Hanks

Hot Spicy Hank

When you are hit with that undying crave for American food, there’s only a handful of local places that can satisfy that itch. Henry J. Beans, who have been operating in Malta since 1995, are the original Americana. Curiously enough, the franchise has no American heritage as it was born in the UK. Yet their burgers have been nicknamed as Malta’s Legendary for the past 23 years, making Hank’s (as this place is known amongst regulars) a surefire spot for consuming all sort of comfort food and a pint of beer with friends. December seems to be prone to such gatherings more than any other month of the year, with Xmas and all, so rather than be disappointed by those Hard Rock guys for the umpteen time, we decided to check out what Hank’s been up to since our last visit.

This restaurant rarely changes shape and form, which is not a bad thing since the theme is very timeless. So imagine our surprise when we spotted a new burger on the menu! Good old Hank has sneakily added a new burger, without too much fanfare and parading! Looking closer, we can notice that a good part of their menu has been overhauled or fine-tuned, but that’s a story for another day. Today we give you Hank’s Hot Spicy burger!

We’ve seen a good share of spicy burgers in 2018. And even though the end of the year is trickling by, we still haven’t seen them all! Do we live in the age of Spicy? This age is bristling with good and evil. Good hot & spicy is the lip-tingling burn of well-balanced pepperish food. Good spicy is meant to add an element to the dish and not become the dish itself. Bad spicy grabs each of your taste buds and issues the pain of ten thousand needles. Or one thousand, if we don’t want to exaggerate. Bad spicy makes burgers angry in our books.

Just like its other legendary burgers, the new Hot Spicy is made from a 230gr patty of minced and blended cuts of ribeye, chuck roll and tenderloin. Unlike other franchises, the patties are not imported but are prepared at the Corinthia St. George’s kitchens, which is a very welcome approach. This same beef blend goes into all the burgers on the menu, and what we love most is the lavish and earthy tones that create that urging craveability from the first bite until the last. The fat from the ribeye adds some of that distinctive and rich flavour that this finer grain meat is more known for. This patty is indeed chockfull of beef aroma, maybe also thanks to the buttery and sublime texture of the tenderloin and is enveloped in pockets of juices. Seasoning is on point, and the char is not only a visual consideration but a palatable bonus too. Furthermore, the patty is spread with garlic butter, for an extra layer of gusto, and totally covered in jalapenos, which we presume make up the Hot part of the burger’s name. Chef Eric, who’s preparing this burger today, wants to make sure that you get 1 or 2 jalapenos with every bite. There is a thickness of a slightly nutty Emmental cheese on top, which melts beautifully and seals the jalapenos in place instead of having them cascade from the sides as soon as you take a good hold of the burger with two hands, squeeze and bite. That’s a sign of devilish construction!

The burger is served in an expertly toasted sesame seed bun which is made locally for Hank’s and layered with the obligatory mix of lettuce, tomato slices and onions. These add a slight vegetable snap to go along with the cheese’s creaminess. This bun has a good density and is a good candidate for a burger-bun, but the most noteworthy element here is the very spicy sauce, devised in-house by Chef Eric, and made from sriracha, Tabasco, black pepper and mayonnaise. This is spread bountiful on both halves of the bun, making sure you can’t get away from it! Names don’t come any bigger in the world of hot sauce than Tabasco and Sriracha, and here you get them both! This sauce lives up to its name, as it definitely brings your focus on the spiciest element of the whole burger. The heat is there, together with that powerful vinegar tang from the Tabasco, and the chilli and garlic flavours from the sriracha. This is the kind of heat that can be enjoyed by the novice spice eater, or overdosed on by those seeking the thrill to test their taste buds’ endurance. The plating is completed with coleslaw (a good spice cooler) and steakhouse fries served on the side. Pair your burger with a Blue Label ale, to make sure to extinguish any overbearing spices!

The burger is as large as we remember from past Hank’s offerings. Even so, it’s priced at around €12, which takes us back to a time before Badass started jacking up prices, making many of today’s burger offerings more within the €15 to €20 price range. When you can make a beef burger this good for such a decent price, you can’t but get two thumbs up from us. When done well, a spicy burger like this is the best example of good spicy. The heat brings out the bold taste of the beef patty, the creaminess of the Emmental, and the refreshing properties of the lettuce and tomatoes. It will have you reaching out for a cold beer instead of the fire extinguisher! This burger left us happy beyond any doubt, instead of angry with a burnt tongue.

Hank’s Full Throttle BBQ Ribs Behemoth Burger

In the past year or two, we received regular requests to cover big-eater burgers. We’ve searched all over the rock, even in nooks and corners and mostly found standard burgers, that have been multi-pattied into lengthy towers of meat, with little to no burger-design purpose, other than that of quenching never-ending appetites.

So we decided to do it the #MALTAbugers way, and create our own! We aimed to create an irresistible and scrumptiously monstrous burger, that no burger lover would shy from! If you love to play with your burger-meat and tag along with your friends for a fun night out, read on because this is something you will want to experience and re-create first-hand.

So beware, get ready to surrender your diet plans, as there’s a new breed of culinary-enhanced burgers on the rise… Welcome to “Off The Menu”

Our plan was totally flawless: We would hit an established restaurant that offered hefty burgers and had a 5-star food selection to top-off the burger and create a new Behemoth Burger, by combining the burger with other food elements. And there was only one place in town where we could do that… Henry J. Beans at the Corinthia Hotel in St. George’s Bay. Hank’s has been operating in Malta since 1995, so they know more than a thing or two when it comes to burger building. Their burgers are nicknamed as Legendary, so we expect nothing less than the name implies. Hank’s have been honing all kind of comfort food for more than 22 years. They are backed up by a 5-star hotel infrastructure, which pushes the expectations towards the cutting edge of food-o-rama. And that’s another reason why we’re starting our Behemoth Burger journey here, and not elsewhere. If an establishment should have a great burger, this should be it.

Meet the first, in a series of Behemoth Burgers: A Full Throttle bacon burger, stuffed with a dose of smoking BBQ Ribs! Can we manage to eat it all?

The Full Throttle is a flagship burger at Hank’s. It’s made from two minced beef patties. Each patty is 230gr and made from back ramp meat, which is just lightly seasoned with no additional knick-knacks. A good cut of meat should provide all the necessary flavour and the guys at Hank’s have just put that in perfect practice. Upon the first bite, the juice starts flowing like a rumbling volcano, with each bite yielding a full beef aroma. This patty boasts lavish and earthy tones that create that urging craveability from the first bite until the last. The juices stay mostly within the patty from start to finish, maintaining a respectable texture. Seasoning is on point, and the char is not only a visual consideration but a palatable bonus too. And best of all, you get two beef patties, conceiving the illusion of a never-ending munching pleasure! The Full Throttle has so far passed the meat test with flying colours.

Sauteed mushrooms and grilled back bacon go on top of the patty. We are talking hunger-quenching portions here. Chef Eric has skillfully accomplished a good crisp on the bacon, and he better do, as we’re no fans of limp, unloved, and quickly-done bacon. The mushroom and bacon hill is kept together with a thickness of Emmental cheese, that is as seductive as melted cheese could ever be on a burger. This Swiss cheese has a buttery, mildly sharp and slightly nutty taste, and is a right pair with the rest of the ingredients.

The burger comes in two halves because Hank says that due to its jumbo size, it could prove challenging to bite it off! Each portion is served on the half side of a sesame bun, that despite its looks, is able to withstand all the weight of the content without a glitch and without breaking up after 10 seconds. This is because the seed-studded bun has a good density. It’s also spread with a mustard mayonnaise.

A generous amount of salad leaves, tomatoes, yellow peppers, lettuce and carrot sticks join the party on the plate. If vegetation is your thing, then you will love these crispy and crunchilicious greens. You also get dabs of Hank’s house dressing to tang the palate up. We know that many meat-lovers tend to remove vegetables from their burgers, and this has put into motion a new trend of vegetable-less meat burgers. We won’t do that here and will put in as many vegetables as possible in our Behemoth.

There’s more on the plate. This wouldn’t be a Full Throttle without a portion of beer battered onion rings. The onion rings are thick, meaty, crunchy, and golden crisped. They hold their shape and have the proper look and feel of full-onion flavour. We will use them to crown our creation. The plate is also packed with steakhouse fries and coleslaw.

That’s the Full Throttle burger for you. But to us, this is only a starting point. Once we’ve assembled both halves of the Full Throttle, with a good amount of vegetables in the middle, and onions rings steak-knifed on the very top, we’re moving into a piquant territory and putting in a whole half portion of bbq ribs. These ribs have been smoked Chicago-style, and are smothered in Hank’s own BBQ sauce recipe. They are slow cooked for long hours in the Smokehouse, where they come out beautifully glazed and ready to be racked! They are fall-off-the-bone delicious and are covered with some of the most fully-flavoured BBQ sauce we’ve tasted on ribs. The sauce should compliment the meat, not make the meat, and that’s exactly what happens here. They are meltingly tender, and it takes no time to knife off the meat, and splice it into the burger! These ribs definitely add an element of primal experience to the Behemoth Burger.

And this is the end of our burger story… that is, we ate it all to the incredulous stares of the Chef. Whilst many burgers with ribs have come and gone, most only piqued in either the beef patty or the short rib. This one hits the jackpot from every conceivable corner and fulfills that furtive need to gormandize on heaps of quality meat at once. We’ve hit our daily consumption of protein, so Mission accomplished!

Hank’s : Legendary BBQ Chicken Burger

Legend has it that in the mid-1980s, an American gentleman settled in the UK. Known as “Hank” amongst his newfound friends, his American cuisine soon made the rounds of the country, and our protagonist opened an all-American bar and grill in his new homeland. What started out as a UK based franchise in 1985 expanded to 15 or so bars around the world from London to Bangkok, Beirut to Ibiza.

It’s 1995, and Hank’s comes to Malta and finds a new home in St. George’s Bay at the Corinthia Hotel. Back in the day, one of the first staples on the menu was the BBQ Chicken Burger, and that’s what we are here for today! We want to see if this burger is as Legendary as the name implies. Hank’s have been honing this burger for 22 years, so we’re not going to settle for anything but the best chicken on the planet. Luckily we’re in no hurry, and patrons get 3 hours of free parking at the Corinthia complex, so anyone can enjoy their food at a leisurely pace.

Amidst the Americana memorabilia and street signs (they bear the names of the men who built this place) we find Chef Eric who’s been fulfilling the hungry dreams of tens of thousands of patrons for the past 6 years. Today he’s single-handedly running the kitchen, and he’s set to impress with his grilling skills.

At the heart of the Burger, we get two pieces of chicken fillet breasts. They are marinated in Cajun spice, paprika and garlic. There is no fancy batter, so we get to enjoy the chicken meat au naturel. On top go two pieces of back bacon. We love back bacon as it includes both the loin from the pork back and some belly in the same cut. It’s much leaner than the streaky variety and meatier! The BBQ sauce is made in-house and adds a very smoky flavoursome taste to the whole burger. Melted Emmental cheese provides a slightly nutty flavour and holds all the meat elements well-stacked together. Caramelised onions, lettuce, tomatoes and sliced onions make up the vegetable part of the burger. The expertly toasted sesame bun is made locally for Hank’s, with Mustard mayo spread on top. We also get coleslaw on the side.

We love to have options when it comes to sides, and Hank’s have a selection of French fries and jacket potatoes. The jacket potatoes with melted Emmental Leicester cheese are a must if you love the more mushy potato style as we do, but for those who adore classic fries, Hank’s are crispy and perfectly salted as they come.

There’s a lot of right things to like with the BBQ chicken burger. This culinary creation is packed with flavours, and there’s no wonder why patrons have been flocking to try it out for the past 22 years. If you want to keep your caloric count down, this is definitely the next burger to try out.

On the other hand, if you’re like us and don’t mind an extra calorie here and there, then it’s a Cardinal Sin to go to Hank’s and not try out the Warm Fudge Brownie! This sweet delicacy is made from classic brownies with a delicate crust and moist, velvety centre. It’s topped with pecan nuts and thick vanilla ice cream, whipped cream and yummy marshmallows. In our opinion, this tops Hank’s dessert menu and is in a sweet league of its own. For those who prefer ice cream, Hank has his own speciality Sundae, with three flavoured scoops of ice cream, brownie chunks, cherries, chocolate sauce and whipped cream.

Hank should be proud of how the Maltese are running his original concept and making a good impression in burger land. #MALTAburgers would love to see Hank come up with a new Legendary burger to challenge our taste buds.