Flat Iron has been on my list for some time; a well established and popular mid-high end steak chain, I’d heard good things about the burger too and thought it was worth a shot. An opportunity came – I caught up with an industry colleague and we both took the opportunity to go for it.
The order
It was a lunch so no extravagance – the smoked chilli cheeseburger, made with Flat Iron herd beef, which was a special – and a portion of fries (sorry, ‘home-made beef dripping chips’) between us.
The meat of it
Let’s take a look.
Nice presentation – simple, wrapped to help with the cheese melt, and lovely when unwrapped – the look and the smell was incredible.
In cross section… wow. It’s a double patty smash, with the smoked chillis in between, a mayo/aioli and salad protecting the lower bun (correct), and the most incredible cheese melt. The bun is soft and incredibly well balanced with the meat – providing structural integrity but not endless starchiness.
First bite… OMG. The chillis are really gentle, providing virtually no heat but a wonderful, light… I want to say sourness? And the patties – seasoned perfectly, cooked perfectly with a coarse grind to the tender, juicy meat – incredible. Full of umami, the cheese pull added a lovely bit of drama. The fresh salad and mayo/aioli provided a little sweetness to contrast the otherwise perfect umami bomb of a burger. Just an absolute delight.
As to the fries…
There was nothing special about these fries, and I do not mean that as a criticism. Perfectly cut, perfectly fried, perfectly seasoned – they are very good chips. No crazy seasoning, no unnecessary toppings, just – wonderful, on their own or dipped in the provided ketchup and mayo.
This place is *great*. We were also served inside of 10 minutes, which was pretty incredible.
Monkey finger rating
Bun – 5/5 Build – 5/5 Burger – 5/5 – I have no notes. This was perfect. Don’t change a thing. Taste – 5/5 Sides – 5/5
Value – 5/5 – £13 for the burger £4 for the fries feels reasonable for this quality.
Burger rating – 5/5 – easily one of the best burgers in London.
The deets
Just off the Shoreditech strip, there are a few of these around. Check the website to find your nearest and make it a priority. I want to go back and have the steak, now…
High performing, meaty burgers with excellent sides
Burger source
A friend said that someone had told him that Foxden was the second best burger in London, after Bleecker. Given that I really rate Bleecker, this was high praise and reason enough to trek out to West London to meet him there.
A “British burger restaraunt… [that] specialises in showcasing the best of British produce… with a field to fork ethos…” may sound worthy, but it’s a pretty no-nonsense diner that had more Deliveroo drivers waiting to be served than diners on the Tuesday night we sallied forth.
And a chef with an injured arm meant someone else (possibly the owner?) was behind the grill…
The order
We went a bit bananas. Buffalo wings to start (6 for £8), and Jimbo and I shared the bacon cheeseburger (£12 – treacle bacon, cheese, lettuce, gherkin and house sauce), and the eponymous Foxden burger (£14.50 – Beef Patty, Slow Braised Pulled Beef, Truffle Cheese Sauce, Rocket & Red Onion Jam). We split three different catgories of fried root vegetable – sweet potato fries, regular fries, and ‘rosti-fries’ – all between £4 and £5 each. It’s heartwarming to be asked, straight out, when ordering – if we wanted the burgers medium or well done.
Medium, obviously, we’re not philistines.
The meat of it
The Foxden – on the left – is a good looking burger. Toasted, glossy bun, a hint of the fresh stuff, good proportions of beef, pulled beef, cheese sauce and onion jam. The bacon cheese burger is a little more modest – well formed, but slightly less elegant on the plate, and with a visibly smaller patty.
Let’s take a cross section (or two).
There is little to complain about in cross section. The burgers are beautifully cooked, and you can see the brilliant, coarse ground meat. The buns are sturdy but not heavy, glossy but not – I think – sweetened. The balance of toppings (and bottomings) in the stack is perfect.
To the taste: both burgers are made with high quality, possibly dry-aged meat. There’s the light funk of ageing to them, and a rich, strong, beefy flavour. Now, let’s split the review.
The bacon cheeseburger first. FIrst bite – soft, melty meat. Light freshness from the salad, faint sweetness and chew from the treacle bacon, and a light, unctuous hint of salt from the cheese. It’s good, but not perfect – a harder sear would have given more textural contrast, ditto a crisper bacon choice. The cheese is too subtle, something stronger would have compensated for the slightly underseasoned patty. But it’s marginal – this is a good burger.
The eponymous Foxden – is a really odd experience. I’m not really one for pulled meat on a burger – it adds softness to softness and the texture balance often feels off, to my palate, and that was true here. But it was a strange sensation – the dry-aged-style funk of the meat was compounded by the truffle cheese sauce (or maybe it was all the cheese sauce and the meat wasn’t aged at all, I don’t know) – making for a strong, rich, deep flavour that will not be to everyone’s taste. The pulled beef added more savoury bite than the burger patty, which was unexpected – I’m more accustomed to BBQ pulled pork and was expecting it to be sweet. I think, if you like this sort of thing, it was a very fine specimen. If – like me – you like texture, crunch, and slightly less richness in your burger – you may find this a bit overpowering.
Sides and sauce-wise…
The regular fries were great. Crisp, well-seasoned, fluffy, brilliant on their owned or dipped. A decent portion too.
The rosti-fries were over-sold. They are tater tots and/or tiny hash browns. There’s little rosti to them. But they are extremely crisp on the outside, extremely fluffy on the inside, and very heavily seasoned – garlic, onion salt, possibly, but definitely paprika – rich, crispy, fluffy, delicious. Bit maybe a bit heavy on the salt.
The buffalo wings were strong – crispy, rich, juicy, and slickly coated in that perfect Uncle Frank’s hot sauce/butter combo (pretty sure it was Frank’s).
The sweet potato fries – are about as good as sweet potato fries get, and not photographed.
With a beer each, it came to about £28 a head including a 10% tip – pricey, but not bad value for the spread.
Monkey finger rating
Bun – 4/5 Build – 4/5 (docked for the slightly inspid build on the bacon cheeseburger Burger – 4/5 (I’d probably rate the Foxden a 3.5, the bacon cheeseburger a 4, but I’m feeling generous) Taste – 4/5 – an aggregate 4 Sides – 4.5/5 – really very good Value – 3.5/5 – a little steep.
Burger rating – 4/5 – really a very solid choice, though not, as our tipster observed, as good as Bleecker.
The deets
Turn right out of Fulham Broadway shopping centre, and it’s about 4 minutes up the road. And/or a Deliveroo near you.
By crazy random happenstance, on my way home, I walked past what used to be the dilapidated street where my previous company’s office used to be, many years ago… to find it completely gentrified. Still, The Atlas lives. Huzzah!
Uninspired diner-style burger with few redeeming features
Burger source
We’ve exhausted many of the mainstays of the London burger scene, but this place made it onto a few top ten lists and had phenomenal photography, so we decided to stop by.
The website sells it like so:
An infusion of soul and a nod to the past, Stax Diner brings you an authentic, all American dining experience in London.
Which should perhaps have been a good warning.
The order
We were a group of five, and shared buffalo wings (between four) and popcorn shrimp (between 5). The former was servered with a blue cheese sauce and coleslaw, the latter with chipotle mayonnaise.
Most of us had the Stax cheeseburger with bacon, as the main – here’s how its billed: two flat griddled beef patties, melted American cheese, crispy onions, gherkins, French’s mustard & Heinz Tomato Ketchup, shredded iceburg and toasted brioche bun. It came with standard fries.
I had a lychee martini to drink.
The meat of it
Let’s have a look.
It’s not unattractive – decent stack, looks to have a decent char, generous portion of bacon… but slightly anemic fries. Let’s check the cross section.
Concerns starting to emerge now. The meat is completely cooked through (to a fault), but the meat doesn’t have a crisp sear, so none of the upside of a smash burger. The bacon is soft and chewy – I realise belatedly it’s beef bacon so is bland, and not at all crisp, and totally unnecessary. Crispy onions – a lovely touch – fall out everywhere, bringing a delightful crunch when you catch them in the right place.
First bite – cheese is brilliantly melted, but the bread, meat, bacon – all has a uniformly… soft… texture. Not terrible, but the lack of contrast is a downside. The slightly acrid spice of the French’s mustard comes through, overpowering the meat but without adding a great deal. There’s seasoning on the patty but its just a bit dry, even with the cheese and a bit of ketchup trying to help it hold up. It’s not unpleasant but… not remotely special. Which would have been fine, had I been eating it at a diner by the roadside by a highway in the US, for $10. But for £15+ – daylight robbery. Plus the fries – you can probably see – are woefully underdone, and mostly underseasoned.
To the sides…
So, the popcorn shrimp – lovely seasoning, definitely has hints of the south, good heat. But the batter slides off the prawn a little too easily and the chipotle mayo lacks heat and depth. More chipotle, bit more salt I think. And better prawns.
The buffalo wings completely lack crispness, but the meat is tender and juicy, the buffalo sauce is perfectly spiced, the slaw is creamy, crunchy and delicious, especially with the buffalo spillover. Damo polished off the blue cheese sauce with his vegan burger, non-vegan bun and real cheese. We had a pot of BBQ sauce as well which was a waste of a pound – sickeningly saccharine, not to my tastes at all, and no-one else enjoyed it either.
The lychee martini was lush – sweet and floral. Friends had an Old Fashioned (inexplicably including soda water) and a Mojito (the ‘worst mojito I’ve ever had’) says Damo. But Pob’s Margarita was apparently nice.
Monkey finger rating
Bun – 3/5 – unexceptional Build – 4/5 – well constructed Burger – 2.5/5 – underseasoned, overcooked, dry, and poorly contrasted by texture and flavour in the stack Taste – 3/5 – tolerable but unexceptional Sides – 3.5/5 – wings and popcorn shrimp were ok. 1.5/5 for the fries.
Value – 2/5 – £33 a head with two drinks for all but me.
Burger rating – 3/5 – if you need a burger and no other ones are available, you won’t hate yourself. Not exactly high praise but… it’s the best I can muster.
The deets
First floor of Kingly Court, just off Carnaby Street. You can’t miss it. And if you like monstrous novelty burgers, go and have the insanity, which James had, becuase what double cheeseburger isn’t improved by a fried chicken patty? Well done Jimjamjebobo; keep the change, you filthy animal.
Brilliant burger, capital chicken bites, fantastic fries, cool cocktails
Burger source
The Double Standard, in the Standard hotel, has achieved a number of plaudits and made a few ‘best burgers in London’ lists, and as a supremely convenient central location for all my friends, it was a sensible place to go.
The order
The burger itself is described with little ceremony – it is simply ‘the burger’, served with bacon and blue cheese, and fries. We shared a side of chicken bites, and mac and cheese, and tried a brace of cocktails.
The meat of it
There’s nothing overly exciting about the plating, but its competent:
(Apologies for the lighting, it’s a stylish, dimly lit venue). It’s not easy to see, but there’s a brilliant melt on the cheese, a strong char on the burger, the bun is soft, the bacon in clear evidence. Lots good so far.
In cross section…
There’s a brilliantly coarse grind to the meet; the ratios of meat, bun and toppings are excellent, though it is cooked a bit more than I would choose it – no trace of pink – the burger is not dry, possibly thanks to a(n un)healthy fat/lean ratio in the blend.
First bite – a solid crunch from a hard char, the bun is as soft and pleasantly nondescript as you’d expect – lending structure more than flavour – and a light dry-aged funk from the meat comes through. The meat is reasonably juicy, but helped by a measured ration of relish, which also provides a mildly spiced sweetness. A second later, and you are hit with the umami, from the strong but odourless blue cheese and the chewy, substantial bacon – back bacon, cooked well but not crispy – and it binds beautifully. The contrast between the salt and the sweet, between the crunch of the meat, the chew of the bacon and the soft bite of the bun – is really excellent. My only note is that – had the patty just been a smidge over toward medium, it would have boosted the experience even more.
To the sides; the fries are superb, crisp exterior, fluffy interior, well seasoned but otherwise little to remark. Improved by both ketchup and the garlic aioli that came with the chicken bites. The chicken bites are a thing of legend (we ordered a second portion, despite the £8 price tag) – chunks of juicy chicken thigh, brilliantly seasoned, crisp and spicy and juicy all at once. The garlic aioli was an excellent contrast, adding a slick, garlicky sweetness with a dunk. The mac & cheese was mac & cheese-like, credible and competent but about as exciting as it always is – which – to me – is limited.
Cocktails are half-price on Monday and Tuesday and were good value at that price – the pina colada was punchy and delicious. The Elderflower Collins was meh (who aims for ‘fresh’ instead of ‘sweet’ with an elderflower drink?), but friends also enjoyed the Negroni and the Ginger Magarita.
All in all, an excellent experience, in a busy, trendy, highly styled environment, with decent service (slower on food than drink), tasty food, interesting drinks and in a useful, albeit unexpected location (the hotel is MUCH cooler than you would expect).
Monkey finger rating
Bun – 5/5 Build – 4..5/5 Burger – 4.5/5 Taste – 4.5/5 Sides – 5/5 – chicken bites to dream of Value – 4/5 – £42 burger, 3 sides between five, and 2-3 cocktails each. Not bad for where/what it is.
Burger rating – 4.5/5 – deservedly amongst the best in London
The deets
It’s tucked in on the ground floor of the Standard hotel, literally opposite Kings Cross station on the corner of Argyle St and the A501. You can’t miss it, and you shouldn’t.
Gordon Ramsay needs no introduction. And I’ve seen many videos of his online, guiding people on how to make the perfect burger. I’ve even been disappointed by a burger at his more generalist restaurant at the airport, some years ago.
But the Street Burger chain seems to be thriving and I’d never tried a burger here, so – for the sake of completeness – I wanted to give it a go. Though I didn’t have high expectations…
This is how Gordon’s marketing folk describe it: “Full throttle. Full flavour. Always.”
Overpromising, much.
The order
The “GSR” – served with fries – came it at £16, and I proffered the (extreme) £3 for additional bacon. It lists as grass-fed Hereford beef, smoked cheese, house relish and salad. No option on how we wanted it done. An extortionate £8.50 got us five wings to share (opted for BBQ sauce as was dining with a friend who has literally no capacity for spice).
The meat of it
The burger presents well, if appearing to be a little on the small side. Perfect stack, lettuce protecting the lower bun, fresh looking tomato, slices of sweet, crisp-looking red onion, perfect melt on the cheese, all contained within a soft looking bun. The bacon peeks out around the edges, modestly.
In cross section, the stack holds up well, but the fully brown meat, the absence of any pinkness and indeed with absolutely no juice or fat spilling through the cut – is a bit of a red flag.
First bite: there’s a pleasant dry-aged funk to the well-seasoned meat. The patty is dry – as anticipated – but an abundance of relish, the veg, and to an extent the melty cheese – add moisture to the bite and the flavour and texture combination is not bad. The bun holds up well, providing a good, soft, starchy contrast to the rich meat, and the salad adds occasional glimpses of fresh crispness. But… the relish drowns things out – the cheese serves texture more than it serves flavour, and you have to really concentrate to get any sense of the bacon whatsoever. It’s pleasant, but not pleasing – Gordon should be able to do better. A burger sauce or less relish, more, crispier bacon (for £3!!), and the burger finished at medium – or even medium well – would have had a massive impact on the burger experience here. Or possibly a better lean/fat ratio in the patty (more fat needed).
On the sides – the fries were perfectly crisp with a good starchy, chewy, potato core. An unexpected and slightly pointless dusting of sweet smoked paprika added little (other than confusion – what am I eating?), but they were otherwise well seasoned. Delicious dunked in mayo and/or ketchup.
The wings… were small, crisp, and overcoated in a sweet and spicy BBQ sauce. A bite shows of crisp, well-cooked meat, the spice cutting through the sweetness of the sauce, and a light hint of freshness coming from the sprinkles of spring onions. These should have been great. But… they were too small, and too slathered for that. Juicy as the chicken is, it was so meagre per wing, and so drowned out by the half pint of BBQ sauce, that this goes quickly from sweet, spicy, sticky, sumptuous delight, to cloying, messy, overpriced disappointment.
Drinks-wise, we just had water – but it took the entire meal to have it delivered as Gordon’s people only had two waiters coping with a full restaurant. Their service and manner was faultless, but they were clearly rushed off their feet. Cue obvious gags about Gordon’s quest for margins.
£25 a head, with service, and no drink, for an average burger, disappointing wings, and better than average fries… well, you can draw your own conclusion. But in case you can’t… here are the scores on the door.
Monkey finger rating
Bun – 4/5 Build – 5/5 Burger – 3/5 Taste – 3/5 Sides – 3/5 – Fries are probably a solid 4, wings are probably a 2 Value – 2/5
Burger rating – 2/5 – GBK >>>> GSR. Not heading back if choices are available.
The deets
These are popping up all over the place; the Farringdon one is a 2 minute walk from the station. Find your nearest here, then probably stay clear of it.
Gentle mustard heat on a dry-aged double cheeseburger – mwah 🤌🏽
Burger source
Blacklock is more of an institution than I realised. Specialising in ‘chops’ of all kinds, I didn’t even realise it had a burger on the menu till James suggested it as a destination, and (having accidentally gone to the wrong branch in Soho before I got to the Covent Garden branch) I found two separate venues independently, joyously busy. Post pandemic, and in the midst of a cost of living crisis, it felt like a nostalgic trip to 2019 (those heady days).
Its origin is distinctly unburgery, however; it was founded in tribute to the ‘chophouses’ of 1690s London, where people apparently came in search of meat off the bone for the extra flavour that offered (not imagining 1690s London as London at the height of its culinary progress, but…). As well, apparently, as the inclusive, accessible, unpretensiousness of it all (not sure how much of that has endured, this place is a little fancy-schmancy…)
The order
The ‘Blacklock burger’ was the sole burger option, a double cheeseburger “Blacklocked” with onions caramelised in a ‘healthy glug’ of vermouth. A side of beef dripping fries was a mandatory add-on. The restaurant does pre-mixed cocktails at tremendous prices – £7.50 for an Old fashioned feels like excellent value in a venue that will charge a tenner for a gin and tonic. And… spoiler alert, we shared the white chocolate cheesecake that was on the pudding menu.
The meat of it
The burger presents well. Perfectly assembled, two thin (2.5oz?) patties are covered in melty cheese, oozing with burger sauce, and a perfectly toasted, sturdy, seeded burger bun holds its ground. The burger is topped with a thin layer of pickle and the aforementioned onions.
In cross section, the meat has dashes of pink. It’s not quite a patty smash but it’s also not full on, thick, cook-till-medium beef patty. The stack holds up. It looks good. I’m excited.
There’s a good smell to the burger, but little heft – it’s indulgent, but not excessive. First bite – the bun gives way, the soft meat is melt-in-your-mouth tender, the slick, hot burger sauce sets your taste buds tingling with a gentle, mustard induced heat and you’re hit with the savoury, soft, dry-aged meat flavour rolling around your taste buds and olfactory system all in one. It’s sumptuous; well seasoned, well balanced, delicious.
Minor points of criticism; the burger could have used a sharper sear – there’s no crunch, I miss me that textural contrast. And there could have been a smidge more beef – just to improve the bread/meat ratio (the bread is robust and very present). More than one of us (we had five burgers at the table) were feeling wistful for a little salad, or some fresh onion, or something – to add a bit more sweet freshness to the burger. The pickle doesn’t quite manage this – it’s lost in a sea of burger sauce and isn’t… well, isn’t very pickly. And the onion is completely lost in the flavours of the meat and the burger sauce.
The fries – did not give a good first impression. They look… wan. Pale. Anemic, even. But they are cooked through, and well seasoned. There’s a good amount of both crunch and chewy, potatoey goodness in this (modest) portion. The beef dripping they’re fried in adds a really unexpected depth of flavour. But there’s a slightly strange texture to these chips. They take some chewing. Still, enjoyable, and improved by a dunk in the mayo.
The Old Fashioned… was OK. I don’t know if I love Old Forrester as a Bourbon – it was smokier and more bitter than I was expecting. I wonder if someone held back a bit when mixing the sugar into this one.
I finished the meal with a bright, fresh, lightly fizzy red Italian dessert wine – a Brachetto. It tasted of Summer, and paired beautifully with a massively excessive but delicious white chocolate cheesecake, shovelled with jolly ceremony into my bowl at the table from an outsized Le Creuset dish. SHARE ONE, between two. We saw a couple on a date getting one each and felt a pang of empathy for their chances at after dinner romance, should they complete the meal.
Monkey finger rating
Bun – 4/5 Build – 4/5 Burger – 4/5 Taste – 4/5 Sides – 4/5 Value – 4/5 – I expected, with the drinks, for this to be pricey. But at £33.33 a head, including service, two drinks, and two courses for all of us, well — it felt reasonable.
Burger rating – 4/5 – a solid option
The deets
Blacklock is all over. Find your nearest one here. And if you’re meeting someone at the ‘Central London’ one, check if you’re going to the Soho One (on Great Windmill Street), or the Covent Garden one (not on Great Windmill Street, but an unpleasant 12 minute walk through the crowds of Leicester Square away in… well, Covent Garden).
As I continue to explore burger options near my office, this vegan offer drew me in, so I thought I’d give it a try.
Low carbon, highly recyclable everything, this chain has some admirable ambitions.
The order
I had the smash burger (Double Neat Meat patty smashed with onions, cheese, mustard, neat sauce + stack sauce). Came with a side of fries and a drink for £13.99.
I was also tempted by some no-chicken chicken nuggets…
The meat of it
So… interesting presentation. First job… get the burger out of its vertical wrapping.
It slipped out, and sauce went everywhere. Things slid all over the place. Hands got very sticky from the very chunky pickly burger sauce. Pickles fell out too.
As to the taste…
Soft bun, amazingly gooey melty vegan cheese, salty and sweet with the oodles of burger sauce, phenomenally seasoned patty… genuinely hard to tell its not meat. That said, as ever, the texture of the patty is every so slightly off – like a steamed burger instead of a genuinely smashed patty as you’d expect. But not so you’d complain.
The burger sauce is slightly overpowering – chunky, chunky pickles, over-generously applied. The balance isn’t bad but a more finely chopped pickle and slightly less heavy on the sauce would have improved things. Anyway, a very fine thing, and more filling than you’d expect despite its initially diminutive appearance.
As to the sides, the no-chick chicken nuggets are texturally not bad at all – decent bit, well seasoned, proteiny chew and no off-meat eccentricity. The fries – are superfine and less convincingly potatoey than they could be. Despite being well seasoned and crispy – I quite like the starchy, fluffy potato that come with slightly more substantial fries. The extra burger sauce was a bit of a mistake – just too chunky to be a dipping sauce.
Monkey finger rating
Bun – 4.5/5 Build – 2/5 – literally slipped out of the bun Burger – 4/5 Taste – 4/5 Sides – 4/5 – plus for the nuggets, minus for the fries Value – 4/5 – £19 for burger, fries and nuggets and side, ish. Which is a lot, but it was more food than was needed and the vegan premium is modest for the quality of the food
Burger rating – 4/5 – a great vegan burger for meat lovers.
The deets
There are branches all over London, the Bishopsgate one just a couple of minutes from the Bishopsgate exit of Liverpool Street Station. Can recommend. Find your nearest here.
A beautiful burger despite an exceptionally robust bun
Burger source
Salt Shed is a pop up in the Box Park at Shoreditch, and like so many Shoreditch Box Park pop-ups it has a brilliant story. From the website:
Laurence & Frank began curing salt beef to feed and educate some of their less cultured friends from university on one of the greatest London delicacies, The Bricklane salt beef bagel. This quickly became a popular dish at gatherings and university barbecues, once they graduated they wanted to take their cooking to the next level and Salt Shed was born.
The business started as curing meats but then the barbecue aspect really came into play, pastrami (smoked salt beef) began to fly they now serve an array of cuts that are slow smoked or hot grilled with some very complementing sauces.
So whilst a burger isn’t their core offer, it’s clearly a staple and it called out to me from the lush, lush photos on Box Park’s online menu/ordering system.
The order
I had the ‘sweet one’, consisting of an aged British beef patty, smoked pancetta bacon, American cheese, toasted sesame bun, bacon & caramelised onion jam (hence the sweet one, there’s a variant that skips this) and beef dripping mayo.
The meat of it
I mean, look at it. Picture perfect. Toasted bun, crusty beef, crispy pancetta, melty cheese, reassuring grease marks on the paper (a good burger needs a good fat ratio), and a few dribs and drabs of sweet, sweet caramelised onions reach escape velocity around its edges.
First taste? The bun is chewy and slightly too robust – firm instead of pliant, it adds just a smidge too much breadiness to the bite. The burger is brilliantly seasoned, and the crunch of the crust, the goo of the salty cheese, the crisp of the pancetta and the sweet sunshine of the bacon jam, all lubricated by the sweet/savoury mayo, bind beautifully. It’s a tasty burger.
But it is slightly overcooked, and so a little dryer than it should be in the patty (my friend Dan had a regular cheeseburger that was showing pink in cross section – this one just spent slightly too long on the grill). And the ratios mean that some of the flavour balance is off – hard to know exactly how to remedy it but I think a different bun choice and possibly a bit more salad would have helped balance it better. But really very good on the whole.
The fries, a supplemental £3.50, were pretty much perfect. Crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside, perfectly seasoned, hot and tasty. They needed more than the token packets of ketchup we were given to lubricate them, though, they were a huge portion and the salt got overwhelming. Share one between two!
Great combo. £12.50, no service payable at the box park, so value for the quality as it goes. Nice work, Salt Shed.
Monkey finger rating
Bun – 3/5 – just too big Build – 5/5 Burger – 4/5 – just a smidge overdone Taste – 4/5 Sides – 4.5/5 Value – 4.5/5 – valuelicious by Central London standards.
Burger rating – 4/5 – would have again
The deets
Unit 53 at the Box Park, just by Shoreditch High Street and 10 minutes or less from Liverpool St Station. Take a friend!
It’s a lovely start-up story – from flipping burgers at the weekend to multiple restaurants and a pop-up across London, Black Bear’s popularity has been blooming over the last couple of years. My attention was drawn to it, because I’m either trendy or just a sucker for good marketing (depending on how you look at it), as I’ve noticed a wave of Tik Tok reviews for the joint, including a very complimentary one from Jon the Food Don.
Anyway, lengthy origin story on their website. Some excerpts focussed on the burgers themselves:
EACH DAY OUR BAKERY DELIVERS OUR BESPOKE BUNS FRESH IN THE MORNING AND OUR BUTCHER MAKES OUR BURGERS TO OUR SPEC. ASIDE FROM THAT, WE MAKE EVERYTHING ELSE IN HOUSE FRESH EVERY DAY.
AT BLACK BEAR BURGER WE ARE COMMITTED TO USING HIGH WELFARE, HIGH QUALITY BRITISH MEAT AND BELIEVE THIS IS WHAT MAKES OUR BURGERS TASTE SO SPECIAL. STEW’S FAMILY RUN A SMALL BEEF FARM IN DEVON AND HE IS PASSIONATE ABOUT ANIMAL WELFARE; HOW ANIMALS ARE LOOKED AFTER AND PREPARED IS SO IMPORTANT AND THIS MAKES A HUGE DIFFERENCE WITH HOW YOUR MEAT TASTES! THIS IS WHY WE SOURCE OUR MEAT FROM OUR AWARD WINNING BUTCHER WHO HAS THE SAME ETHOS AS US.
Right, I went for the Miso burger (dry aged beef, cheese, smoked bacon, miso honey butter mayo, onions) and fries (hand cut, skin on). I also shared some brisket spring rolls (fried wonton with 12 hr brisket, cheese, & smoked bacon, with garlic mayo and pickles) and wings with bourbon BBQ & maple sauce. A *lot* of food, accompanied by a Maple [Syrup] Old Fashioned.
The meat of it
Well, it’s a pretty thing, isn’t it? toasted bun, love the sesame seeds, glorious melt on the cheese, crisp bacon peeking out the edges, miso mayo coating generous but not ridiculous. How does it weigh up in cross section?
Well, it’s messy. The mayo splurges over everything, but the texture is fab, the bun soft but sturdy, the meat tender and not overly greasy despite what must be an (un)healthy fat/lean ratio.
First taste: amazing umami – crisp, crunchy bacon adds brilliant texture; the meat, coarse ground, loose packed and perfectly cooked, is juicy and rich, with the mildest dry-age funk adding complexity but without undue fuss. The miso mayo adds an edgey depth of flavour, boosting the umami even further, and the soft bun holds it all together beautifully. Mildest of criticisms; the bun: meat ratio was a little high in the bun’s favour but only marginally, and the crust on the burger was ever so slightly soft – a harder sear, or a shorter steam to melt the cheese perhaps? Don’t know. But really very little to fault; this is a burger you can inhale if you’re not careful – I had to pace myself and savour it.
As to the sides…
The fries were decent; not universally crisp, but well seasoned and full of potato flavour. The brisket spring roll tasted authentically of a cheeseburger but – despite being a savoury fiend in general – I thought it was overpowering. Too much salt – cheese, brisket, and bacon – in a crispy, salty shell, with only mayo and pickles to temper it? There’s a very credible cheeseburger flavour in there which I think I’d have mellowed out with a burger relish or something else to cut the salt just a smidge. Texture is spot on – crisp shell, melty, tender meat, gooey cheese (though I admit – other than the salt impact, I didn’t feel the crunch of the bacon with this one). The home made pickles were lush – sweet, sour and crisp. The wings – I thought were disappointing, though Simon enjoyed them – they were over fried and a little burnt around the edges, dark brown instead of a golden colour, and the BBQ sauce was a bit thin and sickly for my liking.
We were given a teeny tiny soft serve scoop to finish the meal, which was a lovely touch, and it was a welcome relief from the salt bomb of the evening.
Monkey finger rating
Bun – 4.5/5 Build – 5/5 Burger – 5/5 Taste – 5/5 Sides – 4/5 – 2.5 for the wings. Everything else was good! Value – 4/5 – It was pricey – £14.50 for burger and fries, then more for the sides, but so delicious
Burger rating – 5/5 – one of the best I’ve had in London
The deets
Multiple locations, in Brixton, Shoreditch Box Park, Exmouth Market, Canary Wharf etc., – find your nearest here. Walking back from Exmouth Market to Farringdon, check out the views, man. Love London in the Summertime.
Truffle Burger has started emerging on a variety of ‘best burger’ lists in recent months, and I even sent a colleague and her husband there on other people’s recommendations, so when a chance cancellation left me briefly without evening plans on a night I was in London, it felt like a good moment to try it. The Elizabeth Line even made zipping into Soho of a Tuesday evening relatively easy, so we carpe diemed and headed on in.
Their backstory is fairly standard as these things go:
TRUFFLE BURGER STARTED AS A STREET FOOD OPERATION. WE TRADED WITH LONDONS BEST STREET FOOD ORGANISATIONS AND MARKETS WHICH HELPED US PROPEL OUR BRAND TO A BIGGER STAGE…
When Truffle Burger was started in 2018, the goal was to bring a luxury product to the masses in an affordable and accessible way. All the food features truffle in one way or another and the idea came from the love of the ingredient by the founder, Tom.
The mission is to cook for as many people as possible, to show there is more to grab and go food than a quick fix, create a destination meal in a simple and affordable way.
I had a Truffle Butter burger and my friend Pob ordered the eponymous Truffle Burger. The former a more or less standard burger, but generously doused in truffle butter, melty raclette and caramelised onions, the latter a bacon and beef patty topped with truffle mayo, raclette, fig jam and crispy onions. We shared sides of truffle Parmesan fries and some BBQ chicken bites.
The meat of it
The melty raclette caused the top bun to slide around a bit but the burger – arriving on a side plate – otherwise looked perfect. The bun was gloriously soft yet somehow standing up to a hefty 6oz ish patty, other toppings glistening slightly in the burger drippings. The fries are peppered with Parmesan nubs and heavily scented with truffle, presumably fresh from a truffle oil deep fry, and the nuggets present an alluring invitation to chomp and crunch. More on that shortly.
Butter burger on left, Truffle burger on right
The cross section is reassuring. A bright pink, perfect medium burger. A splash of meaty burger juice lands on the plate as the coarse ground, loose packed patty is revealed in all its glory. The bun continues to impress, holding up to the juiciness of the burger without being unnecessarily dense or firm; pillowy softness holding up the meaty lusciousness of the patty.
Then the bite. Amazing texture – a firm, crisp crust masking soft, tender, perfectly cooked beef underneath. Perhaps slightly light on the seasoning, the truffle flavour – in the butter burger at least – is delicate, subtle, it draws you in to the wider experience of the burger. The caramelised onions add light sweetness and the beef and butter provides all the moisture needed for balance, although perhaps – it was a smidge too greasy. On the whole, however, a delight.
The Truffle Burger provides a slightly different experience. The truffle mayo is slightly too generously applied and the truffle flavour is more in-your-face. The bacon woven into the patty adds a pleasant boost of umami, in unexpected and delightful pockets. The crispy onions add bonus texture (I would – and do – add these to a wide variety of meals, they’re a phenomenal condiment). Still great, but not as good (to my mind, at least) as the butter burger. Both, I think, would have been improved by a sharp cheddar versus the beautifully melty but slightly inspid raclette, which adds lots of texture but little flavour.
As to the sides… I was not a huge fan of the Parmesan fries. The truffle flavour adds too persistent, too lingering, a funk. Despite being perfectly seasoned (via the medium of Parmesan), the flavour wasn’t entirely pleasant. And whilst I do love Parmesan, and Parmesan fries, the way in which these fries are prepared means its only barely distinguishable from salt. So, slightly, what’s the point. I also felt that the fries themselves weren’t entirely fresh – there was an ever-so-slight staleness to them. So OK, tasty, probably brilliant if you like Truffle, but not my favourite.
The BBQ chicken bites… looked glorious, and were texturally perfect. Crispy on the outside, accented with fresh spring onion and more crispy onions, juicy, tender meat underneath that crunchy bite. But… they were slightly underseasoned – no heat or spice or even enough savoury salt to them – and the BBQ sauce was slightly cloying and insipid. A dousing in Uncle Frank’s hot sauce I think would have been a far better choice. Though it was a relief to have something that wasn’t completely infused with truffle funk after the overload of the burger and fries.
To drink… I had an amaretto and (diet) cherryade cocktail drink from their ‘cocktails’ list. Overpriced and you’d expect it to be overpoweringly sweet, it ends up as a sort of delicious, alcoholic ice cream soda. A perfect contrast to the salt-bomb of the meal.
Overall, this was a brilliant experience. If you love truffle, this is probably the best burger you can find in London. If, like me, it’s a pleasant novelty, you might not rush back. But do go if you haven’t. It is super.
Monkey finger rating
Bun – 5/5 Build – 4.5/5 Burger – 4.5/5 Taste – 4.5/5 Sides – 3.5/5 – deductions for weird fries and underseasoned chicken Value – 3.5/5 – £14.50 for burger and fries, plus £9 cocktails – this is not a cheap eat
Burger rating – 4/5 – really very strong option
The deets
There are a few of these around – in Soho, Seven Dials and the South Bank. Find it here.
Burger Source 