Blogger Lexi Luo and burger enthusiast Richard Neill chow down on Beach Babylon's 2018 Wellington On A Plate entry Groovy Burger, Yeah!

On their first day of Wellington On a Plate, a food truck that served up a burger wrapped around a beef bone sold 171kg of meat.

Three weeks later, Wilson Barbecue has taken out the festival's Best Burger title for 2018.

The magic recipe? Brewed to the Bone is a tower of meat slapped between two Arobake buns. Smoked beef short rib with candied bacon is oozing in Zany Zeus boozy cheese sauce with a side of curly fries.

The burger was in such demand that it was almost impossible to order as a walk-in customer. Even customers who had booked tables were told to return.

SUPPLIED Brewed to the Bone has been named best burger for Wellington On A Plate in 2018.

Co-owner Casey Wilson said the event surpassed all their expectations.

"We sold all the meat we thought we would need for the whole 17 days in first five days. We had to get Prime Star, our supplier, to run around the country and get more meat for us anywhere he could, so it's safe to say it definitely blew our minds," she said.

Wilson reckoned that over the three-week festival, which ran from August 10 to 26, they sold close to 3000 burgers.

SUPPLIED Husband and wife duo Casey and Blair Wilson have been running Wilson Barbecue since January.

"We had lines out the door every day before we even opened. One day we walked down the queue asking everyone how many they wanted and before we got to the end of the queue we'd sold out," she said.

"That was at 10 minutes to 12pm. It was a 24-hour a day process; I was barbecuing until 4am then my husband Blair would get up and go form there, so it was nonstop."

Garage Project co-owner and WOAP judge Jos Ruffell said he wasn't surprised it was picked to win.

Brewed To The Bone's presentation was spot on, he said.

SUPPLIED Wellington On A Plate winner 2018's Best Burger goes to Wilson Barbecue.

"The burgers need to have some theatre to them, they need to be generous – something a little bit more special than your run-of-the-mill," he said.

"If you look at the Wilson's burger with the rib, the bone protruding out, it sort of captured all that. But ultimately, the proof of the pudding is in the eating, the taste and the flavour is a huge component of that as well."

Public opinion forms part of the final score, but the judging panel also rate factors such as taste, presentation, use of local ingredients and beer and tapas matching.

Coming in at second place was Apache with their burger Kung Fu Chicken, and in third place was Lucky's Breakfast for Dinner burger

The WOAP's Best Festival dish went to Field and Green, which wowed customers with its stuffed confit duck leg.

SUPPLIED Wellington On A Plate winner 2018's Best Festival Dish goes to Field & Green.

QT Museum Hotel's Hot Sauce came in second with its festival dish Boodle Fight, which consisted of coconut rice with chilli crab.

Mt Victoria's Ortega Fish Shack came in third with its fish of the day, drizzled with cauliflower cream.

"I thought the standard was very high," Ruffell said.

"We had a really tough time looking at even just the ones we were judging. They were all very, very good and, I think, individually [they] could have easily taken out the title."

SUPPLIED Wellington On A Plate winner 2018's Best Cocktail is CGR Merchant

Ruffell is a WOAP judge for two years, but has been involved in the festival since 2013. Each year the quality and inventiveness continues to get better, he said.

"I haven't come across a burger where it's just like, oh yeah this reminds me of what I had a couple of years ago. I think that's what people respond to, it's always exciting and new and there's just so much variety within the burger and dining."

In addition to the meals, WOAP also picked its top cocktail.

C.G.R. Merchant & Co. took out the winning title with its cocktail Party In Your Mouth!. For the past three years Coco at the Roxy has taken the crown.

In second place was Crumpet's Rōpū Iti and in third was Hawthorn Lounge's Ritz and Rhino.