Restaurants / bedminster
Oowee Diner, North Street – restaurant review
‘Deliciously dirty’ is spelled out in neon letters on one wall at Oowee Diner’s new restaurant on North Street.
It tells you all you need to know about this establishment which since opening on Picton Street 12 months ago has swiftly become Bristol burger royalty.
While Verity Foss and Charlie Watson’s original Montpelier home only has a few stools for eating in, their new premises in what was most recently Bagel Boy has space for some 30 people inside.
is needed now More than ever
What hasn’t changed are the queues – which stretched out of the door on Friday lunchtime and meant that patience was needed while waiting for your food even once you had managed to bag a table.
It is most definitely worth the wait, however, either via takeaway or on the tables at the back of a room which features a large mural by Andy Bourne of a burger oozing with cheese wearing a backpack full of chips, above which is a reclining milkshake character.
So it’s burgers and chips then here, but ooo so much more, with a special mention to the popular veggie and vegan options taking over one of the four menu boards with the likes of the ‘sneaky clucker’ burger (£8.50) with the ‘chicken’ from seitan and grilled vegan red Leicester sauce.
Its meaty counterpart is the ‘filthy clucker’ (£8.85) made from buttermilk fried chicken, and grilled Swiss and American cheese, which is even served with a pot of gravy for pouring.
Get ready to get messy here, with the burgers piled high and the ‘dirty fries’ able to form a meal by themselves, especially the chicken kiev fries ((£7.95 [more expensive than the two cheapest burgers]) tossed in garlic butter, grilled mozzarella, fried chicken and honey mustard.
But what about the burgers? Well apart from being deliciously dirty, they are fiendishly filthy, terrifically tasty and damn bloody brilliant.
These are burgers made by people who really love burgers, really really love burgers, and they have come up with some intriguing flavour combinations. Think double beef patties, peanut butter, blue cheese sauce and raclette.
Burgers start at the double cheese for £6.50 and onto the raclette for £10.95 featuring gooey raclette cheese, sauerkraut honey mustard and gherkins.
You can wash all this down with either Budvar on tap or a selection of bottles or cans of cider in the fridge alongside strawberry sparkling wine, and pre-mixed mojito and gin and tonic.
‘Deliciously dirty’ might have to be spelled out in fireworks next weekend to fully herald the arrival of Oowee Diner’s new home. It really is that good.
Oowee Diner, 202 North Street, Bedminster, Bristol, BS3 1JF
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