Hawke's Bay Today reporter James Pocock gives his verdict on Best Burgers Great NZ Toastie Takeover competition entry.
The humble toastie is quite possibly one of the simplest meals imaginable — usually with bread, cheese and maybe some form of meat inside — but it has been the basis of some incredible creations through the Great NZ Toastie Takeover.
But it wasn’t a laundry list of creative and unusual ingredients that made Havelock North’s Best Burgers one of the 14 finalists this year, from 185 entries nationwide.
Before me was The Joey in all its humble glory, the brainchild of Best Burgers co-owner Simon Parkinson.
Four ingredients, slow-cooked beef in Sloppy Joe sauce, with American cheese and McClure’s Sweet and Spicy Pickles, between two pieces of sourdough bread.
It is a very simple toastie, but they got the things that make a toastie a toastie very, very right.
The bread is crunchy and savoury in just the right way, you wouldn’t think it would be a highlight but it is. The cheese is smooth and stringy, the beef isn’t too chewy and the pickles are perfectly sweet.
My only point of reference, besides shoddily made ham and cheese toasties at home, was the 2022 supreme winner, which I tried over the summer, Get Smoked, Pickled and Toasted, from Okere Falls Store in Rotorua.
It would be a tall order for a low-key toastie like The Joey to stack up to competition like that, but it could still have a shot simply because it is a sandwich that nails the brief.
After being told last year that their finalist entry, the Cluckin Patty Melt, was “too burgery”, co-owners and childhood friends Simon Parkinson and Jamie Weedon decided to simplify their creation this year.
Parkinson told me the root of the idea for The Joey once again came from a burger.
“It was a burger idea I had for a while and then the competition came up again and I thought “well actually, this would probably work in a toastie as well’,” Parkinson said.
“I was a little bit nervous we had gone too simple, especially compared to other entries and the one we did last year, but I guess that is what we are as a business as well. We just do simple things, but we try to do them really well, so that has paid off for us.”
Parkinson said they were motivated to enter the competition for the first time last year because they thought they could add something interesting and get their name out there.
“Since we did so well at it last year, we thought we would come back and have another crack at it and it has paid off for us this year as well.”
Hawke's Bay Today reporter James Pocock tries The Joey for the first time and gives his verdict. Photo / Paul Taylor
Weedon said they had not tried any of the other toasties that had entered the competition, but they wanted to try the Chicken Katsu Toastie from Albion Canteen in Napier that placed 12th out of 176 toasties in the People’s Choice category for 2023.
Best Burgers foodie inspiration comes from a wide range of sources, but Parkinson specifically credited The Burger Show with George Motz and Alvin Cailan for being one of those sources of inspiration.
The judges gave an honourable mention to another Hawke’s Bay toastie that didn’t quite make the finals cut, The Figgery in Hastings, for its Figilicious Smoked Salmon Toastie with Green Fig Jam.
The supreme winner of The Great NZ Toastie Takeover 2023 will be revealed on June 20.
Toasties are judged on presentation, the effectiveness of preparation technique, eatability, taste, innovation and originality.
The winner gets a year’s worth of McClure’s Pickles, a bespoke Rikki Berger trophy and the right to say they make the best toasted sandwich in the country.
