02 Aug Chosen Bun comes to Cambridge review
Can Fast Food be delicious? It is not often these days, that I blog about new openings in the local food scene. A lack of time is the main reason as I am either busy touring, checking out new foodie places or creating bespoke tours and events. I tend to share the new openings in Facebook posts with a small write up. My initial idea was to do the same for the newest foodie place in town, Chosen Bun. I realised this morning, that this would not be fair on the product as there is so much to talk about. Chosen Bun is not just any burger!
I have to make a huge confession and people who know me well, know this secret already; I am not a big fan of burgers. My first experience with burgers was 35 years ago and it was good. Burger King was the burger to have those days. Yes, indeed it was the time of the introduction of the deep pan pizza! Signs that the food scene in England was changing. Fast food was arriving from the USA in England. I was merely here in the UK ( London) for a short period as a student in the hospitality industry. Since then the fast food scene has rapidly been a downward spiral for me. Soggy and tasteless burgers and buns and poor tasting fast food soon were the standards. Having been in food development myself in the 90s in the Netherlands I was pleased, that the scene was changing about 10 years ago. Posh burgers came to England. So it is possible! However, well-cooked food takes time. Although it can be labelled as fast food, it is not always a speedy meal.
On one of our Cambridge Food Tours visiting the Emperor earlier this year, I spotted signs of a new enterprise in Hills Road, Chosen Bun. What was that all about? One of my followers on Instagram told me, ‘This is the best thing that will happen to Cambridge’. I was even more intrigued. Soon I found out, that they claimed to have the speediest delivery service in the UK, possibly the world? Now, that is a claim!
Finally, last night was THE night to find out. Chosen Bun had a press night so we could chat to the team behind the concept and get our teeth into their burger! Their shop is a tiny shop as the focus is on their speedy 15 minutes delivery slot. You can pop in and grab a burger and take a seat on a bench, but their core business is to serve you at home.
Chosen Bun is founded originally by Pete and Andy after endless soggy bun disappointment, the pair passionately believed that Burger Lovers deserved better. By partnering together, they vowed to change the burger universe with strong, indestructible burgers and delivery perfected to a B, they have created a burger experience where the customer is at the centre. They didn’t take their research lightly. They tasted approximately 1000 beef patties, chomped their way through 10 types of lettuce, 12 varieties of pickled gherkins, 62 types of cheese, dozens of buns, 30 onion ring recipes, 50 types of triple-cooked chips… The list is endless. All so they could bring you the one “Chosen Bun”. Cambridge is their second shop. In Fulham in London, they tweaked the concept to launch it with a completely new corporate look in Cambridge and soon in Oxford. The idea is to open more shops in the rest of the UK and the shop manager would love to take Chosen Bun to the USA one day!
They decided to open a shop in Cambridge as there is a limited supply of quick delivery services, customers at Chosen Bun are able to order their freshly cooked and juicy burgers on the new website on any device, or in the shop – they are able to choose from the great range of burgers with additional add-ons from high-quality ingredients to Gluten Free buns. Whether customers require triple cooked chips, Salted-Caramel Moonshakes or just a Chosen Cheesy, there are juicy and burgerlicious options available at the touch of a button. The key ingredient to their speedy success is their lightning quick delivery. They believe that waiting around for your food just isn’t okay which is why they have the best drivers and aim to be by your front door in 30 minutes. Since opening in Fulham they have maintained an average delivery time of 20 minutes and sometimes under! Although the 30 and 20 minutes is their guidance, they actually claim to deliver these tasty burgers within 15 minutes in West and South Cambridge!
So how can they make this claim true? We were privileged to check out their kitchen and learn about their technique. They only use grass fed beef burgers from Scotland and cook them in a hot water bath, also known as sous-vide at a temperature of approx. 50/55 degrees. A technique used by many chefs to cook the perfect steak. So when you place your order than it only takes 6 minutes maximum to finish off the burger and the side dishes. The electric scooter or traditional push bike is ready waiting and within 9 minutes you’ll have your food at home!
I am sure you have had a cold or look warm take away. This will not happen here as the electric scooters have electric boxes to keep your food warm. No fear that during a bumpy ride, that the burger has fallen apart as they have a very clever box to keep the burger nice and snug so you will have the perfect assembled warm and tasty burger at home.
My favourites? Of course, the burgers are very tasty, but I loved the vegetarian Edamame/Shitake burgers too. The deep fried Mac&Cheese bites are divine. Nice and cheesy, but fresh at the same time and I can assure you’ll be tempted to eat the contents of the whole bucket! The chunky chips and the chicken wings are highly recommended too. Check out their Milk Shakes and the banana ketchup, great sides with the burgers.
They are open today from 11 am till late and the official launch is Saturday. Fancy a bite to eat early in the morning? Over the weekend they deliver up to 5 am!
Happy eating!
Gerla
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