Move Over Mickey D

A low dollar solution

We were sitting at the bar in a small pub in Ghent, me with a Westmalle Triple and Nat with a Barbar Honey Ale, soaking in the local vibe, when an intense hunger hit. Swept away with the buzz of rolling into this pearl of a city, we had forgotten to eat. A quick calculation of our budget for the day called for a low dollar solution, we still needed to explore more of the beer culture at multiple more locations. We were deep in the teens of the number of Belgian beers tasted and had hundreds more to investigate.

No more fries!

The prospect of another plate of French fries, no matter how perfect, was not appealing and we could not decide what we wanted to do.
It was at that moment that the bartender leaned in with what sounded like sage advice, suggesting, “Get yourself a Bicky burger!”
“A Bicky burger?!” I said. “What’s a Bicky burger?”
“…it’s Belgian fast food! Cheap and good!” I feel the need to mention that in normal circumstances we stay away from fast food as much as possible but once in a while, you have to go to the dark side to appreciate good food.  Who am I kidding, that’s just BS, sometimes when travelling, we’d rather drink our daily budget than spend it on three meals. So we tipped back the end of our beers and were off in search of a Bicky burger. Which, it turns out, was only a quick jaunt across the square to a small frituur stand, conveniently located near many of the best pubs.

Two Bicky burgers, please

I quickly stepped up to the counter and motioned for two Bicky burgers fully loaded!
With that, she grabbed two sponge coloured circles from the refrigerator and slid them into the deep fryer. There would be no flame-broiled patties here just a quick swim in the oil until it turned a deeper shade of brown. Then, grabbed from the basket, it’s planted on a basic sesame seed bun and adorned with a trio of sauces; a funky hot sauce, sweet ketchup and Bicky dressing, made up of cabbage, cauliflower, mustard, onion and cucumber. A slightly less moist salad of lettuce and pickles is then applied and a hand full of crispy fried onions is piled on top.

Freaky sponge patty

Strategically positioned on a bench in the square, so that the sure-to-fall greasy drip wouldn’t hit our clothes, we dove in for the first bite. With all of those ingredients under the bun it was a mouth full of savoury flavours fighting to be recognized but under it all was that freaky sponge-like patty. What the hell is that thing?
Well, it turns out that the Bicky burger really empties the farmyard by combining chicken, pork and horsemeat into a grossly over processed patty. It tastes like nothing I have had before and not in a particularly good way. A dripping mess of ingredients that loses all structural integrity by the time you are half way through and runs off your elbows onto your pant legs while you eat it. I can only imagine that the drunker you are the better this thing would taste. The Bicky burger is like Rotten Ronnie’s disgraceful cousin.

Our shameful dinner

Folding up the wrappers to contain the remaining sauces, we finished our shameful dinner. We both agreed that it was one of the gnarliest “burgers” we have ever endured and that a repeat of the exercise would never need to be conducted again.
Nevertheless, our stomachs were full and the budget had barely suffered a scratch, mission accomplished. Fuelled up and feeling a second wind coming on, a canal-side beer was calling our name.
Two sips later the Bicky burger was a distant memory and the night was young.