Summer just wouldn’t be summer without big, juicy burgers. Our next summer tour pit-stop lands us in the Gzira neighbourhood, where our burger radar picked up one creation loaded with both beef and sea flavour. The Crew is a family-run eatery that opened its doors last May in the heart of Gzira, just opposite Manoel Island. Stefania Scerri is the manager supreme and plans to run the establishment like a tight ship, with a crew of family members on the assist. Now we have a good hint where the name on the sign comes from. But why the nautical theme? The building has been a family heirloom for generations. Indeed, it was one of the oldest in all Gzira. In the 1940s, it was a popular bar with sailors. It was known as The Great War until grandma turned it into a grocer in the 1960s. Stefania’s father took over the grocer in the 1980s and kept it running until he recently retired. He also dabbled as a fisherman, and that further explains the whole marine motif of the eatery. As the decal on the wall says, welcome aboard!
With a cushy downstairs area decorated with original photos from a bygone time, an open kitchen that oozes the sweetest aromas and an appeasing terrace overlooking the Marina, this looks like the quintessential place to consume a surf and turf summer burger. Chef Georgia Dickens, who hails from Northampton, UK promises a burger that blends together land and sea through a combination of a 150gr beef patty and two prawns. The whole burger is dripped in their own version of a spicy mayo sauce that bolsters the overall richness.
The patty is made from a mix of beef with a good percentage of knuckle and chopped onions. The actual recipe was buried deep underground in a pirate’s chest by some sailor pictured on the wall. No one is to tell! Knuckle beef is flavourful and very lean and including it in the patty mix imparts an overall good beef texture. The patty is quite packed and leans towards a finer grind. It’s brushed with butter, grilled and finished in the oven. When cooking over a hot grill, fat helps prevents the beef from drying out, and the resulting char taste of this grill is very balanced, slightly smoky and totally delightful. There is no scientific analysis of what makes the best burger patty, so stop asking us when you see us around! It could be a specific percentage of fat content, a unique coarse texture or a distinct blend of beef cuts. Presumably, it’s a combination of all three. This buttery patty here is delicious with an abundance of texture. It has a rich, full, meaty sensation in your mouth and on the back of your tongue. It’s also seasoned flawlessly and cooked exceptionally well to the requested temperature. The beef is just juicy from start to finish. It’s a pretty thick patty with a hefty bite to it and fits the diameter of the bun like a jigsaw puzzle. It’s a proper burger patty done right in every conceivable way.
The surf part of the burger comes in the form of two prawns, with the shell left on. Steak and lobster is the name of the game for surf and turf, but as much as we like to eat lobster every day, you need to change it up once in a while. Prawns come in a variety of sizes and textures. These are chunky and fabulously succulent crustaceans, unleashing the turbocharged flavour of the ocean. All this goodness is sandwiched in a brioche bun that is spread with butter and lightly toasted. The tender bun is covered with a creamy sauce, made in-house, and then layered with lettuce. What’s a burger without sauce? This element has not been neglected here as there’s a generous amount of very spicy sriracha and lime mayo spread on both halves of the bun. This sauce is tangy and zesty and covers all the goodness of the land and sea. It deserves its place in this beef and prawn combination, and gives the whole burger just enough creaminess, to turn it into a marriage made in heaven! Yes, there will be an amount of creamy and dreamy sauce dripping down the side of your burger but if you are going to go surf and turf, let’s not cut corners! You don’t need a bib to eat this burger, but you might get your fingertips slightly saucy.
The construction and plating of this burger look as good as it tastes. This is one of those unassuming burgers full of superlative flavours because it’s done from the heart. Each bite mixes softness and tenderness with plenty of marine juice, alternating with crispy, crunchy bits for contrast. No burger is complete without the compulsory sister side dish, the fries. The skin-on potato chips are crispy, light and flavourful. Two bites in and we were hooked. However, The Crew also offer the option of hand-cut chunky chips for an extra charge. These are identical to the chips that come standard with their fish & chips cod dish. They are boiled, baked, fried and sprinkled with garlic. The triple cooking method and the actual size of the chips themselves are unequalled locally and deserve the full attention of any chips lover! Those thin potato sticks on Big7 have nothing on these chips! Our Top 5 Fries charts are trembling big time!
The menu is chockful of sea delicacies and the Fritto Misto catches our attention. This is a whole fish tank of sorts on a platter, and it looks ravishing. The calamari fritti are a golden pile of tangled tentacles, crisp and tender in all the right places and served with an in-house tartar sauce infused with parsley and olive oil. The prawns are plentiful and have a white compact pulp and rich creamy flavour, guaranteeing a mouthwatering result. An L2 sized king prawn is also present. It had that moist, firm flesh and a medium sweet flavour that we love so much. Every bite proved to be a lifting point and an immaculate outset for the beer-battered fried cod. Here, the flavour comes from the seasoning and the beer and is the same variety of cod as found in the Fish & Chips dish on the same menu. Take our word, the cornerstone of British culture is the best order on the menu. The fresh and flaky cod had a flavourful batter with a thick crust and was crisped to perfection. We washed down all the sea goodness with some Luscombe organic drinks. These are made in the UK and are crafted from classic English soft drinks and sparkling fruit juice. Every drink is entirely free from concentrates, additives, preservatives or artificial flavourings. The Lime crush was our favourite as it’s made from Sri Lankan limes and Sicilian lemons.
The Crew have taken the beef burger and shot it up the next level by adding the surf factor, hence created a star of a burger that is a tremendous surf and turf experience. This burger is one of those agreeable friends, a sort of reliable buddy whose purpose is to make you happy and make you feel full. It’s so good that it will make you want to learn to surf! August is the perfect time to get things crossed off that summer burger list, and if you’re like us and you’ve been eating beef burgers all winter long, a burger like this is the perfect summer treat. More burger joints should aim higher and stand up to the challenge of offering more seasonal burgers. As far as Gzira burger eateries go, The Crew are sailing triumphantly towards the finish line, and it seems that for the time being there’s very little in the way. Too much of a good thing is never enough, but don’t take our word for it. Just hop over to Gzira, as this is one summertime burger you must experience for yourself.
