Best Burgers is thrilled to be a finalist in the Great NZ Toastie Takeover. Photo / Supplied
Best Burgers is thrilled to be a finalist in the Great NZ Toastie Takeover. Photo / Supplied
Best Burgers, in Havelock North, toastie is so 'cluckin' good it's made it into the finals of the Great NZ Toastie Takeover.
Best Burgers is owned by a group of friends, Simon Parkinson who manages the day-to-day running of the business, James Beck formerly from Bistronomy, Vincent Michaelsen from Vinci's Pizza, and Jamie Weedon, who are all dedicated to creating the Best Burgers using as much local ingredients as possible.
It appears that not only are they good at making burgers, they are also pretty good at making toasties.
Their entry in this year's Great NZ Toastie Takeover is a Cluckin Patty Melt: Chicken fried Best Burgers patty, Swiss cheese, bacon & onion Jam, McClure's Bread & Butter Pickles, Best Burgers Special Sauce on house potato bread.
Judges now have a difficult decision ahead as the 13 outstanding finalists battle for the country's top toasted sandwich.
Best Burgers is the only local finalist with other finalists in Auckland, Ngatea, Okere Falls (Rotorua), Ohakune, Palmerston North, Greytown, Nelson, Christchurch, Queenstown, Twizel, and Dunedin.
Best Burgers opened 18 months ago and while Simon said they knew about the competition then, they had just opened and were not ready to enter.
"When it came around this year we thought we would give it a crack," Simon said.
"Between me and Jamie (Weedon) we came up with some ideas and then did a bit of tweaking.
Best Burgers' entry in the Great NZ Toastie Takeover - A Cluckin Patty Melt - has made the finals. Photo / Supplied
"Our toastie has a bit of a burger element to it because it includes a paddy. It's a twist on a paddy melt and has been really popular with customers chowing down on them and coming back for more."
While Simon says it has been a tough 18 months, things are looking up.
"Everyone has been in the same boat and now we are looking onwards and upwards and are excited about where we can take this place."
He says he was a bit shocked when he got the call from organisers to say they had made the finals.
"We are really stoked about it. It's nice to do something that you get recognition for."
Simon describes Best Burgers' toastie entry as classic, yet simple using their own bread, a deep-fried chicken patty coated in their own blend of herbs and spices.
"It's based on our best-selling burger."
Competition criteria required sandwiches to be toasted between two slices of bread and – like all respectable toasties – able to be eaten by hand. The toasted sandwiches also needed to contain cheese (or a vegan substitute) and McClure's Pickles, with all the other ingredients left entirely to the entrants' imaginations.
Head judge Kerry Tyack says imaginations ran wild this year, presenting his team of 30-plus judges with an extremely tough task in choosing the finalists.
"It feels like this year, amidst all the Covid chaos, the toastie has reached the lofty heights of the great Kiwi pie, the whitebait fritter, the perfect pav, and the cheese roll, and can now be accorded the status of national treasure," he says.
Finalist judging starts in July with the competition's toast-master royale who will visit all 13 finalists to sample their entries before liaising with Tyack and McClure's Pickles co-founder Joe McClure to determine New Zealand's top toasted sandwich.
Each finalist receives a case of McClure's Pickles and dine-in vouchers to be given away via social media this month. The competition's supreme winner will be announced on July 27.
