Lamb creation from Oriental Bay hotel wins Burger Wellington
Monday, 2 September 2024
A lamb burger created by Wellington restaurant One80 has won the Burger Wellington competition, the second year in a row the Copthorne Hotel has taken the top prize.
The winning burger Nawabi Galouti, created by chef Chetan Pangam, follows last year’s winning entry, the Goan Chicken Ros Pao burger.
“This is a huge achievement for One80 - not only to win Burger Wellington twice and in back-to-back years, but also to win in an incredibly tight race to the top. Our congratulations to Chetan and his team.”
This is the first time in Burger Wellington’s 15 year history that a restaurant has won twice in a row, Visa Wellington On a Plate festival manager Beth Brash said.
Pangam saidhe felt humbled. “There are no words.”
So, what is it about One80 that makes its burgers so darn delicious? It was a lot of things, Pangam said -- time, effort, and lots of love among them -- but teamwork was the main thing.
“A lot of lot of hard work, consistency, and just good, good flavours.”
While this year’s theme was ‘play with your food,’ Pangam said he didn’t want to lose track of the importance of the actual ingredients in the meal.
He said using local suppliers was a huge part of the restaurant’s culture, and a huge part of their success.
The lamb provided by Lumina had been fed a diet of chicory and clover for 35 days, so the burger came with a punnet of chicory on the plate for customers to smell and eat.
As nod to his Indian heritage, Pangam said all his food was a spin on modern Indian cuisine, with flavour and taste being the key pillars.
“No matter what I do, the food has to taste amazing.”
The burger had been inspired by the Awadhi Nawabs, he said, who lived in Northern India in the 17th century.
They were known for smoking cigars, eating rich food, and having no teeth, he said.
As One80 won the competition the previous year, Pangam was allowed to create a Garage Project beer. The beer, called Susegad, was paired with this year’s burger.
Garage Project head brewer Pete Gillespie said the witbier had paired perfectly with the burger.
“Pulling off a win two years in a row is an amazing achievement, especially given the incredible level of quality and creativity we’ve seen across the board in this competition. Congratulations to the team at One 80.”
Zephyr Café was named runner up, for its burger A Frankenstein Adventure. The Tākina Convention Centre-based restaurant also won the prize for best use of theme.
Sushil's Musclechef cafe in Porirua placed third for its burger, a Celebration of Spices. It also was named the winner for the Porirua region.
Other winning eateries in the regional category include Kapiti’s Hey Coastie; Hutt City’s Baylands Brewery; Upper Hutt’s Keihei Chicken; and Wairarapa’s White Swan Hotel.
The Innkeeper in Johnsonville won the most innovative prize for its Construct-a-burg.