DATE:                   

Tuesday 24th February

TIME:

11:30am for 12:00noon start

LOCATION:        

Rendezvous Restaurant, Coleg Cambria, Yale College, Grove Park Rd, Wrexham LL12 7AA

We would like to invite you to a live 'cook-off' in North Wales on Tuesday 24th February to discover the burger which empitomises the flavours of North East Wales.

Following six weeks of friendly competition between 13 eateries across the County, the Wrexham Destination Partnership will present diners with a true taste of Wrexham for St. David's Day.

Since January, each venue has designed their interpretation of the 'Wrexham Burger' - working with local producers to source meat and ingredients.  They were each challenged to promote the burger to their customers, talk about it online and really get it noticed in their restaurants.

Each venue was mystery shopped by members of the public, invited journalists and Coleg Cambria catering staff to measure staff knowledge of the burger, the creativity in the ingredients, the presentation and of course - the taste!

Following the feedback, the three restaurants qualifying for the grand final are:

“The Royal Oak”

by The Royal Oak Bangor on Dee

THE BURGER: Lewis farmed lamb and leek burger topped with Y Fenni cheese on a homemade focaccia bun. Served with a mint yogurt, onion rings and hand cut chips. Their ingredients include lamb mince from Lewis farm Eyton, cheese from Abergavenny, mint from chefs garden, yogurt from Llannefydd and finally the ale for the battered onion rings is sourced from the Big Hand Brewery, Wrexham.

“The Mulberry”

by The Mulberry Inn, Llwynmawr

THE BURGER: The Mulberry Inn in Llwynmawr in the Ceiriog Valley is a charming rural hotel, with a growing reputation for great hospitality and food.  Allan and the team have designed the 'The Dafydd Burger' which is a hand-made Welsh Black Beef-burger rippled with Laverbread and glazed with Rarebit; topped with Smoked Bacon and Homemade Cockle Fritters. Served with Chips, Crispy Leeks and a "Welsh Dragon" Sweet Chilli Dip.

“Cygnets Munchies”

by Cygnets Restaurant, Pontfadog

THE BURGER: A uniquely local twist on the existing Cygneture Burger, topped with Chirk bacon smoked at Chirk Trout Farm and Smokey using shavings from the great, now sadly fallen, Pontfadog Oak. The two burger patties use prime Welsh beef mince and are topped by a smoked rasher and delicious Bodnant Dairy Aberwen Extra Mature melted cheddar. Two Celtic Pride real ale beery-battered onion rings and fresh salad leaves are added and a honey and mustard dressing which uses organic wildflower honey from The British Bee Company is drizzled over the salad as well as Pontfadog red onion chutney. 

The final cook-off between the three leading chefs will take place at Rendezvous Restaurant, Coleg Cambria, Wrexham on Tuesday 24th February and be covered live by BBC Radio Wales.

Places are free - but attendance must be booked (max 3-places per business) by emailing branatunga@webershandwick.com or calling 0161 238 9419

ENDS

IMAGES ATTACHED:

1 - The team at the Royal Oak Bangor-on-Dee pictured l-r; Marc Griffiths, Chefs Martin Roberts and Daniel Roberts and Managing Director Andrew Smeaton

2 - The Mulberry Inn chefs Matthew & Wyn dressing their Dafydd Burger for the Taste of Wrexham Burger Challenge.

3 - pictured l-r; Jules, Naomi and head-chef Max Payne with their Cygnature Burger containing bacon smoked with shavings from the ancient Pontfadog Oak in the Ceiriog Valley.

NOTES FOR EDITORS:

• The 2015 Wrexham Burger Challenge has been designed by the Wrexham Destination Management Partnership with two things in mind;
  • Firstly to raise the profile (even further) of the great local produce that this part of North East Wales has to offer
  • Secondly, to raise the profile of some of our amazing eateries in the local area.

• Between Monday 19th January and 16th February 2015, 13 eateries around Wrexham County Borough served up their interpretation of the true 'taste of Wrexham' burger.

• During this time, they were mystery shopped and assessed on presentation, innovation and of course, taste.

• The burger has to reflect the amazing local ingredients available and be worthy to represent Wales for St. David's Day on 1st March.

• Restaurants were encouraged to get the local community and their visitors to give their own verdicts by ordering a burger and sharing feedback, photos and tweets with us using the #wrexhamburger hashtag!