RESTAURANT: Paul's Famous Hamburgers

With The Shire coming along and killing everyone's perceptions of the shire, I've been thinking a lot lately about the good things that I remember about God's Country.

I could only think of one thing...


That white bag. With that blue text. With that pineapple crush lurking.

If there's one thing that the internet has been good for, it's been to display the opening hours of Paul's. I haven't been there for around 15 years but what I remember of the place is that it was seemingly never open when I wanted it to be. I still have countless traumatic childhood memories of convincing my parents to take me there, only to get there and find it closed.

Some things, therapy can never fix. Even though the internet told me I had until 3 to get there for a burger, the cold sweats started when the clock struck 2:18 and we were still a good 10 minutes away. MAYBE EVEN A GOOD 15 MINUTES.


The works.

Would it live up to the memory? I've had some pretty nice burgers in the 15 years since my last one at Paul's, maybe my idea of a "good burger" has changed?

Nah, it's still a great burger.

These burgers aren't about high grade, medium-rare wagyu meat or housemade relishes or brioche buns that have had a stick of butter fucked into them. These burgers are about fresh ingredients because of high turnover; well executed fried eggs and bacon; well done meat that tastes like it should have, before we knew we could eat burgers medium rare; juicy pineapple; and lightly toasted buns that are only designed to hold together for a minute or so, until the juiciness of all of the ingredients overwhelms them.

Is the burger on par with the likes of Rockpool's? Of course not. That's not the point.

These are takeaway shop burgers done really well and with really clean flavours and at a reasonable price. Worth the ridiculous queues? Maybe. Everyone is here to relive a memory so vivid you can bite it. Whether they got their burgers at Paul's as a kid or not, Paul's is one of the best places to have captured it and wrapped it in paper.

Oh, and who can forget the pineapple crush, so thick and refreshing. My dad always tried to talk up the milkshakes, but I knew I was on to a winner with the pineapple crush. The apple fell far from the tree as far as pineapple crush is concerned.


RATING: Will return to [?]