The Christmas Burger - All Star Lanes, Manchester

Ho ho ho! Last week we went to discover one of the true meanings of Christmas... FOOD. Let's face it, we all love to feel like a stuffed turkey by New Year's Eve, and it's a quintessential tradition to curse your own gluttony and vow to become a teetotal powerhouse of physical fitness on 1st January. Just run with it - you do it every year. 

So, let's start as we mean to go on, mainly in the form of a towering burger packed with all things festive! The current All Star Lanes special is the Turkey Burger, which actually sounds quite healthy! This pile of festive fayre includes a breaded fried turkey breast, sage and onion pork stuffing, Monterey Jack cheese, Porter cured bacon, cranberry sauce and mayo. 

It's the kind of burger that you have to do a firm squashing manoeuvre on before you can fit it in your mouth and rue the day you didn't put your napkin on your lap. I loved the fact that the stuffing forms part of the breaded burger too. Because it's turkey, it didn't seem to kill me off either; it genuinely seemed like a bit of a lighter option (I'd been to Solita earlier in the week...)!

As if that wasn't enough to give us a mild case of gout, we also ordered some skinny and sweet potato fries and the seasonal smoked salmon mac and cheese. I'd highly recommend that you sample such goodies with a few cocktails too - the Aloha Jar is a bit of a belter, although it tastes like pop so frequently leads to me being a bit giddier than usual when I leave...

I'm fast becoming All Star Lanes' biggest fan. I love the decor, the food, the cocktails and the people. We always have a great time and they are constantly coming up with a fun new twist to the menu. Go here with friends for a great night out and some lovely food to boot. If you do decide to go bowling, you will not see our scores on the leaderboard - some say it's because we're crap, but that's just an elaborate cover story concocted by the staff so other bowlers don't feel intimidated.