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If you dont fancy paying £8.50 for an Ascot Burger (Love to know why it is an ASCOT Burger i mean do they have a special herd of cattle down by Swinley Bottom or does HM supply them) anyway id recommend the Cheeseburger and Chips at Wolverhampton for about £4, and it is really good and nice and hot.
I suppose you get what you pay for – I think you will find the burger served at Wolverhampton is made of mechanically reclaimed "meat" – now if that floats your boat fine. The Ascot burger, by contrast, is actually made of meat.
To be honest most burgers served at UK courses I wouldn’t even serve to an animal – as part of my racecourse reviews burgers are one of the items I sample – I can honestly say in over 50% of cases the burger gets thrown straight in the bin without me even taking a mouthful from it. Of the remainder most get binned after only one bite.
Best burger of all at UK racecourses, and very good value (£5.20 plain £5.60 with real cheese), is the Goodwood burger – 100% meat from cattle raised on the Goodwood estate. The steak baps, from the same source at £6.50 are also excellent.
Ascot is not cheap compared with other courses however for where it is located, prices are at the market level – market forces, thankfully, rule.
On the queueing issue it would help if the ticket office at the east end entrance was open. That is nearest the lane that ran back to car park 6.
Now I agree that isn’t very good, although unusual, the East sales office is normally open.
You must have been unlucky yesterday.
We should have moaned about the cold food but it’s busy etc.
Appreciate what you are saying but if people don’t complain the trouble is the course will carry on thinking everything is OK.
I would seriously suggest dropping them a line or sending an e-mail, they are very responsive to feedback.
I know I am "supporting" Ascot here but, believe me, when the new stand opened I was very highly critical and vociferous and I had some very “frank” exchanges of correspondence with the course executive.
However if you are constructive, they are responsive.
One of my biggest gripes was the cost of bottled water – at £3 a throw. After the “standard” correspondence about costs etc. (where they stated they do not have the buying power of Supermarkets), I produced a receipt from my local cash and carry where I proved I was able to purchase the same brand of water at 19p a bottle – so if I can get the water that cheap how can you justify such a huge mark-up.
Now they still sell overpriced water, however they have also installed free water points inside the main stand as well. So there is now a choice.
Paul you have just conjured up a mental image of you ordering a burger, taking it out of the burger mans mitts and throwing it straight in the bin under the nose of and to the bemusement of the burger vendor without even looking at it. Thanks for that.
They do a really good bacon buttie at Horseheath if you fancy a point to point next Saturday and there is really good grub to be found at Charing Aldington Penshurst and Kingston Blount as well.
Paul you have just conjured up a mental image of you ordering a burger, taking it out of the burger mans mitts and throwing it straight in the bin under the nose of and to the bemusement of the burger vendor without even looking at it. Thanks for that.
Glad to help raise a smile.
My best ever, at a course I won’t name, was where I bought some fish and chips and was aghast when I broke the fish to see this horrible grey mass. The first mouthful was indescribable and I had to spit it out. It wasn’t just the fish, even the batter had rancid taste.
Indeed it was so bad I couldn’t even throw it away.
I actually went and found the course MD and made him try the fish himself – let’s just say the course now has new caterers.
The fish and chips at Southwell looked great the other week; we’re actually going to go there just to sample them in the near future.
I suppose you get what you pay for – I think you will find the burger served at Wolverhampton is made of mechanically reclaimed "meat" – now if that floats your boat fine. The Ascot burger, by contrast, is actually made of meat.
Really now? See, I’ve been to Wolverhampton & I didn’t see anything on their menu about the source of their burger meat. I’ve never been to Ascot but I bet they don’t either.
I’m all for constructive debate but let’s not just make things up.
At the end of a day though, it’s a burger. It’s not going to be the best quality meat & I don’t care if it has gold dust in it, £8.50 is a rip off by any measure.
Ascot is a fantastic course. Honestly; that stand! Loved every second of my day out there and I cannot remember being so enthused about a sporting event. Champing at the bit to go to the Victoria Cup.
The food was laughably expensive but no more so than Newmarket July. Funnier than Tim Vine after a snortful of helium.
Going off at a slight tangent, does anyone know what happens to those horses that suffer a fatal injury at the racecourse? Do they return to their home stables, are they shipped over to France or do they end up in the knacker’s yard (heard the expression but not sure what it means)?
I suppose you get what you pay for – I think you will find the burger served at Wolverhampton is made of mechanically reclaimed “meat” – now if that floats your boat fine. The Ascot burger, by contrast, is actually made of meat.
I don’t know what they serve at Wolverhampton because I’ve never been there before – but I can confirm without a shadow of doubt that the ‘Ascot’ burger is nothing like the ‘real’ meat you describe, Paul; it’s a bog standard 40% at best job and no better than the average kebab shop mass produced burger.
If you take McDonalds beef patties for example – they taste like beef and so they should, because it’s well documented that they’re 100% beef including the fat of the cuts they use, which reduces the meat content to around 80%. I make my own burgers whenever I fancy one, using the best mince and the least ingredients (flour and seasoning) and they come out exactly the same as Mc D’s. The Ascot burger on its own merit tastes like ‘chappie’ in comparison.
I don’t doubt you’ve ate many burgers at many racecourses the length and breadth of the country, but as Anthonycutt said – let’s not make things up for the sake of it. With all considered, the Ascot burger represents appalling value for money.
But, hey, if they sell out to the folk who don’t mind and, sadly, unwittingly shell out for such crap whilst out with friends enjoying their annual visit to the course, who cares!
I’m all for constructive debate but let’s not just make things up.
Are you honestly telling me you cannot tell the difference between different types of burgers?
Going off at a slight tangent, does anyone know what happens to those horses that suffer a fatal injury at the racecourse? Do they return to their home stables, are they shipped over to France or do they end up in the knacker’s yard (heard the expression but not sure what it means)?
Un equiburger et pommes frites is my snack of choice when racing in France
Given the fashion for political correctness nowadays Knacker’s Yard is a pleasingly blunt term for an animal rendering plant that dismembers carcasses into various bits for use by tannery, fellmonger, glue factory or pet food factory. It’s distinguished from a Slaughterhouse (Abattoir) in that it receives already dead animals for processing while the latter receives only live animals to be killed on-site for human consumption
As for racehorses, I assume the majority that die on the racecourse do end up (rightly) with the Knackerman, though some owners may prefer their pride and joy to be buried or cremated. Old retired ‘family pets’ and well known horses in particular
They do a really good bacon buttie at Horseheath if you fancy a point to point next Saturday and there is really good grub to be found at Charing Aldington Penshurst and Kingston Blount as well.
Happy to report the bacon and sausage baguette at Chipley Park yesterdy was splendid, too, likewise the home-made flapjacks.
gc
Adoptive father of two. The patron saint of lower-grade fare. A gently critical friend of point-to-pointing. Kindness is a political act.
And there was me thinking that people went racing to watch the horses!
If it saves anyone any heartache in the future, the cornish pasties at Franklins Gardens are atrocious. They aren’t £8.50 either though….
I’m all for constructive debate but let’s not just make things up.
Are you honestly telling me you cannot tell the difference between different types of burgers?
I know the difference, Paul – I do, I do, I do!
And your highly acclaimed ‘Ascot Burger’ is nothing more than rusk, emulsifier and ‘mystery meat’. It seems you don’t know the difference. They’re getting away with it because of the ‘Ascot’ in the name
, Paul – just like brands do and because they can . Don’t be fooled – ’tis chappie , I tell you.
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