I tried the limited edition new dish at Bristol restaurant Honest Burgers and it wasn’t what I expected

Burger chain Honest Burgers is known for its high quality ingredients including beef from Gloucestershire farms and freshly prepared rosemary salted chips rather than the usual frozen jobs.

At its Bristol restaurant, there’s a ‘Bristol’ burger featuring Somerset cheese, Cornish cider and frozen cocktails from nearby Brozen.

For its latest limited edition burger, however, it has looked to the American South for its inspiration.

Honest Burgers has partnered with pimento cheese brand Homewrecker to create its monthly special for April and the result is the Carolina Fried Chicken X Homewrecker Cheese Burger.

Available for a limited time only, until May 6, the burger, comprises cereal-fried chicken breast topped with creamy Homewrecker pimento cheese, BBQ mayo, lettuce and pickles.

The idea came from Jane Davis, the founder of Homewrecker. After moving to the UK from the US, the homesick ex-pat craved a taste of home so she created her own pimento cheese brand. 

She then took things a step further by taking a tub of homemade pimento cheese into her local pub and asking the chef to slather it on a burger. It hasn’t come off the menu since.

Half spread, half dip, it’s a blend of Cheddar, cream cheese, mayo and sweet pickled peppers. Known as ‘Carolina Caviar’ or the ‘pâté’ of the South, the cheese is also known to golf fans as the official sandwich of The Masters.

I have to say I wasn’t convinced by the concept of a cheesy chicken burger. I love a proper cheese-layered beef burger but the idea of chicken and cheese didn’t really grab me.

And at £15.20, the Carolina Fried Chicken X Homewrecker Cheese Burger isn’t especially cheap for a high street burger chain.

Still, I was intrigued to see if it lived up to all the social media hype so headed straight down to the Bristol Honest Burgers in Clare Street, just off the city centre.

With its reclaimed wood, ribbed glass partitions, oversize lightbulbs and whitewashed exposed brickwork, it has an industrial look and there are high stools in the back window overlooking the nearby church.

At 7pm on a weekday evening, Honest Burgers was packed. We managed to secure the last available table and there was also a constant stream of delivery drivers collecting bags of food.

But despite being busy, service was calm, friendly and efficient. I had only taken a few sips of my pint of Bristol Cider Co ‘Peary’ (a local pear and apple cider with quite a kick at 6.9% ABV) before my burger arrived.

The rosemary salted chips at Honest Burger have always been impressive and there is always the right amount of them - not too much that you end up leaving half and not too stingy.

The Carolina Fried Chicken X Homewrecker Cheese Burger didn’t give too much away from the outside apart from a few strings of melted cheese.

But it all made complete sense as soon as I took the first bite. The succulent slice of golden, crisp-crumbed chicken breast was smothered with melting Homewrecker pimento cheese, tangy BBQ mayo, crunchy lettuce and piquant pickles. 

The molten cheese added a lovely creaminess to contrast the crunchy crumb coating of the chicken, which was clearly of a high quality.

Despite being dubious before I tried it, I was bowled over by this cheesy chicken burger and I could see satisfied fellow diners who had also ordered it were impressed, too.

The Carolina Fried Chicken X Homewrecker Cheese Burger is available at Honest Burgers until May 6.

Honest Burgers, 21 Clare Street, Bristol, BS1 1XA.