United Cakedom: charity

Honest Burgers hasn't been in Reading for very long, but it's one of the few places in town that I re-visit over and over again. The menu is basic, but I use that term in a good way not in the slang way it is used by the youth of today. Because I have found that the best places to eat are the ones that do a few things really well.

Saying that though the menu has something for everyone, vegetarians and vegans included. Every month they have a special burger that celebrates locally sourced ingredients and keeps the menu interesting.

The other thing they do that helps keep things interesting is that each Honest Burgers has one burger that you can only get at that location. Each one of those burgers usually reflects the area of the location of the restaurant. And that is why I am writing today.

Reading's signature burger has changed.

It has changed to, are you ready for this...... a Jerk Chicken Burger - free-range jerk chicken thigh, smoked bacon, double American cheese, Calypso Fusion jerk sauce, mango slaw and lettuce

Yesterday I took my girls into town to see a movie and then to dinner at Honest Burgers where I tried this Jerk Chicken Burger. I gotta say it was one of the best chicken burgers I have tried in recent times. The chicken was perfectly cooked and the spices perfectly balanced, in my opinion it had just the right amount of heat.

The burger was created by one of the team members in Reading. She worked as a prep chef and made her way up and is now an essential part of their management team. She came to to join the Reading team through a program called Working Chance; the UK's only recruitment consultancy for women leaving the criminal justice and care system.

The Jerk burger uses her family's jerk rub and sauce and a portion of the sale of every burger sold goes to the charity Working Chance as a way to say thank you to them and to help them continue the amazing work they are doing.

If this burger isn't enough for you to visit Honest Burger, I should mention their rosemary salted chips, they are the best and their cocktails are some of my favorite! But not only that as I mentioned above there is something for everyone including veggies and vegans.

In January they launched their vegan burger, which uses a Beyond Meat patty and I tried it when I took part of Veganuary and I have to say I really enjoyed it - I wrote about it in my blog post Top 5 Vegan Recipes & Products and it's still available!

It also has a kids menu that reflects kids tastes. The burgers are sliders and were the perfect size for little people. My eldest daughter loves pickles, like her mom does, and when ordering her veggie burger asked for lots of pickles. Their pickles are made there and so we were brought a bowl with some to try and we were fighting over them! Just another way that they show their dedication to great ingredients.

There are several locations check out their website to find one near you and if you are local to Reading it's located - 1-5 King St, Reading RG1 2HB

My original review post can be found here.

* I was invited to visit Honest Burgers, I was not compensated in a monetary way for my review, all opinions are my own, please see my contact/policy page above for more information.

Today is Red Nose Day!!

Should I be ashamed to admit I have not seen any of the Red Nose Day programs on TV?? I did watch the Great British Bake Off Red Nose Day competition, which I thought, was fun. I have also bought the accompanying book as I have bought Jamie Oliver’s books in the past to support Red Nose Day. I have also bought the girls Red Noses as I do every year…but this year I was given an opportunity to actually bake for it, without having to organize my own event.

My father-in-law’s office was holding an in office bake sale with all proceeds going to Red Nose Day. A lot of the people in his office know I bake and so he asked if I could make some cookies.

I choose the Sugar Saucer recipe from Outsider Tart’s Baked in America as they are big American sized cookies and they are delicious. I rolled the cookies in red hundreds and thousands before baking and when I ran out of those I used some left over heart sprinkles. I saved the few cookies with hearts for my daughters lunch box. Shhhhh don’t tell. ;0)

Red Nose Day is a worthy cause that helps countless people across the UK and people in Africa better their lives. Sometimes giving can be hard when one is trying to make ends meet, but little things like baking cookies for a bake sale or buying a red nose for kids helps too!