BRAP OR CRAP – BUDDIES USA

So a couple of weeks ago I was driving back with GrandVibes, TranchedeWillsy and Rey8Rey from Manchester to London and we pulled off somewhere near Northampton to get a beer in some dumb little village I don’t remember of and see the fireworks (it was Bonfire Night). We were heading back to the M1 when we spotted Buddies USA diner and it looked so stupid even though we had already had a McDonald’s earlier we decided to go in and get some more food. Mainly just because we were all such good buddies, but boy were we in for a treat!

We had no way of knowing this when we pulled in but Buddies USA was actually a bonafide burger joint with something like over 40 different burgers on the menu. I was in heaven. Or more likely hell because we had just had McDonald’s so weren’t really that hungry, we had just come into Buddies USA because it looked like such a cool place (re: one of those stupid American diners like TGI Friday’s but with a bit more character/panache). Anyway, we decided to order kinda like a sharing platter between us all. We got the JFK burger (bacon, cheese and guacamole), the cheese and bacon potato skins to share and some onion rings. Good combo. We weren’t allowed to get beers though because we hadn’t ordered a full meal each and they only had a licence to serve beer with full meals, which was kind of weird but I guess that’s what it’s like in Northampton.

Anyway, the main thing: the food. The food was great! Although I only got to eat 1/4 of the burger (it was a double patty so I still got a good amount) it was delicious and way better than the similar California burger that I had from the Diner in Shoreditch (btw I want to change my review of that with the benefit of hindsight after eating more burgers – it sucked!), the onion rings were pretty decent but the potato skins were exceptional! Nobody really makes potato skins better than my mom but these were a close contender, even though I only got to eat one and 1/4 of them. Most restaurants don’t put enough bacon in, or the bacon is crappy little bacon bits or something, and sometimes they even put the wedges just in the cheese and bacon mix a bit like it’s a dip but not Buddies USA. Here the potato skins were fully loaded – loads of really high quality bacon with lots of juicy cheese. Delicious. I wish I had gotten a whole plate just to myself.

The guys at Buddies USA were closing up when we were there too so kindly offered us some free coffee as they were going to throw it away otherwise. Great food and great guys! Although Buddies USA was slightly expensive I can kind of let them off for being so close to a motorway junction and for having such great food. There were some other things on the menu too that I would have liked to experience too, like the Wet Fries (fries with a bunch of different toppings) and the foot long hot dog and the Tony Soprano burger and the Codfather burger. SO MANY BURGERS! As Buddies USA is situated pretty much halfway between Birmingham and London I expect I’ll be eating there whenever I go home too, so hopefully it won’t be too long before I get to try some of those. Awesome.

For now, Buddies USA gets a Brap, merely because I didn’t have a proper meal there. It could rival Atomic Burger as the best place I’ve eaten so far though in the near future.
RATING: BRAP