[Review] Five Guys Burger, Angel / Covent Garden, London

Since the frenzied media (both social and otherwise) of the launch of American burger chain Five Guys in the UK in Summer 2013, the chain has been making inroads into the domestic market and has already opened two new restaurants in The Oracle, Reading, and on Upper Street, Islington.

Five Guys Bacon Cheeseburger

Now things have settled a little, I popped into the Five Guys Angel branch to get the low down on a couple of their burgers, whilst picking up some steak and burger patties from London's rockstar butchers, Turner & George.

[Review] Wenlock and Essex Triple Steak Burger

I've been a big fan of the Wenlock & Essex in Angel for a while. The original Wenlock burger debuted straight into my Top 10 Burgers in London list back in March 2012. The head chef James Morgan (the driving force behind the Wenlock's burger renaissance) has since left for pastures new and the pub dropped off my radar...

Wenlock & Essex Triple Steak burger

...until last week, when I spotted they'd launched a new 'triple steak' burger on the menu. Time for another visit.

[Review] Burgers at The Admiral Codrington, Mossop Street

An email popped into my inbox the other day with an old, familiar name in the subject line. 'New Lobster Burger at the Admiral Codrington' it proclaimed, and immediately memories were stirred of the most marvellous and exciting burgers I've ever eaten. A Big Mac styled Big Boy as part of a MockDonalds burger tasting, The Ad Cod cheeseburger, a trio of burgers that included a triple chilli burger.

Admiral Codrington Lobster Burger

So with PR invite in hand, I collected a couple of seasoned burger eaters and we made the journey to South Kensington to see how the burger matches up a year on from my last visit.

[Review] Burger Breakout at The Old Crown

Burger Breakout is situated in The Old Crown on New Oxford Street, across from the site on which the former 'Ultimate Burger' restaurant resided (and which is now a Prezzo). I'd heard a lot of buzz around the Burger Breakout pop-ups over the summer, and was keen to take a down a burger or two to see what all the fuss was about. 

The Burger Breakout Whiskey Beast Burger

So on a Tuesday lunchtime, I gave them the Burger Me! once over, and so here's my take on Burger Breakout... 

Doing the Quadruple Burger Dash at Bar Boulud, One Hyde Park

Bar Boulud, for those who haven't ventured into Knightsbridge recently, is attached to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel, next to the Candy Brother's white elephant luxury development on the corner of Hyde Park. And it's pretty posh, they even have a guy standing outside to open the door for you. 

After a host of diary clashes (mainly mine), I'd organised to dine with Dini (@dolcedini on Twitter), and we agreed to hit all four burgers at once to see how they compared against each other.

Riding House Cafe WWF Burger Smackdown

Riding House Cafe is an achingly cool canteen-style restaurant situated halfway between Regent's Park and Oxford Circus, and it was the scene for a tense burger-off between the underweight challenger cheeseburger versus their overweight champion longhorn burger.

The occasion was an inpromptu work dinner with a colleague, hereafter known as 'The Aussie', and as my first visit to Riding House, we settled on covering off the both burger options on the menu. We had a couple of small plates to start, just to whet our appetites before the oncoming burger onslaught, hot and sour buttermilk chicken wings with celery blue cheese dip, and seared scallops, both were excellent and had us whipped our taste buds up into a frenzy before the main show.

Steak+ scores a C minus - 73 Grays Inn Road

Location: On 73 Grays Inn Road, that's the slightly dilapidated bit near to Andrew's, the greasy spoon caff that sets hearts and pulses racing with the amazing one-off BurgerMonday events run by Daniel Young, sits Steak+. 


Either side of the door as you enter sit glorious buffets - on the left a salad buffet boasting about 15 different salads from mixed leaves to roasted aubergine and yoghurt, and . The decor is predominantly far eastern, ornate chairs sit mis-matched around tables, and pictures of eastern landmarks adorn the walls. It's quirky, and I quite enjoyed it.

5/10 - Ember, 99-100 Turnmill Street, Farringdon, EC1M 5QP

Location: Ember is a small bar with a warehouse-style interior, situated just by Farringdon tube station. Part of the wider Faucet Inn group, which operate a number of bars across the capital. My visit was on a Thursday lunchtime, sans reservation, but the bar was bereft of guests, a solitary older couple being the other beneficiaries of the slightly surly barmaid's attentions.


Price:
£8.75 for bacon cheeseburger including chunky chips.

Presentation:

Great. The burger arrived avec chips on a ergonomic wooden board, sauces to the left of me, burger to the right, here I am , stuck in the middle with chips. Not what I expected (from seeing the food served to the only other diners in the bar). The burger seemed quite small, almost mean if I'm being fair to it, but the whole ensemble looked quite impressive.

Toppings:

Ok. The toppings (bacon, cheese, onion chutney, huge pile of lettuce) were alright. The shining star in this ensemble was the bacon, which was meaty and full of unsmoked flavour.   Sadly that's where the quality of toppings end. A huge forest of lettuce hid a pool of sharp red onion chutney and a cold, tasteless cheese - still trying to work out how the cheese was both melted and freezing cold.

Meat:
Clearly Ember's policy with the burger is 'eating is cheating'. This was a sorry sized patty - I estimated it at less than 100g. The patty was cooked medium, which was no mean feat considering it was about 0.5cm thick, and the grind was fairly fine. I had the feeling that the burger was a frozen patty, but I'm guessing (and asking my less than attentive waitress was a no-go). As you can see from the hand image below, the actual burger was significantly smaller than my, albeit piano players, hands.

Bun:

Errrrm..I'm not sure what was going on with this bun, it seemed to be a cross between a soft pretzel (philly-style) and a white bap - although something in then creation suggested the chef had too much time on his hands as it was more a Frankenstein's monster of doughy bits than bun. A strange series of curls on the lid meant it fell apart almost immediately when picked up, and although the texture was lightly toasted and fluffy, sadly it lacked cohesion with the burger.


Plate Accessories:

Ok. Chips were on target, chunky, crispy and unsalted, and actually the most generous part of this meal. The tomato sauce was fine, and the mean portion of coleslaw was tasty, although it was a mere forkful.

Overall rating: 5/10

Despite having a small menu, and even smaller Thursday lunchtime clientele, Ember sadly fails to make the grade with this small and poorly executed burger. In my opinion it is a clear case of style over substance and having paid almost £9 for this, I could have easily knocked back a couple more, which would have taken the total cost to around £27, and I'd still have been disappointed. In short, a mean portion from a place that could do with upping their game for more passing trade.

5/10 - All Bar One, Appold Street, City of London

Location: Situated behind Liverpool Street Station, on Appold Street, this All Bar One is a City take on the ubiquitous AB1 chain acrosss the UK. 

Price:

£8.95

Presentation:

Ok. Wooden stick holding burger together, good portion of chips, and small pot of tomato salsa.

Toppings:

None. Just the aforementioned tomato salsa (didn't fancy the camembert-topped option on this adventure).

Bread:

Surprisingly Ok. Slightly dry but nice cross between ciabatta and standard bun.

Meat:

Not great. Wasn't a handmade beef patty, and was overcooked meaning the burger had dried out and lost any flavour it may have had. Burger had also been made with coriander, giving it a faint curry-ish aroma - I found this slightly offputting!

Plate Accessories: 

Ok. Chips fine and generous portion, salsa was disappointing and there wasn't enough of it to make up for the dry burger.

Overall rating: 5/10

I can't recommend the All Bar One, Appold Street for food (or at least not burger food!), so if you are visiting this public house, I'd stick to the beer!

5/10 - The Red Lion, Moorgate, City of London

Location: Situated on Eldon Street, in between Liverpool Street and Moorgate stations, The Red Lion is what I'd describe as a 'proper london boozer'. 

Price:

£8.95

Presentation:

Ok. The burger came fully assembled with a stick through it to hold it together, pile of chips and some sad looking lettuce.

Toppings:

Ok. Cheese and bacon. Cheese not particularly flavoursome, bacon a little fatty, but otherwise ok.

Bread:

Ok. Standard non-seeded bun, a little dry but didn't fall apart during the eating.

Meat:

Ok. Wasn't a handmade beef patty, but was cooked slightly pink in the middle. Again it was a little fatty, but wasn't a grease trap.

Plate Accessories: 

Not great. Pile of chips were fine, a little tasteless, but covered in salt and ketchup you wouldn't be able to tell, the salad was disappointing, and may have been left for too long under a heat lamp.

Overall rating: 5/10

This burger was ok. I wouldn't particularly recommend it, if you found yourself eating at The Red Lion, and fancied a burger, you'd get an ok experience. Not the worst burger, but by no means a great experience. 'Nuff said.