Handmade Burger Co, Leeds

I was over in Leeds when I stumbled across a restaurant chain I hadn't heard of before.

A little digging online and I soon found out that the Handmade Burger Company had opened up a Manchester chain on Deansgate so I thought it worth a visit to the established Leeds restaurant to see if it was a new star or a wet lettuce.

The restaurant is very modern and inviting from the outside and there was no queue either.  Seeing as my friend and I were in a rush this encouraged us to eat here and we were swiftly shown to our table.

Based on the style of the chain, you would be forgiven for thinking that there is a link between Handmade Burger Co and Nando's.  

The entire set up is similar and you order in the same manner too.

My friend ordered the Mexican beefburger with salsa, crushed avocado, tortilla chips, jalapenos, chipotle sauce, lettuce, tomato and red onion.  It had a nice spice to it and was served with a fresh lime on top.

I went for a Speciality Cheese burger with my favourite goats' cheese flavour and a red onion chutney on the top. 

It was a little too 'bready' for my taste and the huge lettuce leaf wasn't really necessary.  But despite this, the burger was juicy and the cheese was adequately strong.

The chips were probably the best things we ate.  This is one of the only chain restaurants I have been to that serves chip shop style chips - they were marvelous.

Handmade Burger Co. was actually alright and beat my expectations.  
In Manchester it is probably competing more with Nando's and Wagamama rather than places like Solita.

Not bad for a quick burger bite when in the city but I can't imagine hearing anyone saying "let's have a cheeky Handmade" anytime soon...