Fancy a 'Beak Burger' ?

An English student at the University of Exeter has been announced as the winner of Urban Burger’s ‘What’s Your Beef’ competition.

Lucy Harrison has won £250 in Urban Burger vouchers and will see her ‘Ducking & Dive-in’ burger included on the menu at the gourmet burger restaurant on Queen Street, Exeter.

The competition saw contestants create and submit a variety of recipes, with the best four selected for the grand final by Urban Burger owners Melissa and Garth Pearse.

The ‘X-Factor’ style final was held at the restaurant on Thursday January 29 with the judging panel featuring John Harvey, Exeter City Centre Manager, Chris Bentley, of Exeter Chiefs and Radio Exe Presenter, Steven Stewart from Twitter’s @Devon_Hour, and Beer, Burger and Beyond blogger Chris Gower.

All the finalists were invited to the event, enjoying complimentary cocktails, nachos and the first tasting of the burgers.

The four burgers contesting the final were The ‘Ay Caramba’ created by Lucy Boxall, The ‘Oh My Mexican Cheese’ by Matt Charters, the ‘Brie-oche’ by students Ben Coyle, Nick Jeys and Richard Cross, and The ‘Ducking & Dive-in’ burger by winner Lucy Harrison.

Lucy said: ‘’I’m delighted to be the ‘What’s Your Beef’ winner. I love food and coming up with new ideas for recipes. I’m looking forward to using the vouchers but best of all will actually be seeing the recipe takes its place on the Urban Burger menu. Urban Burger fans love their burgers so I can’t wait to find out what customers think.”

Urban Burger owner Melissa Pearse said: “It’s been fun and we were really impressed with the originality of so many of the entries. There were some great ideas, as well as a few weird ones! It means we’re going to have something very different – our first ever duck burger for customers to enjoy.”

The winning Ducking & Dive-in’ burger is made with crispy smoked duck, a hoisin glaze and topped with Chinese cabbage coleslaw, in a brioche bun.

Judge Chris Bentley of the Exeter Chiefs and Radio Exe Presenter said, ‘’Eating burgers all night- I loved it! I liked all of the finalists but the Ducking & Dive-in just tasted great, and really different. The Brie-oche was very close but the Ducking & Dive-in’ had a sweet kick and that’s what did it for me!’’

The judges marked the burgers out of 10 for appearance, taste, originality and creativity.

John Harvey, Exeter City Centre Manager, said: “It was a really close competition, but the duck burger was really different and the flavours worked well together. I’m looking forward to coming back and sampling the winning burger again now it’s on the menu!”

All four recipes will be featured on the Urban Burger website, www.urbanburger.co.uk and the Ducking & Dive-In burger will be on the specials board from early February.