We don’t usually head out to Ashford, but recently managed to meet my parents there while they were on the way to France. Next to the hotel where they were staying is a conveniently located pub with a rustic atmosphere, The Hop Pickers. The menu is fairly limited, so it’s a good job they had one thing that appealed instantly: a mushroom burger.
![The Hop Pickers](/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/IMAG3247-800x450.jpg)
It’s listed as a portobello mushroom burger, but that is in no way the case – yes, there are large mushrooms, but they are far too small to be portobellos. It is normally served with stilton, which J ordered, but I’m not a fan and so decided to go for the option of swapping it for mozzarella. It’s a decision I was very happy with, but he maintains his choice was the right one.
![Mushroom burger with chips and salad](/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/received_10154398899548903-800x600.jpeg)
It was served with your average pub chips as well as a half-hearted salad drizzled with that awful dressing you always seem to get in less upmarket pubs. In short, nothing special. The chips were pretty good though, because, come on, chips.
![Mozzarella and mushrooms](/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/IMAG3250-450x800.jpg)
The mushrooms were very juicy and that for me was what matched them up very well with the mozzarella. The juices soaked into the bread, which was very soft, and I definitely enjoyed that combination. The bun was floury white bread, with just the right kind of texture for this burger. It was a good match, although I did notice that half the bun ended up sticking to my fingers – it was literally that soft (and probably defrosted, to be fair).
![Mushroom burger with stilton](/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/received_10154398899628903-600x800.jpeg)
Under the burger was a total excess of tomato, I mean really far too much. There were several slices all layered up under there. I mean, one slice would have been too much for me, but this was an over-tomato by anyone’s standards. There was also a very small and unimpressive amount of salad in the bun, almost so little as to be totally incidental. Still, it was a fair enough burger. One thing I did notice is that it was a very quiet pub for most of the night, and that the furniture was not the cleanest or most comfortable (everything was sticky to the point that I actually thought I couldn’t move at one point). The burger was good, but the rest left a lot to be desired.
![Hop Pickers burger](/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/IMAG3248-450x800.jpg)
Shame the pub wasn’t as good as the burger. I hate it when salad is a half hearted attempt. They do burgers and salad so well in the US!
I’m far too much of a beef-burger fan so I’m not sure I could bring myself to try a mushroom burger but that mozzarella makes it look incredibly appealing! It’s a shame the rest of the meal wasn’t up to scratch!
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