Dark humour for hearty appetites? I’m game. And so was a substantial amount of my recent preview lunch of ETM Group’s limited edition Hot Cross Bunny Burger at Chiswell Street Dining Rooms.
Offered for a limited run just in time for Easter, the Hot Cross Bunny Burger is stacked high with a 70% rabbit and 30% pork sausage patty topped with Lincolnshire rarebit and presented on a hot cross brioche bun with carrot miso ketchup, baby gem lettuce and a thick slice of beefsteak tomato. I savoured every bite of the prototype version of the bunny burger as created by Chiswell Street’s Head Chef Peter Fitz-Dreyer. The patty was particularly moreish – and super juicy (request extra napkins!). I loved the miso ketchup too.
The burger will be available for lunch and dinner from Friday 25 March to Friday 1 April at participating ETM pubs and restaurants including Ealing Park Tavern, The Jugged Hare, Chiswell Street Dining Rooms, The Botanist Sloane Square, The Botanist Broadgate Circle, One Canada Square, The Gun, The White Swan, The Well, and The Six Bells. Priced at £12.50 (and nicely so I’d say), the burger will be served alongside thick-cut chips, crunchy carrot mustard slaw and a bottle of beer from Long Arm Brewing Co. I had mine with an especially hoppy (no pun intended) IPA OK, which paired superbly with the dish.
I imagine there might be some variations with the burger from kitchen to kitchen, but the basic premise is tasty one indeed.
If you can’t wait till Easter, Chef Peter has an especially tasty rabbit pie starter on the menu this week for British Pie Week (7 to 11 March) featuring Yorkshire rabbit, black pudding and burnt onion with prune and Armagnac purée (£12), as well as a gorgeous angler’s pie main course (Cornish monkfish cheek, native lobster and samphire, shellfish bisque, wild garlic mashed potato, £22) and buttermilk pie for dessert (brown butter crust, cinnamon poached apples and blueberry cheese cake ice cream, £7).
Chiswell Street Dining Rooms is located at 56 Chiswell Street, EC1Y 4SA. Find out more at chiswellstreetdining.com and etmgroup.co.uk.
