HUBBOX Review

The low down

HUBBOX in Exeter has recently moved from Sidwell Street to Catherine Street (closer to the HUB of Exeter city centre life), taking over where the Rum and Crab shack used to be. The new venue is much bigger, downstairs holds the bar and casual sofa seating suitable for drinks and a chilled meal. More seating and the kitchen are upstairs, with access to a terrace which should be lovely in summer! I love the new interior design, particularly the booths to sit in, and the interesting style of lighting, it gives is a great ambience. The place was buzzing with life when we arrived and left, which was surprising for a Monday night – definitely a good sign! Exeter isn’t the only HUBBOX location, it is also based in Bristol, Taunton, Pentewan, St Ives and Truro. https://www.hubbox.co.uk/about/

The food

HUBBOX is typically known for it’s American-style meaty burgers, hot dogs and loaded fries. But don’t let that fool you, there’s an expanding range of vegetarian and vegan options which certainly don’t lack creativity and won’t leave you missing out on a messy burgers and loaded fries. I remember my first time going to HUBBOX (maybe 3 years ago now) and getting a veggie burger and asking to have the goat cheese removed from it… it’s come a LONG way since there!

There’s a couple of vegan starters which we tried: Smoked hummus with fire grilled flatbread and cauliflower poppers with a vegan garlic alioli. I had completely forgotten that the hummus was smoked, so was very pleasantly surprised on the first bite! I’ve had my fair share of hummus in my time (you get it by the tonne in Dubai!), and this one was different to many that I’ve had because of the smokey flavour. Personally I think this is a great combination with the fire grilled flatbread and is a perfect starter to share between two. The cauliflower poppers are becoming a common vegan option on menus now, so I’ve got the compare these to Bill’s and Absurd bird. They were much bigger pieces than the other two places which I preferred as I made it a more satisfying bite, though the batter was quite heavy on the bites so having the garlic alioli is a must! The garlic alioli was a STAR in my eyes, it was delicious and was perfect to dip the cauliflower poppers and fries in.

Before I get down to the burgers, let me tell you about the Dirty Cauliflower Steak. At the moment this is advertised as a vegetarian option because it is usually cook with butter for the sauce, but can be veganised by not having the buttery sauce. It is slow cooked on the grill, giving it a deep barbequey taste and a beautifully crispy outside. Because it came without the buttery sauce, I was dipping it in the garlic alioli (again) to give it a bit of moisture and this was delicious. Hopefully in the future there will be a yummy vegan sauce to go with this! The Dirty Cauliflower Steak is also served with a generious portion of charred greens (savoy cabbage, leeks and kale), roasted beetroot and skin on fries (daymn this fries were good!). If I wasn’t so full, I would’ve eating all of the greens as the flavour they had taken up was scrummy!

BURGER TIME. I’m slows by surely making my way around all the vegan burger options on offer around Exeter, so I went to HUBBOX trusting and hoping they would nail this! There’s three vegan burger options, which honestly makes it a bit hard to choose what to have. Here they are (not in order):

  1. Besty – This is a flavoursome falafel burger which is served with roasted red pepper and made vegan by switching to a vegan mayo. Tom said that this was his favourite of the 3, and I agree that the flavour great and it wasn’t dry (as falafel burgers can be) so this one easily ticks some boxes for me when it comes to burger judging. I’d give is a 7/10, though I think Tom would be giving it a 9/10.
  2. Fakin Bacon – Without trying any of the burgers, this is probably what I would have chosen. I loved the sound the black bean and squash patty with the facon jam and BBQ mayo – it really did live up to my taste expectations! It was moist and messy which I love about burgers, there was sweetness from the jam and squash but also a subtle spicy flavour which add a little extra je ne se qui (My French is bad yes?). I took two bites of this and immediately decided to leave it till then end as I always save my favourite bit till last… well at least that’s what I though would be my favourite. This gets an easy 9/10 for me.
  3. All Star Plant – The name says it all, this was the star of the show for me. I had one bite and immediately changed my mind on which was my favourite. This burger is the Moving Mountains B12 burger, which I was a little underwhelmed by in Bill’s, but HUBBOX made it into something completely different. I usually prefer the non-meat ‘meat’ burgers, but this has changed my mind on that. I can’t believe how real it looked and tasted! OK it’s been a few years since I had a meat burger, but from memory… wow. I was blown away by this and will without a doubt come back just for that burger. 11/10 – HUBBOX smashed it.

HUBBOX also have an app which enables you to collect points each time you dine, and you also start off with £2.50 of vouchers to use at any time! Thank you to the staff at HUBBOX for a fabulous (complimentary) meal and letting me try so much – I’m glad we surprised you about how much we could eat. I’ll be back soon!