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