Tag: smashburger

Supernova, Deliveroo, London

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Better than the memory of a double double cheeseburger

Burger source 

Supernova was a viral smash [sic] when it arrived in Soho, serving smashburgers and fries from its limited but pretty much perfect menu. Simplicity is pretty much its defining attribute from a marketing perspective; little choice, little space; both things seem to drive demand through the roof.

Anyway, I have literally never had the patience to go. Every time I wander past there’s a gargantuan queue, you can’t book, and I’m too middle aged to have the time for that. So, when it appeared on Deliveroo after a late finish at the office… well, colour me tempted.

The order 

There are literally two burgers on the menu, a house and a classic cheeseburger. They’re identical – double smash patties, pickles, onions, American cheese… but then you get to choose the sauce, either mustard + ketchup (classic) or ‘house sauce’ (you guessed it – that’s the house cheeseburger). I got their standard fries with a house cheeseburger and sort of braced for mild disappointment – smashburgers are often better fresh.

So… how was it?

The meat of it 

That’s pretty good looking for a delivery burger that’s been cycled (don’t ask me why, I don’t know) at least 3-4 miles. It was well packaged so protected from squishing, and you can see the phenomenal crust on the patty. There’s a thin pickle peeking out and you can see a good melt on the cheese around the side. The bun is soft but robust and hasn’t gone soggy from either the beef or from being overly steamed in delivery. The fries look crisp and well seasoned.

Let’s go cross section.

Ok, it’s hard to see through the mess of house sauce but this burger is PERFECTLY cooked and stacked. The bun is holding up – just – to the patties. The cheese is fully melted. The house sauce is generously but not excessively applied. There’s an even coating of pickles across the burger. There’s no pooled grease. There’s a fantastic sear on the beef. It’s hefty without being heavy – a well proportioned burger.

First bite, and this is immediately something that somehow beats nostalgia. That part of your brain that remembers McDonalds or In & Out as being better than they are because the gestalt of salt, soft bread, cheese and savoury patty, in eight-year-old-you’s mind’s eye – remembers it as pretty much the dictionary definition of what a cheeseburger should be and should taste like. The savoury, sweet, sour house sauce provides unguence and moisture in a way that balances out the dry, Maillard-rich beef sear on the patty, and the umami appeal of the American cheese. The meat – well seasoned, still crisp from the harsh sear despite the delivery, is balanced by soft, perfectly bland bread, bringing balance to the mouthful. Soft, crisp, unguent, salty, sweet, pliant – is taste of childhood and happiness, of parental indulgence and guilty pleasure. It is a living paradigm of what a double cheeseburger should be; a real thing that is somehow more perfect, more precious than a memory. And it is grown up; the tang of the burger sauce, the sharp, sour bite of the pickle, the rich, savoury flavourbomb that is the high quality beef in itself. It was glorious; I forced myself to pace and paused at the midway point to go onto the fries.

The fries are as they appeared, to a degree. Crisp, well but not excessively seasoned. But they were warm, not fresh, after the journey home, and some were chilling. Again, they seemed modelled on the memory of a McDonald’s fry, improved and upgraded. They are essentially perfect frozen fries… again an improvement on the memory, crisp, tasty and warming, and a delight dunked in a little ketchup and mayonnaise.

Delivery burgers often disappoint. This one was exciting. As if it was this good after 30 minutes on the back of a bicycle, imagine its potential fresh. A thing of absolute beauty and the ultimate hedonism.

Monkey finger rating  

Bun –  5/5  
Build – 5/5 
Burger – 5/5 
Taste –  5/5  
Sides – 4.5/5 – imagine them fresh!
Value – 4/5 – £18 for burger and side, ish.  

Burger rating – 4.5/5 – like a memory wrapped in happiness wraped in a gold brick. 

The deets 

They’ve got three branches now; in South Ken, Soho and Mayfair. My delivery came to NW London inside of 40 minute, even with a cyclist bringing it the 3-4 miles required, and was sub £20. It’s really very good and I would recommend it..

Squeezed Bristol, Wapping Wharf, Bristol

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Gooey, sweet and savoury smashburger

Burger source 

My friend Simon was adamant that this pop-up shop shaped burger restaurant was a paragon, nay an exemplar – for all other burger shops to follow, and his favourite burger shop in all of Bristoldom. He then proceeded to get very nervous when he heard me describing my ‘process’ – god, I’ve got a process now. What have I become? Were any of his fears merited?

Let’s get into it.

The order 

I had the St Werburger, and am only now regretting not asking what that means (Google suggests it might have something to do with the city of Chester, as St Werburgh is the patron saint of that self-same city – notable for not being Bristol – but perhaps Google’s other suggestion – that it is a reference to the Bristol neighbourhood of St Werburg – is more likely). It featured double beef patties, smoked bacon & caper aioli, Monterey Jack cheese, chipotle ketchup and confit shallots. With their skin-on fries, natch.

The meat of it 

I do like a basket burger. There’s something about the basket that immediately sorts most of the presentation challenges any burger might have. It looks good – a generous portion of fries, a glossy bun with a very melty, very tidy-looking double stack. Visually, this is douze points so far.

In cross section (we had to ask for cutlery and got their only set – it’s that kind of place, which is all for the better):

Let’s go through the stack. The bun is holding up to a very juicy patty, despite being soft in itself. There’s a peek at the chipotle ketchup and its promise of sweet, vinegary heat. The patties themselves are big lads, thicker than you’d expect of a smashburger and lacking the crenellated edges that make all really world class smash burgers remind you of the Fjords of Norway.

The beef is loosely packed, coarse ground and cuts like butter. The cheese is melted in an unctuous layer, amplified by a generous portion of the mega savoury caper and bacon aioli. The bun flops into submission, soft and fresh, but manages to hold on to structural integrity nonetheless. It carries a reasonable heft and really needs a taste now.

First bite… its soft; hot and fresh (the kitchen is about 5 feet from where we are sat). The cheese and aioli and sweet confit shallots and vinegary kethcup add a depth and contrast of flavour that wallops you in the tastebuds. It’s hard to process, as there’s so much going on and yet – in all the glorious mess of it – there’s a coherence. The ketchup cuts through the salt bomb and adds sweet contrast. The beef (whether it is truly dry aged or not, I have no idea) carries a light funk, adding complexity and depth to every bite. The shallots and aioli, are balanced and tempered by each other, and all of it wrapped in the gloriously soft and inexplicably, irrationally robust bun.

It’s an incredible gestalt. I have to force myself to take smaller and smaller bites, to eke out the pleasure of it. And then, when forced by the mantle I give myself as burger don, to critique it – I had only minor, minor notes:

  1. Smash the burger harder into the grill. Let’s get those burger fjords, and crunchy bites!
  2. Go slightly lighter on the toppings. There’s a lot going on. onions and ketchup played the same functional purpose, we could have simplified, or at least made it slightly less messy.

That’s it. Very close to a paragon.

On the fries… we saw them slop a floppy portion of skin-on fries straight into the fryer from a soft, non-freezer bag. This made me worry that they would braise more than fry and struggle to get crunch. I was partially justified on first taste – there’s something slightly stale and chewy about the fries, despite them also being fresh from the fryer. That said – it was a relatively minor complaint. Many of the fries were crispy enough, they seemed well cooked (if not well all well prepared,). The seasoning was fascinating – I think cumin, paprika, salt and pepper? Really distinctive and interesting and extremely moreish. Next time, freeze them first broskis – get them dried out and full of ice crystals and they’ll taste fresher and even crispier.

Monkey finger rating  

Bun –  4.5/5  – held it together despite heavy opposition
Build – 4.5/5 – bit heavy with the mayo
Burger – 4.5/5 – harder sear
Taste –  4.5/5 – really jolly nice 
Sides – 3/5 – hit by the stale-ish fries, redeemed a bit by the seasoning   
Value – 4/5 – £19 for burger and lemonade, ish.  

Burger rating – 4/5 – really jolly nice. 

The deets 

Well worth the mile or so stroll from Bristol Temple Meads station. And what a lovely city.

Saucy B*stards at the Newman Arms, Fitzrovia, London

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Delightfully messy double smashburger

Burger source

You might call it mindlessly doomscrolling top-10-burger lists, I call it RESEARCH and I do it in the name of science and the thousand or so people a month who seem to enjoy these burger reviews. You’re all very, very welcome.

Anyway, 15 clickbaity lists of burgers later, I finally find a burger that meets my criteria of being not-in-Hackney-and-therefore-convenient-for-a-midweek-meet-up-with-a-mate (honestly, Hackney seems to be some kind of burger utopia judging by these lists), and also sounding fab. I give you, Saucy Bastards at the Newman Arms, a few minutes from Tottenham Court Road station in the most central of central London spots.

They promise dry aged burgers, snacks, sauces & more sauces, courtesy of a Michelin trained chef, and guarantee a messy shirt at the end of it. Did they deliver? Did they ever.

The order

The burger part of the menu is relatively simple. There’s a choice of a double smash burger (the saucy bastard), a crispy chicken burger (the cocky bastard) and a veggie burger… called… no, you got it. That’s it. Naturally I went for the saucy bastard with extra bacon.

Because we were feeling indulgent, we also went with a “small plate” of Korean fried chicken, and the off-print but on-digital menu of jalapeño poppers. For fries, we shared a “salted” fries and a Cajun fries. Yes, we got too much food for two people, but again – in the NAME OF SCIENCE.

The meat of it

Let’s start with the burger.

This is pretty neat. Hot, soft bun; precisely smashed burger patties with amazing crunchy, crenellated edges – a bit like a sort of Slartibartfast had really put his Magarathean magic to work in designing fjord-esque edges in the smash process. The cheese is perfectly melted – and you can probably just about make out the slather of burger sauce and the hefty chunks of pickle in there. Let’s take in the cross section.

Channeling my best Nessa, I think I’d characterise this as ‘tidy’. It’s perfectly stacked – burger sauce, pickles, patties, cheese melt, and a wide layer of crisp bacon before you hit the top bun. You can see how thin and wide those patties have been smashed. The drizzle of grease and burger sauce also promises flavour… does it deliver?

First bite… crunch – beautifully crisp, well seasoned patty, with a delightful dry-aged funk. Double crunch from the crisp, salty, generous bacon topping, adding even more umami. Soft, open crumbed bread just about holds it together. Thick, sweet pickle cuts the savoury contrast down, and smooth vinegary, luscious burger sauce binds and moisturises. Is this a burger or a beauty product, you might ask? If beauty products were anything like this, I’d spend a lot more time wearing a face mask, that’s for sure. As it is, I have terrible skin but an amazingly refined burger palate.

In short; it’s hard not to want to inhale this burger. Every bite leaves you wanting more until you’re uncomfortably full. It’s perfectly formed – with an amazing flavour profile, incredibly high quality ingredients, and does indeed deliver on the promise of mess. Highly recommended.

As to the sides…

To each in turn.

  • The fries – well seasoned, but unevenly cooked, these were a bit disappointing. My friend Matt had the Cajun fries, where were more uniformly crisp on the outside, squidgy on the inside, whereas some of these were, in fact, soggy. The Cajun seasoning didn’t add much flavour but they were a better portion.
  • The poppers come in a light, sort of tempura batter, with a lovely goo from the cheese and a light pop of spice from the mild pepper. The sweet chilli added a good flavour contrast. But there were a lot of these; probably share between four, especially if you’re having another side.
  • The Korean wings were a little disappointing. They were over fried, so whilst the coating had a delightful crunch, the meat was dry and the sauce didn’t compensate – it was slightly saccharine in sweetness and underspiced for heat, IMO, though I’m hardly an expert in the ways of Korean fried chicken.
  • We had a ‘flight’ of sauces for £4. The jalepeno relish was more sweetness, and the ‘Hot Seoul Sauce’ was again too sugary, but with an unexpectedly bitter soy sauce edge. The ranch was the best of the three, smooth and luscious, would have again.

Overall, this was a great experience. The pub had a fab vibe and it felt like quite a nice take on a traditional boozer, freshened for the 21st century. Good selection of drinks on tap downstairs, QR code table service for the food from a resident burger artiste upstairs, very nice. Can recommend.

Monkey finger rating

Bun –  4.5/5 – occasionally gave way to the heft of grease and sauce but otherwise aces
Build – 5/5
Burger – 5/5
Taste –  4.5/5 – just a smidge too much seasoning for me
Sides – 3/5 – burgers are better than their sides, though the sides are decent 

Value – 4/5 – £30 for burger and sides; would have been more reasonable if we’d ordered a more reasonable amount of food, but we (inevitably) got carried away.

Burger rating – 4.5/5 – would go back tomorrow. Night. When I’m less full.

The deets

You can find them on Rathbone Street or in Islington, as well as on Deliveroo. Deets here. Recommend.

Popsons, 998 Market Street, San Francisco

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A salt-tastic melty smashburger, but not the best SFO has to offer

Burger source

Chef Adam Rosenblum, a respected chef with an number of different restaurant ventures, decided to add to the morass of upper-mid-range burger joints in town, like Super Duper burgers, with a smash burger. Ground on site, the fresh, well-seasoned patties are cooked to order;  the patties are squashed down on a hot grill, crisp up in their own fat, topped with cheese which is then melted both into the burger and the bun before assembly.

The website tells more about the burgers (fresh hormone-free beef sourced from Five dot Ranch and ground on site) and the bread (baked exclusively for Popsons by San Francisco bakery Petit Pain).

They sound and look great.

The order

I went for a double cheese burger with bacon, and a naked fries $17 with service.

The meat of it

IMG_20180904_191900

This is not a tidy burger. The stack is wobbling and sliding around, but really the issues there are all cosmetic. Once you pick it up and right what was lost in the assembly, the burger doesn’t suffer for it.

First bite and you’re hit with a salt explosion; the bacon was totally unnecessary as the super-salty, super-melty, super-plentiful American cheese slams your palate like a speedboat filled with salt racing through the Dead Sea. My fault for adding it but… the bacon is thick, chewy and crisp -perfect, really – and the salad, whilst fresh, is completely overwhelmed. There’s a smear of burger sauce under the patties; it drips out slowly with the excess grease from the burger. Remarkably, the petit pain bun holds up; it has a sturdiness to it, and good supporting flavour – love a seeded bun. There’s something gloriously indulgent about this.

That said… the crust on the meat was disappointing on a smash burger – it was a little soft, suspect the grill plate just wasn’t hot enough to get the real char going – and I should probably have added some ketchup to cut the salt down a little. Or Popsons could have gone for a little pickle and/or relish and/or sweeter burger sauce to bring out the flavour contrast a bit.

IMG_20180904_191913

The fries are fairly unremarkable; better than bog-standard McD’s frozen fries, you can taste real potato in them – but naked, the seasoning is decent if unexceptional and there’s nothing to write home about regarding the flavour. Acceptable filling, but not even a guest-star in the show. The ketchup is (unnecessarily) fancy ‘Sir Kensington’ something or other. I’d rather have had Heinz.

Monkey finger rating

Bun –  4/5
Build – 3.5/5
Burger – 4/5
Taste –  4/5
Sides – 3/5 – nothing to see here
Value – 3.5/5 – $17 with a small tip and no drink – this place is more expensive than Super Duper, a (very) nearby Smashburger alternative.

Burger rating – 3.5/5 – whilst there’s no question it’s a good burger, it doesn’t quite deliver on the promise and for the money, I’d probably rather have a Super Duper burger (and a drink).

The deets

Near the junction of Market and 6th Street. You can’t miss it.