Forget being “Almost Famous”, this place is about to be the word on everyone’s lips. The guys at Almost Famous know gluttony, and they do it well. Before we tucked in, we grilled them about everything from burgers to booze and all that’s in between.
How was it for you guys settling in over summer? With no students around, it must have been nice and calm?
It was perfect, it was sort of like a soft launch. With no students around we could get all the teething problems out of the way and build a good reputation with Leeds locals. We’ve not got a sign at the moment, so we’re looking forward to our huge, neon-yellow, flying burger coming to put outside, so everyone knows where we are.
How’s the reaction been so far in Leeds?
People have responded really positively. We pride ourselves on really good, personal service and we love big groups. It’s a great vibe in here; all the staff are really happy and it rubs off on customers. We’re a good bridge between somewhere cheap and something totally high end. We have such a broad range of customer support as well -just the other week, we had a 103 year old lady in here eating a burger.
So have you got a favourite thing on the menu?
I love everything. There’s something for everyone on our menu- whether it’s a standard burger, or something more fancy like our ‘Butter, Blood and Bleu’ which has got steak, chorizo and loads of stuff. Our fries are also amazing – ‘bacon bacon’ fries are so popular that people ask for t-shirts with that slogan on.
After our chat we dug in. I went for the ‘John Bender’ breakfast burger, with a fried egg, an extra pork patty and a hash brown – it was delicious. My companion went for a spicier option with the ‘Triple Chilli Cheeseburger’, containing the hottest but most delicious beef chilli. We had to order some of the ‘Bacon Bacon’ fries, which were doused in baconnaise and topped off with crispy bacon bits. We also grabbed two of the boozy shakes. Luckily for us, the special that night was a ‘Blueball Screwball’, created by the bar manager. Its exact ingredients escaped us, but we do know there was a bubble-gum ball at the base, and it was topped with whipped cream and a sprinkling of bubble-gum millions. Truly mind blowing. Both my companion and I left fuller than we’ve ever felt before. The only question now is, how do we keep them to ourselves and stop them from becoming more than ‘Almost Famous’?
Dominique Alexander