Thursday 1 November 2012

The London Burger Bash at Camden Brewery

Q: Take a BurgerMonday and supersize it. What do you get? 
London Burger Bash - Fred Smith Chilli Cheeseburger

A: The London Burger Bash (#LBB) at Camden Brewery. Great burgers, great beer, and great company.

London Burger Bash - Burger Contenders
London Burger Bash - The Menu.
Here's a short (and mainly burger porn-laden) overview of what went down.

Comptoir Gascon - Pascal Aussignac:

The first burger of the night was a 3oz mini burger from french gastronomic powerhouse Comptoir Gascon. A massively juicy duck patty topped with marmite-sauced geranium petals and fennel, resting on a bed of Camden Ink braised onions inside a cheddar-baked and glazed mini-bun. The burger gave up huge hits of umami and left me wanting a handful of these mini bundles of joy.
London Burger Bash - Comptoir Gascon
Duck and Brioche...hold on, there's a foodie concept in there somewhere...
London Burger Bash - Comptoir Gascon Duck Burger
Comptoir Gascon - mini duck burger with marmite and cheddar

Byron Hamburgers:

Byron's MO burger is a preview of their latest special in support of men's cancer charity Movember. Take one standard Byron patty, top it with cheddar and mustard/dill mayo and then lay it on a bed of pickled red onion, salted cucumber and shredded lettuce. Just add teeth. It's like a quarter pounder with cheese, on steroids. Seriously great flavours and ticked every single comfort food box there is. I'm going to be eating a few of these in November!

London Burger Bash - Byron Van

London Burger Bash - Byron Van Mo Burger

London Burger Bash - Byron Mo Burger Prep
Byron chefs working their magic on the MO burger
London Burger Bash - Byron Mo Burger Team
The Byron hospitality was the best of the evening - burgers, burgerettes, and shots of bourbon!
London Burger Bash - Byron Mo Burger cut-through

London Burger Bash - Byron Mo Burger cut-away
Byron MO burger



Racine - Henry Harris:

Racine's Steak Au Poivre burger is a take on a classic pepper steak. 45 day-aged longhorn chuck patty seasoned with crushed black peppercorns and griddled before being placed inside a toasted brioche bun, spread with pepper sauce and blue cheese mayo, sliced red onion and lettuce...c'était magnifique!
London Burger Bash - Racine Burger Patties
Racine's 45-day aged longhorn chuck patties
London Burger Bash - Racine Burger Patties on Grill
Racine patties and buns getting a damn good grilling
London Burger Bash - Racine Burgers being dressed
Just finishing off...
London Burger Bash - Racine Burger cut-away
Racine - Burger Au Poivre

Street Kitchen - Mark Jankel and Jun Tanaka:

Street Kitchen's supreme effort is a halloween-themed Truffy the Vampire Slayer burger. The beef was sandwiched between many layers - a medium cheddar cheese, a truffle infused mustard mayonnaise, Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar marinaded mushrooms, pickled onions, lettuce and ketchup. This was my surprise burger of the evening, not that Street Kitchen were doing a great burger (that goes without saying!) but that all the many ingredients that come together to make this burger work in perfect harmony. 

London Burger Bash - Street Kitchen Burger - Truffy the Vampire Slayer
Street Kitchen Truffy the Vampire Slayer burger
London Burger Bash - Street Kitchen Burger - Truffy the Vampire Slayer bite through
I slayed the truffle burger

Fred's - Fred Smith:

London burger legend Fred Smith was present and correct with his ox cheek chilli burger. A 5oz aged O'Shea's angus patty (a blend of cheek, rib cap, and sirloin), topped with his homemade american cheese, braised chilli ox cheek (chilli collected from Mexico the week before), on a bed of chopped chilli, iceburg lettuce, and pickled onion rings, all wrapped in a Miller's brioche bun. The melt of the patty, ox cheek, and brioche bun contrasted nicely with the crunch and heat of the chilli and iceburg.
London Burger Bash - Fred Smith
Fred, enjoying himself and his eponymous...well everything!
London Burger Bash - Fred Smith Burgers on the grill
Some aged longhorn patties getting a good grilling
London Burger Bash - Fred Smith Burgers on the grill with ox cheek

London Burger Bash - Fred Smith dressing the buns

London Burger Bash - Fred Smith Burger with cheese

London Burger Bash - Fred Smith Burger topped off
Topping off Fred's Chilli Cheeseburger
London Burger Bash - Fred Smith Burger cut-through
Chilli cheeseburger, baby!

Elliott's - Brett Redman

Elliot's offering, the Elliot's Burger, was an expectedly satisfying show of burger greatness. The house-baked linseed bun, spread with acidulated dill butter encases a 48-day aged longhorn patty, topped with compte cheese, braised onions and freshly pickled cucumber. It's the same burger that blew my socks off at the RAW wine fair, and it's bloody great.


London Burger Bash - Elliot's Burger on the grill
The Elliot's burger 'money shot'... 
London Burger Bash - Elliot's Burger condiments
Mmm...acidulated dill butter...
London Burger Bash - Elliot's Burger being dressed

London Burger Bash - Elliot's Burger topped off
Topping off the Elliot's burger
London Burger Bash - Elliot's Burger cut-through
Elliot's burger cut-through - the Traffic Light effect

The Verdict:


So many great chefs, so many great burgers, great beer, and fantastic company. If Daniel wants to supersize a BurgerMonday again, I will definitely be there.

Did you make it to London Burger Bash? What was your favourite burger?

1 comment:

  1. Hannah Hobson14 November, 2012

    gutted i didn't get to go this, sounds like a fab night!

    ReplyDelete

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