The Fat Hippo Underground

Tasty burger if you order the right thing. 4×4 proved the one.
No wifi and no signal.

Newcastle is just full of amazing burger joints! This like burger stop offers a wide choice of incredible mouth watering burgers.
So If you fancy giving your taste buds a treat and making your stomach happy I’d recommend giving the fat hippo a try! I didn’t give it 5 stars for no reason!

I love it here. There’s a great vegetarian selection, which I was really surprised about. I just expected the bog-​standard bean burger, but there was a choice of three!!! Lots of drink choice, and the chips are gorgeous.
I had battered mushroom burger, it was so nice and fatty. Such a great hangover cure, but I went for lunch and I don’t think I ate anything for the rest of the day. The strawberry milkshake is also highly recommended.
The staff were so lovely! The only negative I have is that you come out stinking of fat. Which is fine when you’re just going back to bed, but if you’re lunching with the ladies it’s not nice. Sort your extractor fan out and you can have 5 stars: D :D

Recently on a work trip to Newcastle I was looking for somewhere with some good food. There seems to be quite a Burger & Smoke houses in Newcastle town centre so I was struggling to choose.
I’m so glad I came across Fat hippo, tucked down in a basement I knew I had found the correct rustic joint. With separate bar area we were taking in to the restaurant area.
Grubs up, jalapeño cheese bites for starters… ooooft they caused a little sweat!
I then decided to go with the Texas. Two patties massive onion rings and tones of BBQ sauce. Tasty! They even had their own IPA! Slightly disappointed though when I asked the drinks waiter what guest beers they stocked he looked confused and said we don’t do any. It was listed on the menu.
The food staff were brilliant, one of the party was GF and they say for age going through the menu until they got it right. Success.

Thank you Unilocalers. We searched ‘burger’ from city centre and went with it. And boy, are we happy (and full).
Service was great on a Thursday. I can see how it would get challenging on a weekend as it’s busy & they turn tables.
Potato skin starter (split) did the trick. The non standard beers were a treat. But the burger was gorgeous. Two 4oz burgers is genius… cooked perfectly medium rare.
Husband calls it the best burger he’s had.
Don’t know what else to say. Environment is laid back & cavernous. Not a place you stay for the night. Would go back in a heartbeat (husband asked if we could go back now). Enjoy!

It’s been a year (almost) since my review, and I’m not changing the star rating, but have a few additional comments based on two further experiences here.
Most of the appetizers are take-​them-​or-​leave-​them, but I like the «Dirty Skins» which are potato skins with crispy American bacon (!!) bits on them and «fat hippo sauce» and are delicious. The deep fried pickles and chicken fingers are less inspiring. The batter on the pickles is kind of weird, and they’re whole pickles not slices, which is not normal. The chicken strips are like, little nuggety chunks and they’re okay but not as flavorful or crispy as I like my chicken to be. The buffalo hot sauce, however, that comes with them is bomb. We asked for more of it. Tastes like Murrica.
But what I’m REALLY here to say is holy crap, the Candy Man burger is unbelievable. Candied bacon, cheese, and onion jam combine to make the absolute best topping combination for a burger. In terms of meat, I’ve had better burgers in my life (more seasoned, more rare, etc), but the toppings elevate this to be out of this darn world. I may never order anything else here. That plus sweet potato fries made me ridiculously happy. Go light on the apps, because they’re just okay and you won’t have room for the Candy Man! You’re welcome.

The sign outside confused me a bit. I know there’s a Fat Hippo in Jesmond, and this one is underground like many establishments in Newcastle, but the sign only says underground, instead of Fat Hippo.
Came with a few friends, ordered the fat hippo burger: onion rings, bacon, yum! It was delicious! The portions are huge. I couldn’t finish all of my fries.
I appreciate how they cook the burger to your taste: medium, rare, well done, etc.
It’s comparable to burgers back in LA such as Stout and Grill ‘em all, but hey, when in Newcastle, this is the closest to it!
The staff were all nice and quick too.

I had heard a lot about fat hippo before I went and all good reviews from people. I must say on the food front it lived up to the hype. I had the peanut butter and jelly burger which was right up my street (if you like a mix of sweet and savoury which I do) the best burger I have had in ages with sweet potato fries that were delicious. My friends had other burgers and all looked equally as good and piled high, with interesting sauces and relishes different from the norm. Drinks wise nothing to right home about but they have the usual few craft beers, house wine and a few spirits. The only criticism is the décor, it’s very dark and unfriendly, brick walls and school canteen tables and benches. The food is delivered on a steel tray with paper all reminiscent of school dinners. It strikes me as a good place for lunch, or a quick bite, no frills, just good food that I will frequently return for when I have a burger hankering.

I normally don’t review after one visit, but will give this a go!
Long story short, very impressed!
Long Story:
I liked the atmosphere in the room we were in by the bar (we were a large (ish) group), but were temporarily moved to the main room when space freed up (before we ordered food, they were trying to be nice)… luckily they let us move back though, the table in the main dining area was comedically high! I’m not sure if they were all like that in the main area, but ours was almost laughable… especially given we were planning to share various dishes.
We ordered quite a few starters… the chicken fingers, jalapeño poppers, and fried gherkins… the chicken fingers were the stars here, some of the best little fellas I’ve had this side of the pond. Initially I was a bit disappointed in that they were not coated in buffalo sauce, but they were cooked so well that it didn’t matter… especially given the buffalo sauce that was served with them was mucho tasty… we all agreed that these will be ordered again.
Personally I would skip the jalapeño poppers, unless you don’t like the traditional kind or spicy things… it may actually be worth giving them a go then. (They’re more like hush puppies with a few bits of jalapeño in them versus just jalapeño and cheese… they weren’t bad, just not what any of us expected.)
The fried gherkins were ok, but of the pseudo sweet variety and quite large… this may be a plus for some, but think I’ll pass next time.
For a burger a friend and I split the PB&J Burger, and nom! Everyone that ordered one was quite impressed… a real treat. Disclaimer… I’m an old school burger person and don’t love the whole new crazy burger trend, but will make an exception for this one… it retains at dirty burger nostalgia with just enough difference versus getting lost along the way. That said, if you only like the neuvo gastro fusion type of burgers these may send you running for the hills, but hopefully that won’t be the case.
A few of us also split the Peanut Butter and Jack milkshake which had a great flavour, but was sadly a bit in the thin side… I queried if it could be made thicker, but was told for some reason it’s the only one that always turns out thin… something to be aware of if you’re looking for a good olé school milkshake with a cake, perhaps try one of the other varieties.
Another every so slight miss was the pickle back shot, for us southern yanks at least… we are used to the sour pickle juice to chase the shot with, but it’s a sweeter type here… would normally be expected, but as it was on the menu (versus being our odd request) we were secretly hoping it would be the type we were used to… it wasn’t terrible though, and always a bit of fun.
The staff were friendly and accommodating, exactly the right level of checking on you while giving a bit of peace… no complaints there.
All in all, even with a few things that didn’t bowl us over last night, we were already planning our next trip this morning… I guess that speaks for itself!

Was passing and looking for somewhere to grab some lunch on a Saturday. This looked good so popped in.
Good range of craft beer both on draft and in the fridge. Can recommend the Camden Hells.
Had to wait a while for a table and to then be subsequently served once we’d sat down.
Wanted to just order some snacks, and the ordering didn’t start well. The two snacks (pork scratching and wasabi pop corn) were both sold out (at 2pm on a Saturday!). Ordered the potato skins and chilli nachos. Had to wait for about twenty minutes for either to be delivered but they were worth the wait. The nachos were massive!!!
All in all the food was great, but the service could be better…