20 November 2016

Original Patty Men (OPM), Birmingham (by @NLi10) @OriginalPattyM

As part of an evening out with colleagues we decided to eat at Original Patty Men - a new(ish) burger restaurant with a 4 dish menu and a reputation for queues.  They only Open Thur-Sun so we strategically timed our visit.  Specifically the whole outing was timed so we could go after rave reviews from some of the group.


At least the wait lets you appreciate the unusual beef related art works and peruse the menu.  And do expect a wait, especially if like us you bring an awkward number of people like the 5 of us.  Pro tip may be to split in to twos and threes, or go in the summer where you can sit outside.


And try some of the more interesting drinks on offer. Ordinarily this Virgil's Black Cherry Cream Soda would be worth a whole review, but we have more to talk about here so suffice to say that it tastes of all the things it should and was a pretty deep tasting drink.  Something I'm going to get more flavours of for sure, this is a micro brewery that I am interested in!  Luckily OPM seem to have lots of flavours.


The artfully Instagrammed menus show that there are four burgers, three kinds of fries and that's about it!  The burgers are Cheeseburger, bacon cheese burger, Mushroom (for the veggies) and Krispy Kreme.  Yup - it's possibly a gimmick purely designed to get you in - but it worked on me.


You can add a second burger to the stack for £2 (which in hindsight I think I could have managed), and have Slaw with the chips (or without the chips), but the KK is the main event.  You can tell it's the real deal too - they even have the boxes in the kitchen.  It adds a sweetness to the burger, and is really light compared to a typical bun.  With the salty bacon and cheese and the meatiness of the burger it truly is a wonder.  That's proper American Bacon too!


The burgers themselves are pretty special.  Non of this super heavy nonsense - this is light, pink, beef with flavour and texture and exudes quality.  I'd expected it to be much heavier so had decided against the upgrade.  I think for this meal I could have managed.


The double bacon cheese burger looked more typical, but similarly high quality.  No one ordered the chicken burger off the specials menu, but the Mexican special looked fab too.

I declined to try the slaw, but the chips were crisp and inviting too.  Overall a great meal, making a mockery of the chains like 5 guys.  Here the gimmicks are just to get you through the door, you'll come back for the quality burgers and good times with friends.


Nothing was wasted, and the decor and cutlery are just as cool as the burgers and beer.  We will be back, at least as many times as there are specials and burgers to try.






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