One or t'Other: Burger & Lobster

There's no mucking about at Burger and Lobster (from now on, by the way, I'm going to call them B&L). You don't get a menu. There are no dizzying options on a specials board. You get a choice of burger or lobster (plus fries and salad), and you will pay £20 for it, whichever you choose. The restaurant has always piqued my interest so as I was in Clerkenwell and at a loss, I dropped in for some pre-pub tucker.

Of course, £20 for a burger and chips is pretty damn steep wherever you buy it. The best burger I've reviewed so far (Bleecker Street's Black) was £10 and the regular fries £2.50 with Byron, Honest and Patty & Bun generally clocking in at the same or less for most menu combinations, so twenty quid is a bit of a hefty markup and one tends to think that they are using the burger side to prop up the lobster - a friend reliably informed me that £20 for a whole lobster and the trimmings is pretty decent value anywhere, let alone central London. 

Nevertheless, burgers are my irrational food passion and I don't really care for lobster so the choice (such that it was) proved easy. B&L scored an early point by having an interesting beer for me to drink and despite being quite busy the food didn't take long to arrive.

The first thing I noticed was naturally the huge stake through the middle. This always makes me a bit nervous as it usually means that the contents of the burger will attempt to make a swift exit from the bun as soon as you take a bite, however I could understand its use as it was pretty tall creation. The burger looked nice and thick though, the cheese was oozing invitingly out of the side and the bun was an interesting multi-seed affair in contrast to the usual brioche offering typical of most burger joints. 

Taste-wise, it was pretty good. The burger was amazingly soft and tender and just about held itself together. Perhaps it was ever so slightly under seasoned but I can forgive that as the overall taste was good. The cheese was inoffensive and ended up more as a texture than a taste - if I hadn't have seen it dripping down the side I wouldn't have been able to tell there was cheese in it but I can live with that - it was a good burger and refreshing to have the burger as the sole star rather than having to compete on taste with other accompaniments. So far, so good.

The further I got, though, the harder it became. The multi-seed bun wasn't really to my taste and it had been a bit too vigorously grilled, leaving a bitter, charred toast aftertaste. It also disintegrated pretty quickly and eating the burger became a bit of a challenge, especially once I took the stake out of the centre halfway through. There was also too much salad in it, the height of the patty was almost matched by the heap of tomato, lettuce and cucumber - indeed, my last bite was just bun and salad.

I always hate putting the 'Cons' section of the review at the end as it seems like I am just fussing about it, however the salad thing and the delicacy of the bun did detract significantly from the burger's good points. The other reason for the relatively low score though is the price - £20 is ridiculous for what is effectively just a cheeseburger and chips, especially considering the price of the competition's wares.

Incidentally, I've spoken to friends who have been here before and they raved about the lobster offering. So if you like lobster, come on down - but if your vice is burgers, it's not far to Byron, Honest or Patty & Bun. Go there instead.

Burger & Lobster Cheeseburger: 6.5

The Details:

Burger and Lobster
40 St. John's Street
Smithfield
London
EC1M 4AY

www.burgerandlobster.com

Burger reviewed: Cheeseburger, £20 (inc. fries and salad)

HVNP Burger Rankings (Jan 17th) :

1. Bleecker Street | Black | 9.25
2. Patty & Bun | Ari Gold | 9.00
3. Honest Burger | Bacon Tribute 8.50

4. Lucky Chip | Royale with Cheese | 7.5

=5. Byron | Chilli 7.25

=5. Byron | Father Cheesemas | 7.25

=5. GBK | The Don | 7.25

7. Burger & Lobster | Cheeseburger 6.50

This is Just A Tribute: Honest Burgers' Bacon Tribute

Bacon. Is there another meat out there that inspires such avid devotion? Not a week goes past without me seeing at least one picture or post praising its virtues. The famous Youtube food channel Epic meal Time made bacon strips (and their sweet-shop equivalent, "gay" bacon strips) a viral phenomenon. So when I breezed through the door of the much-hyped Honest Burgers in Kings Cross and saw that their current special was called the Bacon Tribute, there was only one thing I was going to buy.

I wasn't intending to go to Honest, instead having planned to visit Burgershack's residency at the Royal Oak near Edgware Road, however lack of time, a desire not to be too far away from a decent pub and Honest Burgers' fine reputation saw me change plans halfway down the Pentonville Road and I soon found myself sitting down and impatiently awaiting the arrival of my Bacon Tribute Burger.

When my burger arrived, it looked every bit as good as the publicity photo. The patty was plump, the cheese melty and a thick slice of bacon lay on top of the burger. 
The first bite confirmed that the hype around Honest is well deserved. The patty was nicely seasoned and soft without being so soft that it disintegrated as I ate, and was tasty enough to survive the bacon attack from the bacon mayo and that slab on top. The pickle gave a sweet and sour note as it all went down. It was difficult to resist the temptation to consume the whole burger without putting it down (and not just because the bun had disintegrated), and in my book that's the mark of a good burger. A special note for the bacon - as I have mentioned in other reviews, I find crispy or overdone bacon off-putting and I was slightly nervous when I ordered it in case that bit of bacon on top was inedible but I needn't have worried, it was meaty, fairly thick and tasted of bacon, not charring. The burger also came with a little pot of thick gravy, which tasted like a meaty BBQ sauce and was excellent - it gave an extra dimension to the last few bites of the burger (I tried it without at first so as not to overwhelm it) and was an excellent accompaniment for the chips. 

My only slight niggles with the burger was that the cheese got a bit lost amongst the bacon and beef, they could have done with using a slightly stronger flavoured one or perhaps just a bit more cheese. The other thing was that the bun was a bit average - it tasted fine but was nothing special. But I'm being picky here.
A final note about the fries - they're included in the price and while that's not always ideal for people like me on a diet, it means no costly extras if you fancy some potato goodness - and my lord are they good, rosemary salted and perfectly cooked. The best fries I've had from a burger joint so far and worth the trip to Honest on their own.

I was expecting a lot from Honest and I'm glad to say that they delivered. This review is a bit late due to me changing jobs and being generally busy so they might have changed special by now but if you're thinking about dropping in, don't hesitate. It'll be an excellent choice.

Honest Burger Bacon Tribute: 8.5

The Details:

Honest Burger
251-255 Pentonville Road
London
N1 9NG

www.honestburgers.co.uk

Burger reviewed: Bacon Tribute, £12.50 (inc. fries)

HVNP Burger Rankings (Jan 9th) :

1. Bleecker Street | Black | 9.25
2. Patty & Bun | Ari Gold | 9.00
3. Honest Burger | Bacon Tribute 8.50

4. Lucky Chip | Royale with Cheese | 7.5

5. Byron | Father Cheesemas | 7.25

5. GBK | The Don | 7.25

A Visit to the Burger Pioneers: Gourmet Burger Kitchen's Don

Cast your minds back to the year 2001. The world didn't grind to halt from the millennium virus, the internet was still accessed from a device which beeped and hissed at you and mobile phones didn't even have colour screens, let alone cameras or mp3 ringtones. For the burger lovers amongst us, Burger King, McDonalds and Wimpy were the only real options. They were dark times indeed.

Then, in view of the looming towers of Battersea power station, a revolution started. A small unassuming restaurant called Gourmet Burger Kitchen opened, providing better quality burgers made from higher quality ingredients and cooked to order. The restaurant proved popular, branches began to spring up all over the shop and before long they gained imitators like Ultimate Burger and Handmade Burger Company. GBK finally got a proper rival in the 2010's, as fellow London startup Byron undertook a major expansion.
GBK changed the London - and UK - burger scene forever and it is them we have to thank next time we sit down for a tasty treat from Honest, Bleecker Street, Patty & Bun or MeatLiquor. 

GBK's reviews online are a mixed bag, certainly the burger blogging set in London reserve special hatred for them and decry them at any opportunity . Personally I do not have a problem with GBK, their burgers have always been consistently good, they're cooked well, taste nice and the flavour combinations - while sometimes quite bizarre - always work really well. I was therefore pleased to accept my brother's offer of a free burger in exchange for a lift back from the retail hell of Lakeside.

GBK's menu has changed substantially over the years - in its early days there were about ten different burger combinations just for the beef side of things, and several more for chicken, lamb and vegetable. This was just confusing so I was glad to see them rationalise their menu a few years ago and narrow it down to some tried and tested classics plus a monthly special. This is very much in line with the way Byron - the other major gourmet burger chain - organise their menu. The only thing I would say lets GBK's menu down is the beer selection, it is mostly big brewery crap lager or widely available pale ale like BrewDog. It didn't really matter to me today as I was driving anyway, but it'd be nice to see a bit more adventurousness on this part. 

I selected the Don from the menu, it's an uber-cheeseburger of sorts, being made with Gorgonzola and "American cheese" (god knows what that is, I expect it is some sort of hybrid between cheddar and monterery jack) with baconnasise (more on that later), rocket, caramelised onion relish (they call this "onion jam" but let's not beat around the bush here), pickled onion and regular mayo in it. I was feeling like a fat bugger that day so I also ordered a side of sweet potato fries.

The first thing I noticed upon the arrival of my meaty meal was the size of the bun. Most of the burgers I have had recently have fitted neatly inside their bun with little overhang but this one hand plenty of extra space around it. Not a problem per se, but sometimes you do get left with that little bit of meatless bread left behind which is just plain annoying. 
The first bite was good. The burger was well cooked - nicely pink inside as a burger should be - and had a good meaty taste to it. The american cheese part was a bit non-descript but maybe it was overwhelmed a bit by the gorgonzola, which lent that distinctive slightly salty yet strong taste to the burger without drowning out everything else. GBK were restrained in their use of the onion jam which was a relief - too much of that and it could have ruined it - and the rocket and pickled onions gave a satisfying crunch to the burger's texture. It was a satisfying burger and I enjoyed it.
That, however, is not to say it did not have its faults. The bun disintegrated the further on with it I got, the cheese, while nice, wasn't "melty" enough for my liking and instead of covering the top of the patty and dribbling down the sides like a blanket, it just perched on top. The rocket was all stuffed at one end of the bun and not spread out evenly which meant the end of the burger tasted somewhat leafy and peppery (I ended up taking half of it out). The main fault for me, though, was the baconnaise. Baconnaise is what it says on the tin - mayo with bacon stirred through it - and they also serve it with sweet potato fries so I know full well what it should taste like. I couldn't taste it at all, they had used so little that it got swamped by everything else. Using baconnaise is a good idea - not everyone likes their bacon crispy and bacon mayo should impart bacon flavour without the need to put whole rashers in - but you need to use enough to have an impact on the flavour and sadly there just wasn't enough of it in the bun. Shame.

On another note, the sweet potato fries were superb and they gave me a generous helping of baconnaise to dip them in. It's also nice to see them offer free regular mayonnaise, most burger joints would take pleasure in charging you for it.

The Don was a good burger, streets ahead of what you get from the 'big two' burger chains and compared well against the offerings from Byron. While I accept that the melty cheese thing is my preference, a sturdier bun, better topping distribution and less stinginess with the baconnaise would have elevated this burger into the 'eight-point-something' range, instead it scores a solid 7.25.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen Don: 7.25

The Details:

Gourmet Burger Kitchen
Various locations around the UK

www.gbk.co.uk

Burger reviewed: The Don, £9.85

HVNP Burger Rankings (Jan 8th) :

1. Bleecker Street | Black | 9.25
2. Patty & Bun | Ari Gold | 9.00
3. Lucky Chip | Royale with Cheese | 7.5

4. Byron | Father Cheesemas | 7.25

4. GBK | The Don | 7.25

Back in Black: The Bleecker Street Black Burger

Without actually looking on the internet to find out, I must admit that I'm not actually sure what a bleecker is. Some street in New York, perhaps? Maybe it's a state of mind. Or something sports related - the US often give us strange sporting terms. What I do know that it lends its peculiar moniker to a very well regarded burger producer whose name regularly crops up at the business end of 'top ten' burger lists. As such they have been high up on my 'must try' list for some time, so when I was passing Liverpool Street the other day I felt that I simply had to stop by.

Spitalfields, thankfully, isn't far from the main drag, being located a short distance up a side road. The market was closing by the time I got there so the only real activity was from stallholders packing away their wares. Bleecker Street is on one of the side 'arms' of the market, with some handy tables in front and a chinese noodle dispensary to one side, their shop front resplendent in chrome silver and black. There was one main thing I wanted to try from here, and that was their 'Black' burger, a double cheeseburger with black pudding. Being hungrier than the proverbial wolf, I parted with fourteen notes for the burger and a portion of 'Angry Fries' and leaned back on the counter, idly watching the chef as he fried up my order. 

The burger was produced quickly enough considering they cooked a batch of fries especially for me, and interestingly came cut in half. I attacked the burger first, it was a monolith of meat and cheese - no fripperies such as salad were included here - and was presented in a sesame bun. The meat was on the red side of medium rare but that's no problem with me, and the smell was divine. So far, so good....

The proof of a burger isn't in the look or smell though, it's in the eating. And boy, this one didn't disappoint. The meat was beautifully tender and soft with a hint of pepper, the cheese oozing in to each bite with a slight creaminess and the black pudding weighing in with its rather distinctive taste. I was slightly apprehensive when ordering this as it would have been easy to overload the burger and make the black pudding dominant but instead it was a supporting act, complementing that wonderful burger patty. This was a tour de force in burgerology (that's certainly a made up word) and even after finishing the burger I was hankering for another despite feeling full up!

A quick word of praise, too, for the angry fries, a generous portion of crisp fries coated in both hot and blue cheese sauces, the sauces worked really well together and my only comment would be that I could have done with more sauce!

Bleecker Street have locations in Spitalfields, Canary Wharf and the South Bank. Go and find one, and if you like black pudding*, make it a black. It'll be the best burger you've had for a long time. 

Bleecker Street Black: 9.25

*If you don't like black pudding, on the strength of the burger alone have a cheeseburger!


The Details:

Bleecker Street
Old Spitalfields Market
Unit B SP4
London
E1 6EA

https://bleeckerburger.co.uk/

Burger reviewed: Bleecker Black, £10

HVNP Burger Rankings (Jan 4th) :

1. Bleecker Street | Black | 9.25
2. Patty & Bun | Ari Gold | 9.00
3. Lucky Chip | Royale with Cheese | 7.5

4. Byron | Father Cheesemas | 7.25

All That Glitters Might be Gold: Patty & Bun's Ari Gold Burger

I've been eating quality burgers in London since well before I started this blog so Patty & Bun (you have to use an ampersand, don't you know!) are no stranger to me. I first encountered them just after they first opened - I needed some fast food that wasn't McDonalds and spied them opposite Liverpool Street station, their windows misty with warmth, tables packed out and a queue up to the door. I didn't get a burger that time, preferring not to queue, but returned a few months later and found out just why it was so busy. In the loose jumble of my mind, Patty & Bun are the London Burger Kings. 

So on a rainy later December afternoon, I found myself outside their door once again. Mired in the post Christmas slump, everyone seemed to be elsewhere so getting a table was easy. Not being ravenously hungry I made do with just a cheeseburger - their headline burger, the Ari Gold - and sat down, eagerly anticipating the burgery goodness.

One thing I am always taken aback by when I order a burger is the size, I guess being brought up on Burger King Whoppers, with their fairly-thin-but-wide patty, will always leave its mark. The meat patty was nice and thick though and it had that wonderful, drippy melted cheese that I so love dribbling gently down the side. There was some salad to give it a bit of texture but not too much. It looked the part, but so have the last two burgers I have eaten and while they were nice enough, they both had faults which would make me think twice about ordering them again. Thankfully, though, it didn't disappoint. The patty was pretty much spot on, I like mine to be slightly rarer than it was served (and I ordered medium rare) but the burger was soft enough and well seasoned enough for me not to mind too much. The sauce was slightly sweet but not strong enough to overwhelm the lovely beef used in the burger. There was a background smoky aftertaste (I presume that was from the mayo) that lifted it nicely and left me salivating for another bite. Quite simply, this burger is excellent, I finished it in no time and part of me wondered why I hadn't stumped up extra for the extra patty as I wanted more. 

There's only three P&B outlets in London but I suggest you find one, and allow the Ari Gold to be your introduction to their world. You won't regret it.

Patty & Bun Ari Gold: 9

The Details:

Patty & Bun
22-23 Liverpool Street
London
EC2M 7PD

www.pattyandbun.co.uk

Burger reviewed: Ari Gold, £7.50