Tag: american cheese

Fallow, Haymarket, London

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Tasty but flawed – and expensive

Burger source 

Fallow‘s conceit is that is a place where “culinary creativity meets hospitality experience and passion.” That’s certainly how the menu is constructed, with inspired combinations of food and flavour on practically every plate, and the service was pretty excellent. Meat is a key attribute if not a defining feature of the menu, and the two “dairy cow” meat burgers on offer (one with rarebit cheese and shortrib, one with bacon, cheese & shallot alone)  stared temptingly at me. Why dairy cow meat? I didn’t ask, and the internet is awash with confusing answers. Some say a milder, less pronounced flavour, others say its inferior, others say there are some breeds where it tastes better. This one? Wait and see.

The order 

We shared (dairy) beef short rib to start (£13 buys you two), and then all had the dairy cow burger (feat, aged dairy cow, bacon, shallot, cheese, brioche bun, £19), and Koffman fries (£7). As you can see, the prices are not for the faint hearted.

The meat of it 

Let’s take a look.

Well, it’s rather fetching. The brioche bun seems to have crisped off the baking sheet, the lettuce looks fresh and inviting, the cheese (American?) seems to have the most glorious melt and ‘fallow’ is branded into the top bun.

In cross section…

Some good, some concerning things become apparent. First – the meat – coarse ground, tender to the point of melting at room temperature, pink with what seems to be a good crust. The cheese melt maintains confidence; the bacon doesn’t seem enormously evident and the shallots… are confusing.

Let’s peek under the bun.

I normally wouldn’t bother with this view but when eating the first half of the burger, I couldn’t taste any bacon. And this explains it – a small rectangle of bacon is all that’s in evidence here, and you can see the uneven distribution of the shallots too. Minus points for assembly and toppings, I think.

As to taste – this is, after all, the important thing…. the first bite is luxuriantly tender, the culinary equivalent of a goose down pillow, giving way to the lightest pressure with the barest of resistance. The cheese – definitely some variant of processed American – provides unguent umami, flavour and binding texture all in one. The bun provides starchy counterbalance but the bottom half is sodden and imploding in the juices from this very fatty patty. It’s not bad, but a second bite (with less cheese and no bacon) draws attention to the slight underseasoning and the lack of a crunch in the crust. Perhaps a feature of the dairy cow meat, there’s no textural contrast in the burger – it’s all soft – and the flavour, despite the dry ageing, is mild – without the funk you might expect from dry-aged cattle that’s been reared for its meat. The crunch, unexpectedly, comes from the shallots, which seem mildly pickled and provide a sour-sweetness and light crunch – not unpleasant, but I’d have preferred a more traditional gherkin/burger pickle, ideally something “home made” in a sweet brine. And when I eventually find the bacon – it’s a good compliment, a mild bacon that pairs well with the extremely salty cheese. The whole is well balanced – a good thing given the absence of any burger sauce, relish or other sauce I could detect, this could easily have tipped over into dead-sea levels of oversalted. But the bacon lacks any crunch – either sodden by the pickles and burger juices, or just too thick cut to crunch like American streaky bacon can (at its – debatable I’m sure – best).

It’s good, in all. Not great, and unsure if it is worth £19 plus 15% service (yep).

As to the sides/starters…

The glazed dairy cow baby back ribs look sumptuous, and just as well at £6.50 a rib. It’s hard to know what to expect but the tender, melt-off the bone meat speaks to a perfected cooking process. The flavour is all salt – its like it’s been marinaded then stewed in marmite; the flavour is not subtle at all. A single rib was plenty to start – any more and you might have had to ask for BBQ sauce…

Google tells me that the ‘Koffman’ in ‘Koffman fries’ refers to the potatoes used for chipping, and I wish I’d spent more time considering the potato texture and flavour now because honestly you’re kind of blown away by the seasoning. A mix of smoked paprika, salt, and maybe garlic or onion powder – I’m guessing from memory – these fries are crisp on the outside, soft and fluffy on the inside, and more generously portioned than it might looks. The savoury blast is immense, which seems a running theme of this menu, and I was glad of ketchup and mayo dunking pots to take the edge off. Good, all told.

To drink, I had the somewhat confounding rhubarb and custard spritz (£15) – feat No.3 gin, rhubarb, yogurt and vanilla. You’d be forgiven for expecting something at least somewhat creamy, but no, it was this (right):

The ping tinged drink is served short, in a glass flecked with rhubarb powder, which is irritating and keeps needing to be wiped off sticky fingers. It has a sweet/sour flavour that’s entirely pleasant, and a light carbonation that lifts the drink and establishes its place in a Summer drinks pantheon. It’s refreshing and light and very tasty. A couple of my friends had the frozen margarita – £14, served from a slushy machine – which was apparently very good also.

All told – a very pleasant experience of a Summer’s evening on the edge of Theatreland. It was definitely expensive – £60 a head all told – but I think if you’re less of a philistine than we are and after some of the more creative cuisine on offer, then it might have been a better all round experience. The hard sought reservation for burgers? Probably overkill. Though a couple of my friends ranked it amongst the best we’ve had on one of these evening excursions… I’m left feeling nostalgic for the Lord Wargrave pub.

Monkey finger rating  

Bun –  4/5  – soggy bottom
Build – 2.5/5 – uneven toppings, meagre bacon, middling shallots
Burger – 4/5 – slightly underseasoned, undercrusted
Taste –  4/5  – the whole was better than the sum of its parts
Sides – 4.5/5 – Herr Koffman, I salute you
Value – 3/5 – maybe not great value for burgers. 

Burger rating – 4/5 – it was good, but I’m honestly not in a hurry to have it again 

The deets 

Find it a little more than halfway down Haymarket towards the Mall; pop into the Haymarket Hotel bar for a digestif as we did and it’s a lovely way to spend a summer evening with friends. But I’d probably have something other than the burger, despite its positive attributes.

Hidden Langkawi, Pantai Tengah, Langkawi

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Savoury pepper-bomb, not for the faint of heart

Burger source 

I didn’t intend to have three burgers in a row, but I got slightly egged into it by the cousins I was holidaying with and it did, indeed, look awesome when I saw it on someone else’s plate so… 

The order 

Well, I did decide to embrace some variety so – alongside the burger, which was:

I mean who can argue with any of that, really? The eponymous beef burger featured double 3.5oz patties, crispy turkey ham, American cheese, cheese sauce and skin-on fries.

I split the burger with my cousin-in-law… and we also had…

That’s right, no less than the house favourite, the snowy popcorn chicken pizza, replete with pizza sauce, mozzarella, garlic, cabbage, popcorn chicken and spicy sauce. Not going to review this in any detail, but I’ll give you a sense of it, I promise.

The meat of it 

The fries look astounding. The burger, unnecessarily staked with a serrated steak knife, has a coating of the cheese sauce, the melty slice of American cheese protecting the salad, in turn protecting the lower bun. The turkey ham, controversially, sits between the patties. The layering is comically random, but… Let’s see the cross section.

The burger is well done – not in a good way. Some significant resistance to cutting through it. The bun is soft but holds its structural integrity.

First bite… brilliant , good seasoning on the patty, a wall of umami from the cheese/burger sauce… initial thought is YES, this is good. This is rapidly followed by a WALL of black pepper, which I think probably made up 5% of the mass of the burger. Ludicrously peppery – so much so that the kids (who had ordered a ‘plain’ version of the burger, because, y’know, kids) couldn’t eat it. Pepper notwithstanding, the burger was too well done, the sweet of the salad wasn’t sufficient for the savoury kick in the head, the balance of the whole thing was off. The initial positive reaction to the umami, to the texture, fell apart a bit on persistent eating and I’m really glad I only had half a burger to get through. The turkey ham – wasn’t crisp. But added even more salt.

The strongest redeeming feature? The superb skin on fries. Crisp on the outside, squidgy in the middle, perfectly seasoned – just a joy. Wonderful dipped in the (slightly sweet) local mayo or the ketchup.

pizza

This was such a shame. The concept is STRONG – crispy, spicy popcorn chicken bites, with a hint of sweetness. Crunchy – but not chewy – cabbage worked surprisingly well as a compliment. But a hopelessly soggy base, a massively overgenerous helping of mozzarella, left to something of a mess. Half the pizza went uneaten (though we did polish off all the popcorn chicken).

Monkey finger rating  

Bun –  3/5  
Build – 2/5 
Burger – 25/5 
Taste –  2.5/5  
Sides – 4/5 – really excellent fries   
Value – 4/5 – RM38 is reasonable, in the area and in general for this amount of food.  

Burger rating – 2.5/5 – the pepper means I cannot recommend this. They need to rebalance the seasoning, modify the cook so it’s not so crunchy, and think about pickles or a sweeter burger sauce to event it all out. 

The deets 

Just up the beach from the Parkroyal on Pantai Tengah, the sunsets at this restaraunt really are the main event. Absolutely beautiful.

sunset at pantai tengah

Manna, Arcade Tottenham Court Road, London

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Small but perfectly formed halal burger

Burger source 

Trying to find somewhere convenient, available and new to review for this blog isn’t trivial. But Manna reviewed well elsewhere and sounded delightful, bringing inspiration from “diner culture and regional fast food joints in the States.” The website promises that: “every dish on the menu is designed to be the best and most luscious verision of itself.”

Well, let’s see.

The order 

I had the smash burger – smashed patty, American cheese, mustard, ketchup, mayo, pickles, diced onions. Simple – but hard to fault. I then proceeded to get confused about the menu and tried the shawarma fries that were not from Manna but from Shatta and Toum, another resident restaurant in Arcade, so I won’t review that here – I did try one of my dining companion’s waffle fries, which are a Manna creation so I’ll talk to those instead.

The meat of it 

Let’s look again at the burger.

Scale is hard to gauge here, but it is small. Really small. Palm of my hand small. But you can see promising signs – the hard sear you hope for in a patty smash. A delightful melt on the cheese. A soft shine on the bun, the glisten of the grease escaping onto the wrapper, and small rivulets of the mustard/ketchup/mayo sauce, seeking a path to freedom.

In cross section, you see some good and some bad things. The bun is so soft, it’s compressed to be wafer thin. The patty is coarse ground and delightfully pink. The cheese is oozing. There’s a good spread of pickle in there, and the onion and sauces. It’s promising. The main bad thing, other than the compressed bun… once again, it’s small. There’s no heft, its displacement is low.

First taste… the crunch of the hard sear, the healthy seasoning, the soft, sweet bun gives way. Delightful, unctuous, salty, gooey beefiness comes in each mouthful. The bun – holds integrity, despite its compression, and in relative to the sliver-like patty – well, it is actually well proportioned. The bright, fresh pickle and crisp onion adds brightness and further sweet crunch. The swirl of mayo, mustard and ketchup essentially puts an In-and-Out-reminiscent ‘animal style’ onto your taste buds. The combination is near perfect. I’m left wanting more.

After a £10 tiny burger, a £5 portion of waffle fries delivers everything you want waffle fries to deliver. Well seasoned, crisp on the outside, soft, hot and fresh interior. So much surface area holds so much flavour and crunch, with pliant, well cooked potato on the inside. Full points.

To drink – I had a mojito. Not always my drink of choice but they used Santiago de Cuba run – a favourite – and it was properly reminiscent of a trip to Cuba in the early 2000s with my friends, drinking the herba-bueno garnished local Cuban mojitos – though at £11.50, substantially more expensive than the $2 cocktails in Havana.

Monkey finger rating  

Bun –  4/5  
Build – 5/5 
Burger – 4.5/5 – docking half a point for it being too small 
Taste –  5/5  
Sides – 4.5/5 – value punishment, £5 for waffle fries was a lot, despite their wondrousness   
Value – 4/5 – £15 for burger and side, ish.  

Burger rating – 4.5/5 – highly recommended. 

The deets 

There’s a couple of Arcades – one just outside Tottenham Court Road tube, on New Oxford St, the other in Battersea. More info at the website, here.

Mrs Foggs, Broadgate Circle, London

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Tolerable cheese burger & fries

Burger source 

It was a convenient place for an industry friend and I to meet, and burgers were not top of mind. But they had them, and whilst I’m not sure of the connection between the bar’s Victorian-era explorer theme and cheeseburgers (maybe they explored NEW YORK CITY), I wasn’t complaining. Now, for no reason, this clip from WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS.

The order 

Basics – cheeseburger and skin on fries. The burger was billed as follows: a beef patty, American cheese slice, pickles, lettuce, tomato, mustard, ketchup, pretzel bun. The skin on fries – do what they say on the tin. Paired with a nice merlot.

Now, apropos of not very much, this clip from SIDEWAYS.

The meat of it 

Let’s take a look.

That’s not a bad stack. Decent shine on a soft bun, bright salad supporting the lower bun from the patty, amazing melt on the (distinctly unamerican looking cheese – that’s not nearly Donald-Trump-tan orange enough for pureblood American cheese singles). But – nothing to complain about yet.

Cross section…

Right, the lighting is bad so it may be hard to tell but there’s good and bad here. Good – stack, bun sturdiness/pliability balance, the layering in the stack is good and evenly distributed, the meat is coarse ground and loosely packed – so far, so good really…

First bite…. soft bread, crisp salad, sweet pickle, decent bite to a – slightly overcooked – patty, the cheese added salt and the ketchup/mayo adds moisture. It’s not bad. But as you chew – you realise the meat is more than a little bland, and overcooked, which diminishes from the mouthfeel and flavour of what is otherwise a pretty well constructed burger.

The skin on fries… were fine. Decent seasoning, not uniformly hot or crisp, but decent at their best and still OK at their worst. Dunked in the provided mayo and ketchup (nice touch), these were a good accompaniment to the main meal, and came in a decent sized portion.

Monkey finger rating  

Bun –  4.5/5 – really very good 
Build – 5/5 – well constructed, there was balance in the force
Burger – 3/5 – lack of seasoning and overdone-ness are significant faults
Taste –  3.5/5 – just not enough flavour or moisture to the burger. Slightly dry and underwhelming.  
Sides – 3.5/5 – solid but ultimately forgettable   

Value – 3/5 – £12.5 for the burger, another £4.50 for the fries, plus drinks plus side. Disproportionate to the quality.  

Burger rating – 3/5 – it was fine but the price, bland, overcookedness of it all knocked it down a few pegs from what could have been quite a good burger.. 

The deets 

These things are all over the place – who knew? The cocktails and drinks did – to be fair – look amazing and seemed like the main event. Go, experience the quirky Americana – find your nearest here.

Fat Hippo, Wardour Street, Soho

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Greasy, unctuous (mostly) flavourbomb

Burger source 

Hailing from Newcastle, Fat Hippo’s 13 year odyssey Southwards has seen it expand all over the North, the midlands, Scotland… and it finally arrived in London last year. The founders seem to suffer from a surfeit of descriptors, wanting to be known for their “great ingredients”, “good value”, “quirky flavour[ed]”, “indulgent” burgers and their “welcoming atmosphere.” True on all counts? Let’s see.

The order 

Whilst I tend to stick to the closest thing to a cheese and bacon burger, I’m also a big fan of ordering the eponymous burger, so I went that way – with a double (smash) patty, American cheese, smoked bacon, chorizo, onion rings + their Fat Hippo burger sauce. I chose skinny fries on the recommendation of the (entertaining, friendly, and yes, damnit, welcoming) waiter (hand cut wasn’t as crispy, apparently). We shared some buffalo wings (“Hot honey Buffalo + blue cheese crumb”) and after initially having a glass of blackcurrant squash and soda to keep the hydration up (love they have squash!), I had a Fat Hippo hillbilly lager – their ‘in house’ beer from Allendale brewery. How was it all? Let’s get into it.

The meat of it 

Presentation wise you can see this absolutely hits the ‘indulgent’ tick. The burger is about 9 inches tall, with the onion rings, which is obscene. But it looks good – beautiful melt on the cheese, crisp and fresh onion rings, lovely shine on the bun, smoked bacon peeking out the edges, and well seasoned fries on the side. But obviously it’s impractical to eat in this form so some surgery required before we can get to a cross section.

So I went down to a single onion ring in the burger but took a moment to look at the exposed stack. Amazing melt, crispy bacon, slightly disappointing to see the flaccid, super-market style chorizo in there (thicker and or crisp-fried would definitely have been better… but a much more manageable stack resulted from my fiddling and that led to this cross section…

This is pretty impressive – the meat is coarse ground, it’s a very even and smart looking patty stack, there’s a good ratio of sauce in there, the bun is robust and holding up well to the stack – although a little on the bready side, it is built to handle the aforementioned indulgence so, perhaps it’s all well thought through.

First bite… texture is perfect. The crisp onion ring gives way to sweet onion, there’s a bright umami flavour coming through from the bacon, the meat is soft and fatty and and perfectly bound by the melted cheese, and there’s some sweetness from the sauce. The burger is slightly underseasoned for my liking and the chorizo adds as little as you’d expect – a little paprika-ness, a little chew, but it’s a bit of a non-entity. The bread doesn’t feel as bready as you’d hope. Overall, though – really solid, and had it traded chorizo for more bacon and tapped a tiny bit more salt onto the meat when on the griddle, this would have been close to a perfect burger for my liking.

To the sides – the wings were really something – crisp, super juicy – but I found the blue cheese crumb overwhelming. I don’t mind a dip into blue cheese sauce with a buffalo wing but bits of it crumbled all over overwhelmed the buffalo sauce, which was probably a little on the light side for my spice preferences. The fries were just fine – decently crisp, decently seasoned, but unexciting (perhaps I should have experimented with the hand cut). The onion ring – pictured higher up – the one I extracted from the burger and had on its own – was stupidly sized – an onion half the size of my face was involved. It was ludicrously greasy and also slightly underseasoned but good and pretty much as advertised for a place that prides itself on feeding you messy food. And the lager… was not to my taste. Bitter and the exact opposite of moreish.

A good experience on the whole, though, lovely atmosphere, brilliant service (entertaining waited kept trolling Damian with his order, which is always a bonus).

Monkey finger rating  

Bun –  4/5 – a bit bready but not bad
Build – 4/5 – clearly impractical with the rings but generally solid
Burger – 4/5 – tiny bit more seasoning for a perfect burger 
Taste –  4/5  
Sides – 3.5/5 – can’t score the wings or the fries too highly   
Value – 4/5 – £30 for burger and side and two drinks, plus shared wings.  

Burger rating – 4/5 – really pretty good 

The deets 

Wardour street for Soho, there’s one in Shoreditch, and they’re up and down the country now. Find out more here.

Beer + Burger, Kings Cross, London

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Great burger, meh packaging

Burger source 

So both the beer and the burgers take equal billing, but honestly? The beer wins. 20 different draft beers on tap, a fridge full of weird and wonderful cans – there’s a lot of choice. Shame I’m not a huge beer fan, but that’s what it is.

The order 

I had a bacon cheeseburger – two smashed patties, American cheese, pickles, diced red onions, their signature ‘goop’ sauce and maple candied bacon. We shared their Seoul Wings – crispy fried chicken wings in a sweet and spicy Korean sauce – as well as regular fries, sweet potato fries, and the filthy, filthy dirty fries – fries, cheese, buffalo sauce, gravy, jalapenos and ranch. Yes, it was a lot, but there were three of us so… we shared.

For the beer – I asked for the beer that tasted least like beer and drank a strawberry beer that almost didn’t taste like beer. Perfect.

The meat of it 

Fast food style wrapping gives way to a tidily presented and well crafted burger. Strong char on the meat, layered pickles, goop, patties, melty cheese and the crisp, candied maple bacon on top. The goop sauce oozes but doesn’t drip – a good balance.

First bite – UMAMI CITY, baby. This thing is all about the salt – there’s no evident sweetness from the bacon, just crisp, chewy, salty bite. The burger patties are well-seasoned, well-cooked and delicious – the cheese is fully melted and binds the whole lot together. The goop is hard to distinguish but seems to add even more savoury-ness. The pickles are slightly drowned out by the mass of salt, but the red onion does cut through with some fresh brightness. The bun – is soft, but cold and untoasted – it doesn’t hold up brilliantly and starts to crumble as we go.

It’s good, on the whole – tasty and moreish – but it’s just off balance. Too much salt, not enough sweet. Too much goop, not enough crunch.

On the sides… brace yourself.

The Seoul wings were good – meaty, hot, crisp, juicy, and leaving a faint hint of heat and sweet tanginess behind. Can’t comment to their authenticity – probably a tad on the mild side, I’m no expert – really tasty though.

The regular fries were, well, unexceptional. Crisp and well seasoned, but there was nothing stand-out in the flavour. The sweet potato fries were crisp and soft centred, and whilst I’m not generally a fan, these were well done. The dirty fries – were absolutely filthy. I’m never sure quite what this kind of dish is meant to be – the fries are soggy with gravy, the cheese is melty but the flavour is all over the place with ranch cool, gravy saltiness, light heat from the buffalo – all coming through at the same time. The fries are the same unexceptional ones but now – poutine like – this Frankenstein’s monster of a dish comes to life. It was moreish as hell despite the utter chaos of flavours involved.

To drink? My strawberry beer. Strawberrylicious.

Monkey finger rating  

Bun –  2.5/5 – soft, crumbling, cold, and not sweet enough to make up for the rest
Build – 4/5 
Burger – 4/5 
Taste –  3.5/5  
Sides – 4/5 – bump for the wings and the dirty, dirty fries   
Value – 3/5 – £27+ for burger and sides + beer felt punchy for the quality  

Burger rating – 3.5/5 – good, not great

The deets 

There’s a few branches across North & Northeast London – well worth a visit, and ask them to toast or steam your bun… and maybe add ketchup and you’ll be grand. If you love beer, I think you’re going to have a great time. Find it here.

Original Patty Men, Digbeth, Birmingham

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Crispy, cheesey, spicy, tasty doner burger

Burger source 

I was in Birmingham for a two day work event, and had a spare hour before my train home. Extensive research (10 minutes of Googling) found us Original Patty Men (“OPM”), on many lists as one of the best burgers in Brum. Their website is short on info but the Square Meal review says that their burgers are all made from Aged Longhorn beef. They are also known for some eccentric toppings so I may have broken my ‘standard bacon cheeseburger’ review rule a little.

The order 

Yeah, I broke it HARD. To transcribe the specials board; I had a £10 doner burger, topped with American cheese, homemade “kebab style” slaw, chilli sauce, garlic mayo and OPM homemade beef doner meat.

No sides, as I was short on time.

The meat of it 

You can immediately see why they describe themselves as “patty pimps and purveyors of filth” – whilst the burger comes neatly wrapped on a metal tray, the hot and steamy fresh brioche wrapped burger slides out on a slick of coleslaw dressing and garlic sauce. It looks the absolute business – toasted bun, melty cheese, slick garlic sauce, chilli coming through with the crunchy slaw, a round of tomato, some pickles, and the absolute crispiest looking doner meat slices you’ve ever seen.

In cross section, you can see the meat is quite compressed (but this isn’t quite a patty smash), and had it not been for the preponderance of sauces, you might be worried for how dry the meat felt on first taste. Speaking of the taste… on first bit, you’re immediately immersed in the soft, sweet brioche, the crisp, well-seasoned patty, the semi-pliant crunch of the doner meat, the sweet, slippy mess of salad and coleslaw… as well as the the gentle hit of garlic and chilli riding over the top of the flavour profile. It might sound like too much, but like a kebab, it all just works gloriously together, binding beautifully, making whole somehow greater than the sum of its parts.

The bun, toasted, despite its slim proportions, is in good proportion to the burger. And whilst it may seem hefty, the patty is not enormous and is closer to a patty-smash in proportions and texture than a full on gourmet burger patty. The American cheese provides both umani and structural hold, drawing the burger in close, physically and in flavour profile. It’s really very good.

Some minor critiques, though, as it wasn’t perfect… first, the meat was a little dry; and there was little age profile to it – it tasted good but not exceptional. Despite all the sauce, perhaps the fat ratio was too low, perhaps this particular patty had just been left on the grill a bit too long. I was early, so perhaps the first burger of the evening had hit a slightly colder grill and taken a bit longer to cook. The doner meat had amazing texture but little flavour – more beef bacon than beef doner in how it hits. The slaw could have used a finer slice – occasional bites pulled out large bits of cabbage.

But that’s really it. It was excellent. It will be high on the list of places to go – and try the sides – the next time I’m in Birmingham.

Monkey finger rating  

Bun –  4.5/5  
Build – 4/5 
Burger – 4/5 
Taste –  4/5/5  
Value – 4/5 – £10 for burger  

Burger rating – 4.5/5 – really had to stretch to find things to challenge here 

The deets 

There’s a few outlets in Birmingham. Find your preference here. The one I went to was less than 10 minutes from New Street station.

Salt Shed, Box Park, Shoreditch

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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!

Burger & Beyond, Shoreditch, London

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Excellent dry-aged burger with little to fault

Burger source

From Essex to London, these folk are pretty serious about their burgers. Their backstory:

We’re known for bringing some of the best burgers to the capital, using freshly ground dry aged beef made from choice cuts of meat. We first gained a fanbase trading from a Citroen H van, before opening sites at street food markets Kerb and Street Feast – and finally launching our very own restaurant in E1. Alongside the top chef-quality burgers that gave us our name, we serve American-style sides including Dirty Tots or Fries with bone marrow gravy, plus sauces such as our signature Burnt Butter Mayo, and a drinks list of cocktails, craft beers and wine.

For my part? I had been working late and wanted a treat, near(ish) the office. So I went in search…

The order

I had the burnt butter burger – a dry aged beef patty, double american cheese, crispy pancetta bacon, burnt butter mayo & onion. Side of (regular) fries, and a ‘piece of mind’ lychee based Prosecco cocktail (it had been a long day).

The meat of it

The burger makes for impressive viewing. The juices on the plate – a little messy, but titillating. The melt on the cheese – exquisite. The bacon – streaky. The burnt butter mayo – oozing out the side. The bun – a glorious shine. We’ll come to the fries.

In cross section, the coarse ground, loose packed approx 5oz patty shows off a pink core. The onion and mayo spills out .The melt on the cheese becomes yet more apparent. The bun – is a little cold and stodgy, which is a shame as everything else looks glorious. The fragrance of dry aged meat, coupled with the mayo, is like nothing else I’ve experienced in a burger.

First taste… brilliant. A good crust on the burger, brilliantly seasoned. A light, dry-aged funk comes across that’s quite hard to place, as does the bonus umami from the bacon, cheese AND the very distinctive flavour from the mayo… wow. The mouthfeel is brilliant, as you’d hope for given the grind and pack of the meat in the patty. The raw onions give a light big-mac-esque texture (only the good things about it, not the bad). The only – minor – downside, as expected from cutting the cross section – is the bun. Too big, too cold, too bready for a single patty. And the mayo sliding out of it did make it slightly too messy to eat by hand, so this was a cutlery burger.

Onto the fries… these are exquisite. Some of the best fries I’ve ever had – crispy on the outside but not so much so that they become crisps, with a fluffy, hot potatoey interior. They are perfectly seasoned, the tin cup holds heat without inducing sogginess – just lush. I paired them with some ketchup and mayo dips, which did help mellow out the saltiness. But that’s not a complaint.

This was disappointing – the piece of mind, a cocktail that I assumed would meet my hankering for something sweet and refreshing… but the lime was undetectable, as was the agave and the lychee. It tasted largely of spiked, watered-down Prosecco, which was a weird consequence of the combination of ingredients (Vodka, Lychee Liqueur, Agave, Lime, Prosecco). A lot of money for a meh drink.

Monkey finger rating

Bun – 3/5
Build – 5/5
Burger – 5/5
Taste – 4.5/5 – minor deduction for the bun
Sides – 5/5 – glorious fries
Value – 4/5 – £28 for burger, side & cocktail, which felt a little steep (inc service)

Burger rating – 4.5/5 – I’d be tempted by a double next time, and a more conventional drink. But otherwise grand.

The deets

A short walk East from Shoreditch High Street, the restaraunt was small but cozy, with efficient service and a good atmosphere. Recommended. Find details and other locations here.

Nanny Bill’s, in residence @ Vinegar Yard, London Bridge

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Glorious, innovative double patty smash

Burger source
Nanny Bill’s was named in homage to the founders’ grandma, Bill, who ran a cafe in the 70s and 80s. Founded in 2015 in East London as a food truck venture, Bill’s is part of the decade-and-a-half love affair with high quality American fast food Britain is experiencing. Had I known they were famed for their ‘Mac & Cheese’ croquettes, we might have tried those too…

The burgers are interesting; hand pressed, clearly high quality meat, and some interesting variations – from the Dalston Dip (served with gravy) through standard bacon double cheeseburger (with BBQ sauce) through to the spicy Jam burger, various chicken and vegan options and more.

The experience was definitely one for our Covid times. We had to book and pre-order drinks in advance, we had to show our Covid check-in on the NHS app to be allowed in, everything was table service, managed and paid for on our phones, after going to a website by scanning a QR code at the table. It was, per the law, masks on at all times when not at the table. We’d primarily chosen to meet at Vinegar Yard as it provided an outdoor (under cover) space, which felt sensible in the age of Corona. And knowing Nanny Bill’s was there gave us something else to look forward to… their Insta pictures are glorious.

The order
I was tempted by the standard bacon double cheeseburger, but the Jam was calling out to me. Double beef patty, smoked bacon, American cheese, pink onions, hot sauce, shredded lettuce, bacon jam, burger sauce on a brioche bun.

In our rule-of-six compliant group, friends tried the Dalston Dip, the Bacon Double Cheese Burger and the Hot Mess chicken burger. All looked great.

Sidewise, I went for the Aggy Fries – rosemary salt fries, garlic buttermilk mayo, hot sauce, grated Parmesan and spring onion, and nabbed a chicken strip with rum’n’ting BBQ sauce.

The meat of it
So, how was it?

Let’s take a look.

There’s a lot to take in. The crust on the meat is immediately apparent, peeking out from the shiny, super-soft brioche. The cheese has a perfect melt, the lettuce is bright and fresh, you can see the burger sauce forming a protective layer on the perfectly toasted bottom bun.

This burger is a thing of beauty and power. But how did it taste?

In a word? Glorious. The crust is amazingly seasoned and tasty and gives way with a crisp crunch, revealing (amazingly) an ever-so-slightly pink centre. The bun is soft and sturdy (strong and stable?) – it holds up to the fillings and provides a starchy, only-slightly-sweet counterbalance to the umami bomb of the burger and its fillings.

The sweet / savoury / sour contrast is a delight; the melty cheese, chewy bacon, perfectly seasoned meat deliver a savoury mouthful; balanced perfectly with the sweetness of the bacon jam and the burger sauce. The pickled red onions lend a bright sour tang. In the background of the mouthful you can pick up the faintest heat from the hot sauce – a little more would not have been a bad thing.

Every mouthful brought another crunch/chew/taste sensation. It is probably the best patty smash burger I have had in the UK, bar none. Outstanding.

To the sides…

The aggy fries were interesting. A thick coating of hot sauce – Frank’s? – made the centre of the pile somewhat soggy, but amazingly flavoursome; lovely mild buffalo heat with every mouthful. The rosemary seasoning is mild and pleasant, the mayo a lovely creamy contrast to the crisp fries; even the Parmesan plays an unexpected role, boosting the flavour and adding a mild cheesey funk. And of course, I’m one of those people who things chopped spring onions improves almost everything – really wonderful, very moreish, and an extremely creative take on fries, one that adds rather than distracts with its novelty. Obviously the standard rosemary fries are excellent too, and don’t suffer from the soggy hot sauce centre.

The chicken strips were… disappointing .The breading is too light, and underseasoned – insipid. The ‘rum n ting’ BBQ sauce is pleasant, but would have been better cutting through the heat and seasoning of a crisper coating for the wings; as it was, it was not-quite-managing to redeem the juicy, but otherwise flavourless, chicken strips.

Drink wise, we had a very pleasant, fruity and slightly flowery session IPA from the London Beer Factory called Hazey Daze. Can recommend, not least for the outrageous ringpulls.

In all, this was an extraordinarily creative and tasty take on some standard burger fare; the team at Nanny Bill’s clearly know what’s going on and I wish them every success.

Monkey finger rating
Bun – 5/5
Build – 5/5
Burger – 5/5
Taste – 4.5/5
Sides – 4.5/5 – small penalty for mediocre wings, but fries were great
Value – 4/5 – £17 for burger and side, ish, with service. OK but not exactly a meal deal.

Burger rating – 4.5/5 – really outstanding overall. Would be tempted to have again, but having seen how amazing their other burgers looked… I’d be tempted to try one of those.

The deets
Nanny Bill’s have a few locations, but if you’re looking for outdoor eating in this time of Covid, Vinegar Yard behind London Bridge Station is the place for you. You can find other locations here, as well as buy their home-kits if you want to give it a try in the comfort of your home kitchen!