Pan Chancho

Pan Chancho, and its other half Chez Piggy, are Kingston institutions. They've been around forever, they're in all the tourist guides, and they do a whole lotta business. I am slightly wary that this is leading to inflated prices and sloppy work. In any case, I was not impressed with their burger.

Pan Chancho offers two burgers on their lunch menu, the Meaty Meat Burger - a plain 7 ouncer for $13.25 - and the Mo' Better Meaty Meat Burger - the same thing but with stilton pate and crispy pancetta, or $14.75. Both come with frites and aoili.


I doubt it was on purpose, but the chefs at Pan Chancho seem to have gone out of their way to make this burger hard to eat. First of all, the patty was extremely thick, nearly spherical, making it a challenge to fit in your mouth. On top of that, the square (ugh) ciabatta bun was so crusty and tough, that it was impossibly to bite though with the front teeth, I actually had to rip pieces off in a very ungraceful way. I am sure that somewhere in all the bakery offerings there is a softer and easier to eat bun. This one was just annoying.

The patty itself was very herby and nice tasting, but besides some leaves and tomato and pickle slices, this was a very naked burger and was really not worth the price.

The fries were excellent, crispy and salty, although the aioli was too garlicky (something I don't think I've ever complained about before).

2 out of 5 Pickles.