Being very bad this Christmas at Almost Famous, Liverpool

When it comes to the festive season, you can guarantee I’ll be doing these four things:

1. Grimacing at my mum’s jokes about Santa’s full and/or empty sack (depending which side of December 25th were on),
2. Drinking double measures of chocolate Baileys in the bath at 6pm on a Tuesday just because I can,
3. Willing the sun to go down so I can turn the fairy lights on, dive under my Christmas bedding with a grin like Cindy Lou Who and forget all about the leccy bill,
4. Scheduling as many trips to Almost Famous Liverpool in as humanly possible to make the most of their legendary – no – iconic Christmas special.

 

 

Back in the day when Almost Famous was but a goofy little freak on an otherwise pretty inoffensive food and drink scene, the AF Christmas special was a bit of a well-kept secret. Fast forward a good few years and Almost Famous has evolved into a flippin’ empire and I’ve got the cheek chub to prove it.

These days, the Almost Famous Christmas burger is a calendar event. It eclipses the December 25th countdown because who gives a damn about carols and Yule Tide when you know these guys are about to serve up their next dose of euphoria in a brioche bun?!

True to tradition, we’re being shown no mercy from the Almost Famous Christmas menu this year and I was more than happy to head along to the Seel Street restaurant and inflict a session of pure, unadulterated burger-based sadism on my digestive system to give you the 4-1-1.

So, what is the Almost Famous Christmas burger this year?

…the question on everybody’s salivating lips as soon as the month of October rolls around. This must have been what Green Day were referring too when they wrote Wake Me Up When September Ends because it can’t just be me who eagerly awaits this moment for a good 300 days of the year…

 

 

This year’s installment is every bit as mouth-watering as all of its predecessors. It goes by the name of ‘Son of a Nutcracker’ and is a towering masterpiece made up of double cheeseburger, sausage patty, buttermilk turkey goujons, JD & cola BBQ sauce, cranberry & bacon jam, festive slaw and a brandy & peppercorn sauce – pause for breath – with a pig in a blanket on top.

It doesn’t really get much more festive than that, without Old Nick himself ringing in your order, but how did it translate on the taste buds?

Well, it was an absolute delight. It was juicy, it was tasty; each and every component was irresistible (except maybe the rather anemic looking sausage roll on top). In terms of the eating experience, it was every inch as good as usual…

The hesitancy you might be picking up on? Yeah, that’s because I’m not entirely convinced it was all that, Christmas. On paper, sure, but in the mouth, not so much. It basically tastes like a bangin’ BBQ cheeseburger with the addition of some bloody gorgeous turkey goujons. Delish, no doubt, but missing a bit of sage or a sprinkle of thyme somewhere maybe.

Fear not though, my hangry little elves because holidays are certainly a comin’ with the positively orgasmic Christmas fries. Blow me down with tinsel bower, these bad boys are good. A mix of sweet potato and regular fries are topped with cheese, AF Christmas gravy, shredded turkey, cranberry and fried onions and well, wow. Just wow.

If you don’t do anything else this winter, make sure you faceplant a portion of AF Christmas fries.

 

 

As is customary, those naughty boys and girls at Almost Famous are also treating us to a collection of Christmas cocktails to wash all our carb-based sins away with. There’s the Festive Bitch – a seasonal twist on the notorious AF Bitch Juice and a Gingerbread Mojito complete with miniature gin-gingerbread man poking out the top like Hugh Hefner in a hot tub.

My pick of the poisons just had to be the Holidays Are Comin’ cocktail which was a concoction of rye, vanilla, cherry and cola with an ice cream float and a giant jelly cola bottle. It was sweet, made me smile and definitely strong enough to make you feel like you’d been hit by the Coca Cola truck if you drank too many. What more could you ask for?!

Still hungry for more uncensored burger porn? Check out the time Almost Famous Liverpool made the ultimate Scouse Salt & Pepper burger or when they joined forces with condiment king, Hell-manns to create the Frickin’ Hell Mann burger.

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I was very kindly invited to review the Almost Famous Christmas menu but all words, photographs, opinions, teeth, hair, boobs and nails are my very own.