'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:
Thoughts:
Neither of us managed to try this one.
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.
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment