Location: On the first floor of One New Change is little burger restaurant called Byron (no doubt overshadowed by Jamie Oliver's Barbacoa), one of chain of around 10 restaurants across London. Byron is a small, pine furnished space, spattered with mocha leather booths, but its charm comes from its huge open kitchen, from which loveliness is produced.
Price:
£10.50 (we went for the 'Big D' burger, and then accessorised it with bacon and cheddar)
Presentation:
Not bad at all. Nice solid bun, interesting mixture of salad, tomato, lettuce, onion and mayo. Presented 'bun on' with a massive slice of pickle, all resting on a piece of greaseproof paper on a plate.
Lifting the lid (so to speak) revealed 8oz of prime beef burger that was about 2/3 the size of the bun, which was a little disappointing.
Toppings:
Toppings:
Bacon and cheddar cheese - though these were add-ons. A couple of slices of streaky bacon, and some mature cheddar cheese were both nicely salty. Salad was pretty fresh, with lettuce, tomato and a couple of rings of red onion.
Bread:
Bread:
Floury, yet nicely toasted bap. Good enough quality to hold together throughout the eating of the burger. As readers of this blog know, a poorly executed bun can bring the whole burger experience crashing down like a house of cards. I'm pleased to say this bun, while uninspiring, was of very good quality. My only issue with it was it massively outsized the burger, ending up in some serious air biting...
Meat:
Really goooood. Impressive for just £10.50, the meat came out medium (it was a pretty thick burger and they didn't cook it any less than than that), full of flavour, a with a touch of juice dripping from the patty as I lifted it off the plate. And it's what you'd expect from O'Shea's butchers in Knightsbridge. This, ladies and gentlemen, is a meat win!
Plate Accessories:
Nothing except a lonely slice of (really quite tasty) pickle. Although I did order a side of skin on chips, which were nice (reckon they were double cooked at least...).
Overall rating: 8/10
To sum up the Byron burger experience, I'd say: excellent quality meat, nicely made beef patty (if a little small), unimaginative bun but decent quality, decent bacon and cheese topping though miffed we had to pay extra for them. My dining companions both had Monterey Jack cheese with their Big D burgers, and found it pretty good as well. This is definitely a recommendation for this place - and if you are going for just a burger with no frills - you'd be hard pushed to get a tastier burger for just over £10.
I did enjoy the Big D but it's pretty damn expensive. Once you add some cheese and bacon and chips you're talking over £15 aren't you?
ReplyDeleteGoodman is only £12 all in (with up to 5 toppings) and Hawksmoor £15 and both come with chips.
You're right joshua, with toppings and sides you're pretty much around the £15-£16 mark, and although the beef patty is excellent, the whole package is pretty expensive. So from a purist point of view, the burger IS worth £10, but for the whole meal package you'll feel a little out of pocket.
ReplyDeleteSounds like I ought to get my ass to Hawksmoor and do a side-by-sider!
It's definitely worth the trip.
ReplyDeleteGoodman too, 8 oz of the minced trimmings of all their USDA and grass-fed beef that's been aged a long time. As they don't charge for toppings and it comes with chips, all for £12, you only need to have bacon and cheese with it and it's the same price as a standard bacon and cheese with fries at Byron, let alone the Big D.