I have been visiting the Metro centre since it opened in 1986, we would get the bus to Sunderland then the metro train to drop us off almost at the door of the swanky new shopping mall! We would then spend all day walking around the themed villages and Metroland before heading to Frogget for some frozen yogurt while wearing our dungarees and feeling all grown up!
Times change and so do shopping malls, for the better I might add and with the brand new revamp of the Metrocentre Qube (which use to be the food hall) there is a multitude of places to eat and you are quite simply spoilt for choice!
One eaterie I was delighted to see added is Byron Burger!
I have only ever been to Byron once in the past and that was on a visit to see my lovely friend Marja in London (I’m sure we are well overdue another girly day too!) Having never had courgette fries in my life, Marja insisted I try them and it was a life changer – this is a must for any courgette lover!
We were kindly invited along to try the new Clucky Balboa (how cool is that name!) which is fried chicken breast, guacamole, sriracha mayonnaise, pickled red onion, sliced pickles and shredded iceberg! You can also give your chicken burger extra punch with a coating of spicy homemade buffalo sauce – made with Byron Hot Sauce ( I skipped that part as I’m ‘chicken’ when it comes to heat!)
We were seated in a booth which I find fabulous when you have children as it locks them in place and stops havoc ensuing – although Amelia did manage to knock a bottle of Coke over! The children were all given crayons and place mats that doubled as worksheets and turned into one of those ‘pick a number’ things you use to make at school, they kids had fun with those!
As you can tell I opted for the Clucky Balboa while hubby went for the original chicken burger and Scott, the double bacon cheese burger. We decided to all go for different fries so that everyone could see what the variety was like, sweet potato, regular and of course the courgette fries! The little ones opted for chicken burgers from the kids menu.
We were served by the lovely Ryan who was an absolute delight and you could tell nothing was a problem. He kept asking if we needed drinks topping up, if everything was OK and talked us through the menu too which is always a bonus! He pointed out his favourites and what he would recommend and spoke highly of Byron Burger – recommending that we most definitely have to call again for the milkshakes as they are a delight unto themselves and not something any of us could manage after eating our meals on this occasion!
Once the meals were served I was delighted to see that the kids meals came with fresh vegetables – always a bonus considering our kids love their veggies! The burgers are freshly made which is obvious in the fact the salad is not in the slightest bit wilted when it arrives at the table! This is how a kids burger should look!
I also love the way the meals are served with the fries as an extra side dish and not together on the plate. The burger in itself is a masterpiece so deserves to be showcased alone! The chicken inside the burgers was obviously fresh breast and not patty form as with many other burger places which is why Byron stand out as PROPER BURGERS, not just in my opinion but it says so on the windows so who are you to argue! 😉
Having devoured our mains we were asked if we could squeeze in dessert and with there only being 3 options on the menu (4 including the freakshakes which none of us could manage!) we decided to get one of each and share. First up was the chocolate brownie which although looked amazing with the drizzles of chocolate sauce, tasted like… chocolate brownie – there really isn’t anything you can do to spice it up really and everyone loves brownie so why mess with it!
Evie devoured all the strawberry ice cream herself and gave a resounding thumbs up, it was nice to see it looked like decent ice cream too and not just pale pink generic kids stuff that is passed off in most restaurants.
The best dessert by far though was the white chocolate cheesecake with honey poached blueberries! I love cheesecake, I love blue berries… not a fan of white chocolate…until now! OH MY WORD! This delicious blend of cream cheese and white chocolate was to die for and the pop of the blueberries added that burst of flavour that was needed to wake up the smoothness of the cheesecake itself!
I knew before we went that our family wouldn’t be disappointed and I am glad to say they surpassed all our expectations. Byron are by far the leaders in the burger race as far as I am concerned and we will most definitely be back soon!
XOXO
Debbie
*we were given a complimentary meal for purposes of this review, all opinions are my own*
Love a good chicken burger! I’ve never been to a Byron yet!!
Everything looks so yummy. I love their sweet potato chips.