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‘Flying Pig’ burger joint winner at Battle of the Burgers

The Wānaka App

05 August 2020, 12:00 AM

‘Flying Pig’ burger joint winner at Battle of the BurgersHenrietta’s Flying Pig Burger

Albert Town’s Henrietta’s Flying Pig Burger has been named joint winner of the Queenstown Lakes’ burger champs 2020.


Henrietta’s tied with Queenstown-based Ballarat’s after 30 chefs from around the district put forward their best creations for judging, which ran from June 26 to July 25.



A dedicated panel of judges chomped their way through all 30 burgers, while the public also voted for their favourite.


The Hayes' Kiwi Lamb Burger took the People's Choice Award.


"I think the judges nailed it,” organiser Chris Smith, of Queenstown’s Smiths Craft Beer House, said.


"Henrietta's was one of the best chicken burgers I've ever had and Ballarat was without a doubt one of the best burgers I've ever had - just a classic bacon cheese burger with that cheese sauce on the side, which was the difference for a lot of people. Outstanding.”


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Chris said there were probably twice as many entries as previous years, likely as a result of bars and restaurants looking for promotion opportunities post-COVID.


"I don't think any of us knew what was about to happen, so for the price of entry, the marketing would have been worth it."


The judging team included three chefs and three social media addicts, accompanied by Chris, who managed to sample 26 burgers.


"I've gone back and tried a few again too," he said.



Chris said the event helps to foster engagement between staff and customers and within the various teams.


"The idea of this competition has always been to bring us together. It's still not quite there yet, we need to work more as a collective and represent ourselves,” Chris said.


"We've got a great food and beverage industry in this district, it's world renowned, but not celebrated enough, so I'm hoping to fix that.”

 

PHOTO: Supplied