Lucky Chip vs Breaking Bad - Heisenburger & Jessy Pinkman

I've been meaning to get down to Lucky Chip for a while as I've heard a lot of rave reviews of their burgers. As well as serving up at Netil Market, they've currently got a residency at the Sebright Arms pub just off the Hackney Road. All this week they're doing a special and cooking up Breaking Bad inspired scoff in their lab:

Good as the whole periodic table looks, there were only really two options for me: the Heisenburger and the Jessy Pinkman. Keen to try both of these burgers, but not able to make a second trip whilst this special was on, the choice was clear - go Full Measure and order both.

Heisenburger - Cooked up beef patty, 98% blue cheese, smoked bacon, onion rings, methlamine hot sauce & aioli £9.50

Burger type: Pub/Gourmet/Inbetween/Dirty

This burger is to other burgers what Heisenberg is to Walter White. Oozing hot sauce and blue cheese, it truly is a filthy character. Firstly the meat: the patty is thick, coarse, cooked well (if a touch overdone) and is the main event. This is what a patty is meant to be like. It isn't dwarfed by either the bun or the fillings. The bun is top as well - in this case a glazed seeded bun is used, and it holds together well. So far so good; now for the fillings. Well.....they just pack too much punch. It's a full on assault to the tastebuds - in the blue corner the cheese is one of the most potent blue cheeses I've tasted in a burger, and in the red corner the hot sauce has a fiery snarl. Biting into this burger, you are in the middle of the ring and about to get smacked in the face by both blue and red. There's nothing wrong with the quality of the fillings - both the bacon and onion rings taste good, but having both blue cheese and hot sauce is excessive. There's too much going on in the burger and too much sauce involved - you're going to need a lot of napkins with this one. A shame because the meat and bun deserve a higher overall score.

Rating: 

Meat 3/3

Bun 2/2

Fillings 0/2

Package 1/2

Extra point? No

Overall 6/10

Jessy Pinkman - Beef patty, peanut butter, jam, bacon & chilli £8.50

Burger type: Pub/Gourmet/Inbetween/Dirty

Peanut butter and jam. In a burger. I suspected this would either flop or blow my mind......It was the latter. I've already talked about the quality of the patty and the bun in the Heisenburger review, so let's keep it simple here - they rocked. But the peanut butter, jam and bacon are f*cking outstanding. Peanut butter works so well with the beef (and a few places have noticed this and are serving it up - e.g. the Steak Louisiana at Haché), but where this might leave other burgers dry, here the jam keeps everything moist. The bacon adds extra meatiness and the whole package is burger euphoria. This is the kind of burger I want to eat every day. Pinkman - you're an absolute winner. Yeah bitch!

Rating: 

Meat 3/3

Bun 2/2

Fillings 2/2

Package 2/2

Extra point? Yes - peanut butter, jam and bacon in a burger is a masterstroke! I'm addicted after one hit.

Overall 10/10

GBK - The Taxidriver

The Taxidriver - American cheese, onion ring, Cajun relish, smoked chilli mayo, dill pickle, salad, brioche bun £9.75

Burger type: Pub/Gourmet/Inbetween/Dirty

I had fairly high hopes for the Taxidriver - it's a burger I've had prior to the blog being up and running and I remember thinking it was one of GBK's best. Almost distracted by the Smokin' Joe on the new winter menu, I stuck with the intention of scoffing down the Taxidriver. It's GBK's full on American style burger and probably the dirtiest they do (which in the grand scheme of burgers is still pretty gourmet). The flavours work well and although I've become a bit bored of the brioche bun these days finding it to be too sweet too often, it completely works for this burger. It soaks up the juices from the patty, the onion ring and the american cheese and nearly holds it all together. The onion ring is the star of the show here, adding a tasty crunch to the burger, and the fillings all work well with each other. There's a couple of problems: the onion ring and the tomato slice make the burger stand tall and it's not easy to eat without falling apart. Secondly, and again due to the volume of fillings, the meat gets a little lost in it all. Like an English villager rocking up in NYC for the first time, there is so much else going on that it gets overwhelmed and retreats deep in the middle of the burger. And let's be honest - the fillings should always play second fiddle to the meat. I couldn't help but feel a little disappointed with my visit to GBK this time. The Blue Cheese Slaw with chopped jalapenos from the new menu was tasty but I'd hoped for something mind-blowing. Their Rosemary fries (skinny fries with clumps of rosemary salt on top) are knocked out of the park by those served at Honest Burgers. Perhaps I've just been lured by the younger, sexier burger joints in town and GBK has become a little same old. I certainly don't agree with the generic GBK bashing that some people give - their burgers are reliable, the meat is tasty, fillings are good quality and their student/NHS discount and phone app bring the slightly inflated prices back into order. It's just lacking a wow factor, a little like this burger.

Rating: 

Meat 2/3

Bun 2/2

Fillings 2/2

Package 1/2

Extra point? No

Overall 7/10

London Food Fight - Burger v Burger at Borough Market

'Exclusive...One-night-only.....The best of London's burger flippers.....' the website said. It also said 'Sold Out'.....Sh*t. How could this happen? Why had I not heard about this event prior to the day before? Just how much time do you need to devote to Twitter these days to find out about London events before they sell out?

No matter the answers to these questions, I had to find a way in. Perhaps there would be tickets on the door?.....Nope, that would be too easy. Fortunately my colleague (Ms Dim Sum Sums - check out her awesomely thorough blog of all things Dim Sum here) had already clicked through to buy a ticket and managed to complete the purchase. Win. A small one anyway. We duly headed down early on the evening of the event whilst thinking over a way of me sampling at least some of the burgers (or she would be stuck eating all 12 alone). After receiving her wristband, plate and burger ticket:

she set off inside. Five minutes later she reappeared with 3 fine looking sliders for us to munch in front of a very hungry looking queue. In a scene reminscent of the parents passing their kids burgers through the school gates in a protest against Jamie Oliver's school dinners, I tried a further 2 passed out through the railings. I felt like Oliver Twist. But I'd managed to try 5 of the burgers on offer before I had to leave and Ms Dim Sum Sums managed to squeeze in a further 5 before admitting defeat. In the style of the sliders we had, here's a mini review of what we thought of each one we tried:

Elliot's Cafe - very, very aged patty, linseed bun, dill butter, ogleshield, comté, beeffat onions, pickle, ketchup, mayonnaise w/ too much mustard, vinegar, salt & sugar

Thoughts:

Neither of us managed to try this one.

Mother Flipper - Special Sauce Bacon Cheeseburger - shoestring fries, thick cut american cheese, special sauce, candy bacon

Also on offer:
Mother Flipper Cheeseburger - ketchup, mustard, diced onion, homemade pickles
The Mushroom Blue - colston bassett pattie melt, purple basil, red onion jam, pecan praline, sauteed mushrooms, aioli

Thoughts:

Bert - pretty tasty, but the sauce reminded me of McDonald's Big Tasty sauce and it was just too rich. The meat was cooked well but the sauce overpowered it.

Ms Dim Sum Sums - a glorified Big Mac. Wouldn't have it again.

Patty & Bun - The Mr Miyagi - brioche, spicy korean ketchup, aged beef patty, smoked cheese, confit old spot pig, dashi mayo & roasted jalapenos

Thoughts:

Ms Dim Sum Sums - would be perfect had the beef been rarer. Confit pig was really good and a lot of complex flavours going on in this burger that seem to pull together well.

The Thomas Cubitt - rare breed beef, guinness, ketchup, green peppercorn mayo

Thoughts:

Bert - there wasn't anything wrong with this burger, but there equally wasn't anything amazing or memorable. It was pub standard in my book.

Ms Dim Sum Sums - well cooked beef but nothing special.

Grillshack - ?pulled pork, beef patty, brioche bun, radish (they didn't have a sign!)

Thoughts:

Ms Dim Sum Sums - Nicely cooked. Really good. Bronze medal for this one from me.

Honest Burgers - Honest Slider - aged ginger pig patty, smoked bacon, mature cheddar, red onion relish, homemade pickles

Thoughts:

Ms Dim Sum Sums - Really nice beef; shame the bacon was burnt. Slice of gherkin hit the spot.

Bleecker St. Burger - ?beef patty, american cheese, raw onion, sauce

Thoughts:

Ms Dim Sum Sums - Another Big Mac, only really salty. Raw onion really packed a punch. Discarded half of it as this wasn't for me.

Red Dog Saloon - aged chuck steak, hickory smoked pork shoulder, kansas city sauce

Thoughts:

Bert - not bad at all. Red Dog Saloon have redeemed themselves somewhat from when I tried the Devastator burger - this time the pulled pork was warm and it worked. It's still not amongst the fillings I would choose but this slider tasted good. Meaty and dirty.

Ms Dim Sum Sums - Pulled pork had a good sweetness, beef nicely cooked, sauce was tasty. Bun looked squished but was actually surprisingly springy.

Brigade - ?beef patty, pulled oxtail, lettuce, red onion, tomato

Thoughts:
Ms Dim Sum Sums - Poor burger. Beef was overdone. Too sickly and half discarded again. Brioche bun was too tough.

Opera Tavern - Mini Ibérico Pork and Foie Gras Burger - with manchego, aioli, red onion marmalade & guindilla

Thoughts:

Bert - You can see from the photo that the meat was overcooked. The ingredients sound really promising, but this was a huge let-down. The worst of the 5 I tried. All the other burger vendors either offered a proper slider or a half/quarter of a full size burger. For Opera Tavern to make a slider and then cut it in half is a trifle stingy.

Ms Dim Sum Sums - Worst burger of the night. Also the smallest burger of the night. Meat didn't taste of anything.

Village East - Longhorn Beef & Bone Marrow Burger - truffled liver parfait, smoked cheddar, tomato relish, onion marmalade, mayo, gherkin

Thoughts:

Neither of us managed to try this one - sounds and looks good though.

Wenlock & Essex - The Trio Burger - ?beef patty, cheese, beetroot, coleslaw

Thoughts:

Bert - The winner of the 5 I tried. The Wenlock & Essex hadn't been on my radar before now but if thier usual offerings are anything like this then I look forward to a visit soon. I agree with Ms Dim Sum Sums that there wasn't a wow factor, and it's certainly not as dirty as a lot of the burgers I love, but it simply tasted damn good.

Ms Dim Sum Sums - Perfectly cooked beef. Acidity of the beetroot worked well with the sweetness of the bun; overall flavours are really well balanced. Pretty much a perfect burger, just lacked the wow factor of Patty & Bun. I wish I hadn't shared this one with Bert.



Final thoughts:

Bert - Not getting a ticket to this event was a disaster. But still managing to try 5 burgers (albeit in a somewhat shabby, begging manner) was great. The event looked brilliant from the outside, and despite the £36 ticket price initially seeming steep you certainly got a lot of burger for your money. My stomach is somewhat relieved I didn't get a ticket and try all 12 burgers; from what I saw this easily amounted to a good 4 normal sized burgers. Plus a beer. Here's hoping there will be another like this in the future. My burger ranking was: Wenlock & Essex, Red Dog Saloon, Mother Flipper, The Thomas Cubitt, and lastly Opera Tavern. A few places weren't on my radar before, and if they were big enough to compete here then they're big enough for a visit for a full size burger in the future. Mother Flipper won the most votes on the evening - I think they should have only had one burger on offer though. The Mushroom Blue sounds awesome though, perhaps this is what won it for them. I also think that kudos should be given to the vendors that made a proper slider with a mini patty & bun, rather than dishing out portions of full sized burgers.

Ms Dim Sum Sums - Fun night. The band was good. My beer tasted like burger, but I don't blame the brewer! I voted for Patty & Bun to win because they wowed me with their complex flavours (despite their slightly overcooked patty the uniqueness of the burger won me over), but the Wenlock & Essex came a close second with a near perfect burger.

Thanks to Carl Henderson for a few pictures which we didn't manage to get ourselves.

Lord Nelson - The Mandela Burger

The Mandela Burger - 7oz Springbok Burger (Gamston Farm @ Boro' Mkt) topped w/ Boerewors Sausage, Fried Onions, Hot & Spicy South African Chutney + Chips, Coleslaw, Salad £11

Burger type: Pub/Gourmet/Inbetween/Dirty

'The Best Burgers in London' the sign outside the Lord Nelson pub in Southwark boldy proclaims. Perhaps a bit of a stretch that one, but if it said 'Biggest Burger Menu of London Pubs' I'd be surprised if it wasn't true - I counted around 25 burger options on my visit. I haven't been reviewing pub burgers on here so far (but may appear eventually) as this would open the floodgates to a whole load of posts, and I suspect a lot of mediocre burgers. However, the reason for this trip had been to try their well publicised and perhaps slightly controversial Horse Burger (meat sourced from Gamston Farm at Borough Market); alas Black Beauty was not available so I opted for the Mandela which is built around a Springbok burger (also sourced from Gamston Farm). The burger is well thought out - the Boerewors sausage adds a smoky meatiness and the chutney adds tang and moisture. It's served lid off to show off the fillings and it looks quite good (at least to the carniverous). I liked the flavour of the Springbok burger - there's no doubting the quality of the meat, but it was overcooked and therefore dry. Whilst the sausage and the chutney helped to make up for this, the bun was reasonable but again a bit too dry. A lighter and moister bun would help here. The sides make up in quantity what they lack a little in quality - I approve of the skin-on rustic chips but they were hit-and-miss; as a fellow burger fan pointed out whilst happily munching on his Elvis Burger (beef and peanut butter), it's a definite plus that they come with the burger and you don't have to muck around ordering extras just to fill the plate (and your stomach). It was a decent enough burger and the score perhaps seems a little low, but if the meat was cooked medium rare and the bun was improved this could be a 7 or 8 / 10 burger. For a small, and predominantly student pub (you can get a pint of drinkable lager for the very non-London price of £2.50 on production of a student card), the Lord Nelson is serving up a lot of innovative pub quality burgers and should be commended for that. If you fancy trying an exotic game or a Horse Burger then gallop down Southwark way.

Rating: 

Meat 1/3

Bun 1/2

Fillings 2/2

Package 1/2

Extra point? No

Overall 5/10

Duke's Brew & Que - Duke's Burger

Duke's Burger - 100% ground Beef burger (medium rare) with pickles, lettuce, tomato, red onion, KC BBQ sauce, mayo, mustard with Duke’s Fries on the side £12.95 (Jack cheese and bacon added for £2 extra)

Gourmet/Dirty: Inbetween

This bbq pit and previous brewhouse of Beavertown Brewery (they've since moved to a larger brewery space) is just off the Kingsland Road near Haggerston station. In a toss up between the much-lauded ribs and the burger, I thought of you, reader, and opted for the latter. I added Monterey Jack cheese and bacon to the fillings that come as standard in the burger which is served with slaw and fries. I've heard that the guys here put a lot of work into perfecting the patty and that work has paid off - the result is great tasting meat cooked well. The bun tastes and looks good but is just a little on the fragile side to score top marks and led to a bit of spillage. The fillings and the overall taste were very good, if a little heavy on the mustard which might not be for more sensitive palates. I think the addition of bacon and Jack cheese was worth it, but nudging 15 smackers it makes for a pricey burger. Duke's is a great place and the Beavertown beers are top notch (Apricot Pale Ale and Gamma Ray are both highly quaffable); you won't be disappointed if you opt for the Duke's Burger over the ribs, but just make sure you book in advance or get there early to nab a table outside (there are heaters!) otherwise you'll experience more queue than que....

Rating: 

Meat 3/3

Bun 1/2

Fillings 2/2

Package 1/2

Extra point? No

Overall 7/10