Despite the name, believe it or not, we did not have waffles. Killa Waffles set up in 2017 to pioneer fresh epic waffle cones with sweet and savoury fillings, and ran at markets around the Herfordshire area. They then progressed to waffle burgers and then full on dirty USA-style, hashtag instagrammable OTT burgers and fried chicken with sides like mac n cheese, slaws and garlic fries. It is this menu that they run as -limited- delivery and collection service from their home in How Wood near St Albans during lockdown. And it's this menu that we sampled today.
This is a review of two halves really as both mine and J's meals were of differing calibre.
J had the terrifyingly foreboding named "Punisher" burger, consisting of two (two!!) pattys, two (two!!) BBQ beef brisket wodges, American cheese, pancetta, lettuce, fresh onions and RAW (Ridiculous and Wild) sauce. I'm not going to lie, this was a MASSIVE burger. It travelled well and was held together really well. In fact, it didn't really become that massive dripping mess that you'd expect until a good 3 bites in.
The bun itself was a shiny, well-toasted golden bun which still had a great crunch to it even with such juicy fillings seeping into the dough. This burger was a massive 1990's Essex club bouncer of a burger; tough, big, brutish, powerful, no-s**t, meaty and a little bit soft from the super-tender juicy brisket. It was good in a very very dirty way. It was certainly a heart attack waiting to happen, but every mouthful was flavoursome, juicy, tangy, and ooomphy. It's the sort of burger you'd show your mates at the pub (when that sort of thing is allowed again) and say 'You would not believe the monster of a burger I had last night'.
On the other hand, I had my usual "I'm trying to be a little bit balanced" by ordering the fried chicken on a bed of salad with some garlic parmesan fries on the side. What? That's balanced isn't it? Sadly, it wasn't the actual choice of meal that was not quite right, as there were elements that they really nailed, but as an ensemble it wasn't as good overall as I would have liked.
When you order a salad with fried chicken, the fried chicken still needs to be tasty dirty and indulgent, otherwise i may as well order a grilled chicken salad. The textures were amazing. The chicken arrived perfectly crunchy, and the salad was fresh, crisp and had more to it than just a dump of leaves by way of radish shards, mini Datterini plum tomatoes, mini cucumber and finely sliced slivers of red pepper. But sadly, there was no flavour to either the chicken or the salad. The salad itself was dry and undressed; even a quick toss in some lemon, olive oil and salt and pepper would have done the trick. And the chicken batter, as perfectly crisp as it was, held no flavour apart from a kick of chilli from dried chilli flakes clinging throughout the batter. It was almost like someone had forgotten to season it. The chicken inside had an indication of being marinated first by way of a paprika dusting beneath the batter, but it hadn't penetrated the meat which resulted in quite a tasteless mouthful (although cooked very well). The BBQ dip I chose helped a bit, so I slathered that on and dressed my salad which helped.
The garlic and parmesan fries are naughty. they were like dirty chip shop fries with generic garlic sauce and a gentle smattering of parmesan. You can't really go wrong with that can you? It was a good generous portion too, so overall I would say that we were very stuffed by the end of this meal (J moreso than me after his "Punisher" which lived up to the name!)
So you can see it's difficult really to come down on one side of the other for Killa waffles. Their menu says all the right things I want from a dirty USA style burger and chicken joint, but in practice every element needs to be as dirty as you'd crave and as good in real life as it looks in the pictures. I would definitely have this again, but would probably take J's lead and go for a burger, or would love to try their waffles when that's up and running too. A good way of thinking about this is: we will remember the burger for some time, not only because of its sheer heft, but also how flavoursome it was. The chicken and the salad I'm already forgetting.
Service:
Only 3pm-4pn collection slots on Saturday were left when we ordered. So I'd say keep an eye on their 'gram and get in there early!
Quality:
Really great ingredients. Lean meats, fresh vegetables and produce. All assembled perfectly and transported in recyclable cardboard packaging and foil wrapped to maintain heat.
Value & Price:
Menu items range from £9 to £12.75 for J's Punisher burger which seems excellent value considering the portion sizes and quality of ingredients.
Overall:
EXCELLENT/GOOD - We've never split a rating before - but for two such contrasting experiences we felt we had to. The buger is as good as anything you'll find in the 'truely monsterous, dirty treat' category. But the salad & chicken could have used a bit more flavaaa. However, we would definitely go back and you should also try it out too!
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