Edgware Road – Burger Source

Rock solid burger; curious fries

Burger source

Well done, Flip & Sear. Known for its Wagyu (we didn’t stretch to it), it’s a highly rated burger spot founded by North London cousins Abu and Munib. And the idea of cousin-brothers working together on a project like this immediately made me fond of it. As with so many burger entrepreneurs (burgpreneurs? Entrepreburgs?), their focus is high quality ingredients, but they’ve made some interesting choices – including the Wagyu – that make the end result special.

The order

A classic cheeseburger (5oz NZ Grass-Fed Beef Patty, American Cheese, Sliced Red Onion & Flip Sauce in a Toasted Brioche Bun), with regular fries, house ‘flip’ sauce and a Vimto Zero, because I LOVED the 80s but 2020s me doesn’t need extra refined sugar. For Muslim readers, they’re all halal, so there’s a bonus if you need it.

The meat of it

Well, it doesn’t look bad! That demi-brioche bun looks soft and inviting. True to its name, the burger looked both flipped and seared – with a fabulous crust. There’s a good melt on the cheese, and the gherkin infused flip sauce + red onion makes it a tidy and not too messy combination. Fries look decent, pot of flip sauce is generous.

No cutlery, so first bite gives us the cross-section.

It’s a tidy stack. The demi brioche bun is warm and adds starch without overpowering sweetness. Thin sliced red onions give crunch but are easy to eat and add a gentle, sweet flavour. The crust is perfectly seasoned and gives way with a delightful bite to a soft, tender centre; with the coarse ground, loosely packed meat melting in your mouth beautifully. That said – whilst the meat is tasty, well ground, well seasoned and well cooked – it is unremarkable – lacking the delightful funk of the dry-aged cuts, or the fatty richness that the Wagyu might have had. It was just solid.

The pickley, Big-Mac-reminiscent ‘flip’ sauce adds sweet sour pockets of bright freshness and helped bind the burger; the cheese adds savoury unguence that melts [sic] into the melange of flavours that make this burger more than the sum of its parts. It’s really very, very good.

As to the fries? They don’t get a close up as whilst they were sort of fine – they were 1/ reasonably generic freezer-style skinny chips 2/ slightly greasy and stale and 3/ somewhat underdone. But I think I got unlucky – the two friends I was with had better portions which were crisp and tasty. And even slightly stale – they were very moreish; well seasoned and delicious dunked in that pot of sweet, savoury, sour and crunchy flip sauce. Yum.

It’s a delicious overall experience, despite this, in the food-courty vibe the Edgware Road branch has. Recommend!

Monkey finger rating

Bun – 5/5
Build – 5/5
Burger – 4/5
Taste – 4.5/5
Sides – 3/5 – pretty average fries, but props for the sauce
Value – 4.5/5 – £16 for burger and fries and drink, ish.

Burger rating – 4/5 – very solid. Can and do recommend!

The deets

It’s a short stroll from either Edgware Road tube station. And very close to that favourite pub of mine, the Lord Wargrave, which is always good for a nightcap.

Possibly the best smash burger in London

Burger source

A friend with excellent taste in both bourbon and BBQ suggested we meet at this pub for a couple of drinks and dinner, and – seeing a double smash burger alongside a variety of ribs options, I felt confident that good things would follow.

The pub has high standards – from its menu:

ALL SMOKE – NO MIRRORS – we’re all about authentic London barbecue, with influences from around the world. Our meat is dry-rubbed, smoked in-house, low and slow, over British hickory logs. Our meat and poultry is ethically sourced, free range, and from local farms wherever possible, and our fish comes from day boats off the south coast of the UK, and is delivered to us daily.

Well. Expectations, much.

The order

We shared a half dozen crispy BBQ wings (my friend couldn’t cope with buffalo spice option), and naturally I had the Smash burger: double beef, double cheese, onions & pickles. I added bacon too, because… greed. To drink? House red, and I may have had an unusual bourbon because it’s a whisky bar too.

And I was tempted by a pudding. I’ll come to that.

The meat of it

Take a look at that. That’s nice. Shiny bun, beautiful char on the meat and melt on the cheese, well balanced with the pickles and onions.

Let’s take a look at the cross section and see what we’re really dealing with here. I received a groan from my friend when I did this (as I often do).

I can’t explain this. It’s a smash burger – at most, two slender, three ounce patties. And yet there’s a clear and evident pink, uniform through the centre. First bite and you are hit with a wall of savoury – coarse ground, amazingly seasoned meat provides bite… and then soft, tender chew. the flavour is smoky, with depth but none of the funk that comes with dry-aged beef. The cheese binds and adds yet more umami; the bacon almost pushes it over the top, but the sweet pickle and onion tempers it. The bun is soft and holds together against the surprising heft of the burger. I force myself to take slow, thoughtful bites. Savouring each mouthful as the full extent of this creation – this masterpiece – of a burger works its way over my palate. Simon is jeering at me as a reverent look passes over my face; each bite surprises, delights and astounds me. This burger is glorious, I have zero notes. Not one. It is unimprovable.

So. Wow. Breathe. And then the sides.

The fries are – as you can probably see on close inspection – crisp on the outside, thick cut by the standard of American fries but thin for English chips. They are substantial enough that they taste of actual hot, fluffy potato; they are beautifully seasoned with salt and pepper, crisp without being greasy. Possible the archetype of what chips should be, could be, when they grow up. Without the ostentation of rosemary of any of that fancy stuff – simple, uncomplicated, perfect.

The wings are presented beautifully – I love the slim, angled slices of spring onion scatted over the – evenly coated but not dripping – BBQ wings. The sauce is smoky and sweet, but not overwhelming, nor particularly distinctive. The wings crunch as you bite into them, and the meat comes off clean – but is a little tough and chewy. Enjoyable, but I’d probably go for the buffalo if I went back, and hope that they would be more generous in the saucing process, with a meatier and more tender wing. Good but not great.

I was pretty full from the meal, but as regular readers may know, my kryptonite is sticky toffee pudding. It is the ‘BEYOND GODLIKE’ of dessert options for me and – generally – even a mediocre pud is a thing of joy. This time – it presented SO beautifully after being pitched to me by the waitress (it’s excellent, she said)… but then proceeded to have the texture and flavour of a mouldering brick. The waitress acknowledged that a knife should not be required to break a STP apart and graciously took it back, and off the bill. I’ll discount it from my scoring; suspect I got unlucky.

Monkey finger rating

Bun – 5/5
Build – 5/5
Burger – 5/5
Taste – 5/5
Sides – 4/5 – minor deduction for tough, slightly undersauced wings. Fries were a 5.
Value – 5/5 – it wasn’t cheap but it was WORTH it

Burger rating – 5/5 – genuinely one of the best burgers I’ve ever had.

The deets

You can find the Lord Wargrave pub a five minute walk from Edgware Road station, tucked unassumingly behind the main thoroughfare down to Marble Arch from the Marylebone Road. The extensive selection of whisky, beer and wine is another reason to go back. Simon had ribs, which also looked glorious. Atmosphere and service, great.

Tag: Edgware Road

Flip & Sear, Edgware Road, London

Lord Wargrave, Nr Edgware Road, London