I tried Fat Hippo's festive menu and got a perfect dose of Christmas

Everyone has their own ways to know Christmas is coming. For some it is the turning on of lights in their hometown, others may feel the air is more crisp than usual.

For myself and my partner, it is the release of the Christmas menu at Fat Hippo restaurants across the UK.

The burger chain has 13 sites across the nation, including two in Newcastle - the city centre and Jesmond - as well as another North East site in Durham and is a favourite for anyone looking for stacked burgers and loaded fries.

Each Novemeber the company widens its menu to include a number of estive themed options and across every year we have been together, my partner and I make sure we start Christmas off well with a trip to Newcastle's Christmas market and the city centre burger joint.

With each year's meal becoming more of a tradition, it can be easy to get caught up in expectations for such a tradition, so how does this year's festive offering compare to those in the past?

Heading to Newcastle on a cold, wet Monday night, we headed to the underground site on Shakespeare Street in a good mood after hiding from the lashing rain with a dash into a couple of bars and was swiftly sat down and sorted with the efficiancy and perfect customer service you would expect from the well respected site.

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In terms of festive offerings, the Christmas menu was disappointingly small, only offering two additional burgers - one meat based and one vegan - although the full regular menu was also available.

Having both decided to try vegetarianism in 2021 and continue indefinitely, we both went with the 'Fairytale of No Pork', a regular on the restaurant's festive menu which includes a "Southern fried plant based patty, deep fried vegan halloumi, cranberry jello, maple fakon and Christmas 'slaw" according to the menu, alongside cheese and gravy fries.

The meatier option is listed as including a "beef patty, pork stuffing patty, American cheese, maple-basted Southern fried chicken, cranberry jello and Christmas 'slaw" and is also served with cheese and gravy fries. This costs £18.50 compared to £15.50 for its meatless counterpart.

Anyone who has been to Fat Hippo sites in the past will know how tough it can be to eat a full meal, but what the menu lacked in variation, it made up for in terms of quality of food. The 'chicken' patty was perfectly cooked while the vegan halloumi, although slightly messy once bitten into, offered a perfect difference in taste to the southern fried main part of the meal.

In terms of what makes the burger festive, the cranberry and christmas 'slaw wasn't lathered on, giving a lovely subtle taste of late December, although it was arguably not paired well with the beer I got on the side. In comparison, my partner chose the Butterbeer shake, consisting of Baileys and butterscotch alongside a nut blend which was described as just "alright".

The burgers alongside the site's waffle fry nachos had us sorted out until the following lunchtime, but most importantly, set us up for another year of festive build up.