Charles Bar in Swatar is no standard Sports Bar. For the past months, they have carved a name in the local burger scene, with almost supernatural creations like The Muscle, a triple beef patty burger, with jalapeno flavour and a waffle at the base, who’s had not a few rounds with big eaters and mouthy challengers. And who can forget that burger filled with Dorito chips, or the Surf & Turf one with buttermilk chicken, prawns, jalapeno salsa & feta cheese?!
Behind all this, is a man, who is surprisingly not named Charles! Wayne Desira (whose second name is Charles) is a 27-year-old chef, who took over the old Charles Bar 2 years ago from a retiring owner… whose name was not even Charles! Wayne was handed the bar, decorated in pink, shiny tinsel and red Christmas ornaments! Even though Christmas was 2 months away, Wayne had to painstakingly tear down the whole place and rebuild it the way we see it today.
When Wayne heard the news that we were hunting for rabbit burgers, he promptly offered to create something just for MaltaBurgers, as his traditional fried rabbit is one of the bar’s trademarks. We thought that this would be a rehashed burger, with a rabbit patty instead of a beef one… but how wrong we were! The burger had no name, so we promptly christened it The Easter Bunny Burger!
The EBB has no bread bun. The bun is a golden ufo-like dome made from rabbit meat! The idea originated from the mac & cheese balls that Wayne does. Rabbit meat, fennel, curry, ginger, garlic, and chorizo (Spanish sausage) are worked in the form of a flat patty. A hard-boiled egg is placed in the middle and enveloped within the meat to form a fist-sized ball. This is covered with flour, coated in egg and dipped in breadcrumbs. It’s then deep fried in oil until it crunches into a golden colour. When it’s split in half, it’s transformed into a Bunny bun!
Lettuce, slices of tomatoes and onions go on top of the bunny bun. A generous portion of sundried tomatoes pesto amalgamates the vegetable ingredients. Wayne’s signature beef patty goes on top. It’s adorned with melted cheddar cheese and a big big wallop of mashed peas. The various elements, like the sundried tomatoes and peas, are taken from the traditional fried rabbit recipe, which is the main inspiration behind this burger. And it also tastes like the rabbit your grandmother used to do on Sunday lunches, which you adored so much.
With his out-of-the-box thinking, Wayne has created a very distinctive and one of a kind burger, the likes of which we haven’t yet come across this year. The days when formulating new burgers was a matter of slapping a couple of random ingredients on a cheeseburger and calling it Mighty Cheese, are over! We hope other burger chefs get a kick in the right direction and start innovating their burger offerings. Building this burger involves many stages and much preparation, so if you like rabbit and burgers and always strive to try something exclusive, you better book with Wayne before you show up at Charle’s Bar! And if you happen to know who the Charles on the sign is, let us know!!