It’s Happy Hour at Meatcure

We haven’t popped down to Meatcure, on Leicester’s Highcross Street, for a little while, so I thought it was worth stopping by and checking in on them – surely it’s got to be about their first birthday in Leicester here or hereabouts?

We were tempted in because, as you’ll all know from my Leicester Happy Hour Directory, I am a bit of a Happy Hour connoisseur. The only one there is, as far as I know, and Meatcure have just started a new offer which I found very enticing, and The Boy simply couldn’t resist. They are now offering not just 241 on their cocktails between 5pm and 7pm, but also they have started to offer 241 on their cans of American beer. They have Pabst Blue Ribbon, which we decided to avoid because a. we’ve had it before and b. if you order PBR in California people laugh at you, so we didn’t want to take the chance.

There are two other options, however, Pistonhead Lager which I found to be on the ale side of lager, with some good full hoppy flavour, and the Huber which is full of lovely refreshing bitterness and just a dose of fruitiness. Both excellent choices and a great match with any of Meatcure’s burgers, and you can’t complain at 2 for £3.50!

Apologies for the quality of the photography by the way. I didn’t take my good camera. I know, I’m a crap blogger – I should always have my good camera with me. Maybe I’m just a poor substitute for a girl guide. Who knows?

Anyway, The Boy had the classic Smokey and the Bandit. A medium, juicy patty was crowned with smoked bacon, a fat dollop of caramelised onions, salad, cheese and the house sauce. He also asked for jalapenos and not only got those but also a taste of a new jalapeno sauce they are developing. He thought the flavour was great and fresh, but a little too green – perhaps the jalapenos would benefit from scorching and skinning before being put through the saucification process? I guess we’ll see how that one turns out when it comes out of the development phase.

So Himself was enjoying his burger, and I was getting stuck into my Colonel Parker’s Tribute. This is by no means healthy, but felt a bit more wholesome to me, with the home rub Southern fried chicken which is a bit lighter than a breadcrumbed version. That said, I did get two huge chicken breasts and so it was massively filling! The rub is spicy and flavourful, giving a nice texture to the outside of the chicken, which is still moist and satisfying inside.

It came with gorgeously crisp bacon and salad. The greatest triumph, which brought the whole thing together was the tarragon mayonnaise which was amazingly herby and creamy. I also had this to accompany my chips (there goes the healthy part) which, as ever, came in a huge heap on the tray. I was full for approximately three days afterwards.

Compliments must also go out to two other key details of the experience – the brioche buns which are just the perfect consistency to hold the filling but have flavour in themselves, and finally, the service which, as has always been my experience at Meatcure, was friendly, timely and full of banter. Tis truly a marvellous place. Especially because I get to enjoy my Council employees discount on food – don’t miss that!

If you want to get even more involved in the Meatcure party, don’t forget they are crowdfunding at the moment so you can pretend you own your own small burger chain as well as strut around talking about how you’re an investor, dahrling. Sweet.

Meatcure were not aware that I would write up my visit and I paid for my meal in full, although I did us the discount available to me through my full time employer’s discount scheme (nothing to do with the blog obviously).