Tag: shoreditch

Beast & Field, Box Park, Shoreditch

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A burger of contrasts

Burger source 

Honestly? I was trying to meet a friend at Dumbo Shoreditch after all the TikTok hype, but I didn’t realise that it was full-on, take-out only, so we retreated to the old faithful that is Box Park, and was delighted to find that Beast & Field had arrived since I last stopped in… Literal fresh meat.

Their mission, says their website, is simple. Make ethical eating easy and fun. In particular – they focus on getting grass-fed beef from farms they trust, cooking it well and pricing it sensibly. Did they succeed? SPOILERS.

The order 

They’ve only got one burger; a steak patty, with onion jam, crispy shallots, tomato, leaves, mayo and their own handmade organic burger bun. I added bacon (it’s an option!) and had a side of their chips, which come with smoked paprika and Himalayan salt, no less.

The meat of it

 

What’s wrong with this picture? Well clearly the bun is burnt; that’s not a deliberate look for it. But otherwise – strong melt on the cheese, good char on the meat, an elegant stack. The fake Lilt looks interesting, and the fries…. Well I’ll come back to that.

Cross section…

This started to restore confidence. Bright, fresh vegetables protect the lower bun. The meat is well proportioned and coarse ground, though perhaps a little well done for a thick patty. The onion jam promises some sweetness, the crispy shallots falling out the side promise some crunch, and the bacon is rended crisp but not glass-like in its texture. The bun has a good grain despite its overly browned state. In short; it’s looking good on the whole.

First bite… well, it’s definitely burned. The char on the bun adds bitterness and the bun is slightly dryer than intended. The meat is beautifully seasoned and has a lovely bite as you get through the well cooked exterior… but it slightly dryer than intended again from an over generous turn on the griddle. The bacon gives crunch, the shallots give crunch, the cheese adds further to unguent, umami goodness. There’s brightness from the veg and sweetness from the onion jam…. I find myself almost forgiving the burnt bun and the overdone meat as this burger strikes that perfect balance of sweet and savoury; of crunchy and comforting. If your home was made of 100% grass fed beef, this burger would taste of home – it is comforting and happy making, even with its flaws.

The sides?

Two things to speak of here; the chips first. They are glorious; tossed in a delightfully savoury set of seasonings (Himalayalicious), they are chip-shop cut – chunky – but double or triple fried so as to be brilliantly crispy and crunchy. The thickness means many of them maintain that pillowy fluffiness some people are so keen on in a chip; for me it was that on occasion, with a heavier dose of crunchy goodness that made these pretty much the paradigm of a chip. The sauce was a chimmichurri mayo; smooth, slightly sour, savoury, fresh and delicious. If only I hadn’t dropped half of it when I collected my order…

The fake lilt drink? Also delicious, though that was from Boxpark’s bar, so… can’t really count it.

Monkey finger rating  

Bun –  2.5/5 – major deductions for it being burnt.   
Build – 5/5 – can’t fault the construction
Burger – 4/5 – elsewhere this would have scored worse due to being overdone. But in gestalt, the quality of everything was aces 
Taste –  4/5  – better than expected; awesome flavour/culture contrast
Sides – 5/5 – cannot fault chips or dips
Value – 4/5 – £18 for burger and side, minus service (because Box Park, there is none) felt a lot given it was burnt. But it was a well constructed burger, the portion was generous, and inflation is a beast too.

Burger rating – 4/5 – the overall experience was joyous despite its constraints.

The deets 

There’s a few of these around; Boxpark, Mayfair, Ladbroke Grove & Shoreditch. Find your local; it’s worth a try. And if it’s burnt, sent it back and get them to do it right – it’s worth the fuss.

The Brush Grand Cafe, Great Eastern Street, Hoxton

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Superbly crafted burger in trendy environs

Burger source

The Art’otel Hoxton is home to the Brush Grand Cafe; an independent (I think) hotel chain featuring local art (hence the name, clever that). QW The venue makes for a highly stylised culinary experience, and the eye catching art on the walls, the brilliantly trendy (yet still practical) low-lighting and the early evening buzz on a chill January Tuesday made for a fabulous place to catch up with an old friend. She had the schnitzel, but I saw the eponymous Brush Burger on the menu so… you know where this is going. Let’s be honest, you knew where this was going before you got this far in but… allow me my indulgences.

The culinary vibes they are going for… well, it’s a European focussed dining concept, darling, so you know it’s fancy. But it’s also reasonably priced and the service was excellent, so go for a good time. But let’s get into it.

The order

The Brush Burger features bacon, cheddar cheese, bone marrow relish, and not just fries – but Frites – all for £20. I had a ginger ale on the side.

The meat of it

Let’s take a look.

That’s pretty attractive. Toasted brioche, uber melty cheese, crispy yet still pliant bacon, the beige bone marrow relish peeking out the sides, and the bright, fresh looking salad protecting the lower bun. It’s all warm and smells fabulous, stacked perfectly as it is.

A closer look…

Cheese – confirmed – perfectly melted. Bun confirmed – well toasted, but soft and with an excellent open crumb. Bottom bun holding up against the heft of what is probably a 6oz patty. Good distribution of bacon, cheese, salad and relish. And – and I’ve been saving this for last – look at that coarse ground, loose packed, perfectly medium beef? This is glorious. Somehow the burger also doesn’t ooze fat, despite – I’m certain – being well proportioned on the lean/fat front.

First bite… instant umami. There’s a good crust on the patty, perfectly seasoned, and tasty without being funky in the way dry-aged beef sometimes can be (I’m assuming that’s what this was). The cheese adds further salt and binds, unguently (I know it’s not a word but it should be), the bacon adds crunch and more wonderful flavour. The bun and lettuce, together with a mild mustard heat in the bone marrow relish, provide counterpoint to the mountain of savoury; though it’s far from a sweet brioche. The balance is just right if perhaps a fraction heavy on the umami:sweet ratio, but really – there’s very little to fault. The burger is also a decent size, and leaves me feeling happily full, particularly after the…

Yes, the Frites. They are oddly unevenly cut for frites (one – yes one, darling – expects a uniform slenderness to these), though that’s hardly something to complain about. Though they did seem to also be slightly soft, and slightly under-seasoned. Add the inexplicable dusting of green powder (parsley? For art?) and the flavour sensation doesn’t live up to the – admittedly concise – billing. Longer, hotter fry (or a second fry), more seasoning, less green cr*p and this would have been 5/5. It wasn’t quite up to the burger, sadly.

Overall, though, the experience was superb. Great service, a nice place for a drink, a decent wine and cocktail menu from the bar, brilliant art and decor – there’s a lot to love.

Monkey finger rating

Bun –  5/5
Build – 5/5
Burger – 5/5
Taste –  5/5
Sides – 3.5/5 – I was not whelmed 
Value – 4.5/5 – £30 for burger, drink, frites and service is reasonable for this sort of place.

Burger rating – 4.5/5 – will recommend in good conscience.

The deets

It’s a hop, skip and jump away from Old Street station, right across from the Star of Shoreditch. You can’t miss it. Not sure if the cafes at the other Art’otels are as nice, but you can find (and dine) them all 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.

Burgerism @ NQ64, Old Street, London

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Capable halal double smash burger, enormous fries, with added gaming nostalgia

Burger source 

Clearly there’s a growing movement to serve the halal market and these guys are doing a classy job. A business focussed on high quality (and certified) ingredients, there’s clearly a great deal of pride going into the sourcing and production of the food here. More on their approach, food sources, etc. here – James arranged for us to sample their wares at their residency at NQ 64, an arcade gaming bar near Old Street. 

Truly, the geeks have inherited the earth. VIBES!

The order 

I had the “baconed” (their cheesed with added turkey bacon) with skin on fries, for £14.40. Drinks at the bar were from NQ64, not Burgerism, but were not unreasonable by London prices – £6 pints, £10+ cocktails. The burger’s full description:

2 smashed patties, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, onion and Burgerism sauce in a seeded brioche bun + added turkey bacon.

The fries – self identify as “double fried skin-on chips tossed in our almost spicy seasoning.”

Decent online ordering experience. Let’s get into it.

The meat of it 

Presentation is quite fast foodie, though that’s no criticism. An absolute heft of fries (left unfinished), a pot of tasty ranch (£1) and the burger, in their respective pots, well packaged, eventually announced themselves to us via text after we used their online ordering system. Bonus sweetie provided a free pudding (the desserts on their menu weigh in at a chunky £7 or so, so you’d have to be VERY hungry to need them).

A closer look…

It’s not a tidy stack. Massive salad overspill, escaping pickles, but… a nice looking bun, good looking patties/bacon, a good melt on the cheese… Colour me intrigued.

Looks improve with cross section, but it’s a messy stack to handle due to the absolute explosion of salad. Look at the detritus on the wrapper, it’s mad.

First bite… the bun’s untoasted, but that’s not a crime; it’s soft and pliant and holds up to the heft of the double stack. The cheese – American – is melty and unctuous. The turkey bacon adds bite and salt and isn’t noticeably different in flavour contribution to regular bacon. The salad is fresh if present in needlessly voluminous quantities. The burger sauce is reminiscent of big mac sauce – sweet and savoury and adding a helpful moisture. The beef – is decent, well cooked – decent crust but not overcooked to a hockey puck, a light shade of pink in the middle, good bite and well seasoned. The pickles add occasional shards of sweet and sour, the salad is fresh, crisp and sweet. And there’s a light spice to it. It’s very good – improved maybe with some dry-aging on the meat, a toasted bun, and better stacking, but these are points to finesse – on the whole, this is solid.

The fries, and the ranch? In a word?

Lush. Lovely spice profile – ‘almost spicy’ I think translates to salt, pepper, paprika and garlic powder, but I could be wrong. Consistently crispy without being crisps, soft and fluffy in the middle. Amazing dipped in the ranch, which smoothed off the slightly overgenerous salt profile. One portion between two is plenty, though, unless you’re very hungry…

And the drinks – I had a ‘Mega Daisy’ – all the drinks are named for geek pop culture and video games, and this is NQ 64 now, not Burgerism – was a brilliant twist on an Aperol Spritz, with both prosecco and Aperol, but also lychee liqueur and some other bits. Not as sweet as it sounds and very refreshing.

We had a go on some classic games around the edges – Dance Dance Revolution, Streets of Rage, Street Fighter, Out Run 2, Ghost Squad – it’s amazing. And the crowd – such as it was of a Wednesday evening – was relaxed and diverse. A good all round cobination.

Monkey finger rating  

Bun –  4/5 – better if toasted
Build – 3/5 – messy
Burger – 4/5 
Taste –  4/5  
Sides – 4/5 – really good fries, slightly oversalted
Value – 4/5 – £14.40 for burger and fries (enough for two!) and a pot of sauce.     Take-out style so tip not required. Decent value if a little basic in aspect.

Burger rating – 4/5 – A good option. Would go again.   

The deets 

Branches in Salford, Liverpool and beyond, as well as in Shoreditch. Available by Ubereats if you live in the right places. If you’re in London and are a child of the 70s/80s, check them at at NQ 64, just a fab fibe with paid for arcade games (buy tokens at the bar) and free console games on offer, alongside a brilliant selection of drinks for those inclined – non alcoholic versions available too. More info here.

Flat Iron, 77 Curtain Road, Shoreditch

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Sumptuous, near-perfect chilli cheeseburger 

Burger source 

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…

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.

Dirty Burger Shoreditch, 13 Bethnal Green Road, London E1

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Has Dirty Burger peaked?

Burger source

For me, Soho House’s Dirty Burger is part of the great opening salvo of London’s battle against burger mediocrity. I rememer being distinctly impressed, one Friday lunchtime jaunt out with colleagues to the Vauxhall Branch. It introduced me to some key burgering techniques, including the mustard fry (mustard on the grill with the patty, a key tenet of In&Out’s Animal Style), I vaguely recall. They also use the ‘lid technique’ to ensure a good cheese melt on the burger, covering cheese topped burgers on the grill plan and squirting water on to create a cloud of steam that does the necessary work. Invaluable in home-burger creation. I was looking forward to revisiting with a review in mind, so post a team shuffleboard session (more fun than it sounds), we braved a torrential Summer downpour and headed to the Shoreditch branch.

The order

A Dirty Bacon (a cheese burger with bacon), naturally. And crinkle cut fries, because – why not? And onion fries too, because I remembered these being legendary.

The meat of it

As it’s basically a take-away, service was expectedly rapid (if not up to the speed of a lesser fast-food joint). We were the only customers on this particular rainy day. The burgers initially looked glorious – check out the stack!

20170711_203224

Unfortunately, first tasting did not live up to the glamour picture. The “bacon” is really a gammon steak, half an inch thick and adding ludicrous saltiness to this already well-seasoned burger. The cheese was delightfully melty, as remembered… but the burger itself unfortunately was overcooked and a little chewy, with little pinkness on cross section.

20170711_203541

This meant that the bun, sturdy as designed to cope with a juicy patty, was actually a bit too dry. The salad was fresh and sweetish but the ‘bacon’ overwhelmed everything, including the pickles – which went entirely unnoticed. My memory of the mustard fry was either mistaken or they’ve changed the recipe as the only flavour coming through was the salt. The beef might have been great – but overcooked as it was, it didn’t impart huge amounts. Ketchup and mustard added after-the-fact improved the balance somewhat, but sadly on this occasion, Dirty Burger missed its mark.

As to the sides…

As per my recollection, the crinkle cut fries were a limpid offer – slightly soggy and underwhelming. They came unseasoned, so self-salting is necessary. Fortunately, my memory of the onion fries was accurate; they are a savory, crispy enigma. How does something so crisp, crunchy and delicious, contrasting perfectly with sweet thick rings of onion, emerge from the same deep fat fryer? Spectacular, if greasy, indulgence.

Monkey finger rating

Bun –  4/5
Build – 5/5
Burger – 3.5/5
Taste –  3/5
Sides – 4/5 -bump for the onion fries
Value – 4/5 – £10 for burger and side, ish.

Burger rating – 3.5/5 – didn’t live up to its erstwhile glory. But I’d go back on the offchance they were having a bad day, and perhaps not order the gammon burger…

The deets

Dirty Burger is increasingly all-over. The Shoreditch branch is at 13 Bethnal Green Road, just opposite Box Park (where you’ll need to go if you need the loo, as the tiny restaurant has no facilities). Fortunately Dirty Bones just around the corner is a good place for a cocktail after, if you want to keep the theme Dirty…