us vs McDonald's imagery (amusing it may be), and a tag line of "My burger is French" is going to be fair game, but they managed to almost live up to the promise. The big problem was that the basic burger patty was too small - despite being nicely cooked on a flat top it was a bit drowned, especially by the pickle which was nice but too much for the delicate meat and cheese. The beef itself was tasty, and nicely "a pointe" as we say. Fries were pretty good as well, and there were a couple of beers and wines, not a great selection but there's a pub opposite.
Burger: Too small - have the "King".
Cost: ££
Web: http://www.kingmarcel.fr/t/lacarte
Stars: ***

9 impasse Honset, Quartier du Chateau, Pau 6400

Purpose: Burger Assessment
Good for: LGBT chic
Verdict: Having failed on the other Pau burger assessments, and I like to have at least two from a new town, basically because they're not open when I want them to be - i.e. between 14:00 and 18:45, plus losing the image of the burger from King Kech (OK burger, standard sauce like Big Mac sauce, fries really good, no beer - in case you're interested), I was happy to find this quirky café selling burgers near the Chateau (worth a tour). The burger was pretty good, reasonably tasty flat top patty, salad, bun held together OK, only really let down by a hint of garlic in the sauce which I really didn't get on with. Less said about the chips/wedges the better, but a good range of wines and a couple of beers.
Burger: Gout.
Cost: £££
Web: http://www.lechabada64.com/menu.html
Stars: ***

51 Rue de Taur, Toulose

Purpose: Burger Assessment
Good for: Frenchness
Verdict: Because I was on holiday, I dropped my base Cheeseburger requirement and went a step up to the Highlander and I'm glad that I did - I suspect the 115g Cheeseburger would have been a "normal" patty (but I could be wrong, feel free not to let me know) whereas the 150g local beef patty was properly different - it was the usual French medium (I was asked) which means very rare, and really coarsely ground. It was like eating chopped stead, as opposed to ground, interesting in a good way. I was surprised it held together at all. Added to the rare meat was a nice charred crust and the posh blue cheese (AOP St Nectaire, google it) added a good deep flavour without obscuring the meat taste. The seeded bun made it to the end, and the salad didn't interfere at all. A really nice selection of beers topped it off, with the only bum note the skin on fries which the French manage to generically cook to a simultaneous burnt and soggy, quite a feat. Stick to Fries.
Burger: Bit like me in the sun, chunky and pink
Cost: £££

Purpose: Burger Assessment
Good for: Jeunesse urbain
Verdict: After much French cuisine, time to refresh the stomach with a good old burger - so a new place to me whilst wandering from the Seine to the Arc de Triomphe on Aveue Leber. Burger was pretty good, only let down by the disintegrating bun; good meat texture and a little taste, nice cheese, the house sauce also passed muster with some pickle bite to add to the effect. On the whole a good effort, but could have been significantly better with a decent bun and some char to the patty. Reasonable Fries, which should be a given in France, but actually isn't any more. Beers disappointing limited to U.S options, why not Frenach craft beer I wonder? No advertised wine but they had some, so ask.
Burger: Gout
Cost: £££