The great small wins are the ones you’re not expecting at all. That was definitely the case when, looking for a quick post-work bite to eat, three of us found ourselves in Spalding ’s Pied Calf. A quick glance of the menu and it was very much your regular pub grub; bar bites, steaks, sausage and mash, scampi, hunter’s chicken and, of course, a burger.
My eye drawn to the stacked patties in buns on the picture and the large font declaring ‘BUILD YOUR OWN BURGER - £8.79’, I was won over instantly. And that was before I remembered this was a Wednesday and that meant this burger was actually just £5 all day.
Small wins, eh? So what does my fiver get me? Well, it was a choice of a buttermilk chicken burger or beef burger, which we could double up for just £1 - as the very friendly barman reminded us several times as he went for the hard sell. With that patty - plus bun, garnish and sides of fries and onion rings - you also got to choose three toppings from the list of chicken strips, bacon, cheese, mozzarella sticks, onion rings, has browns, jalapenos, free range fried egg and chip shop curry sauce. For a fiver! And if you’re ‘feelin’ planty’ as the menu suggests, there was also a Quorn BBQ onion burger option.
Up for my mega value meal, I went for the chicken burger with chicken strips, mozzarella sticks and the egg. One likeminded dining partner chose the beef burger with bacon, cheese and onion rings and the other - clearly the big earner of the group - opt.