Burger Craft - Bacon BACON Bacon

Bacon BACON Bacon - beef burger, sandridge streaky bacon, crispy bacon dust, american cheese, homemade bacon jam £9.50 served with pickled baby vegetables and either hand-cut fries or mini hash browns

Burger type: Pub/Gourmet/Inbetween/Dirty

Burger Craft....hardly an inspired choice of name. But we'll forgive them this one if their burgers are up to scratch. As seems fashionable at the moment this is a mini burger chain taking residence in three pubs across London. I visited The Great Eastern pub on the Isle of Dogs and opted for the Bacon BACON Bacon burger with its triple hit of bacon in various guises. Rocking up on a pretty horrible and too big for the portion size plate was a very sticky looking burger alongside some homemade and perfectly passable chips, and pickled veg that was ok but needs work on its presentation. The burger was........overcooked! Unforgiveable. The lack of a flavoursome pink patty drops marks. The bacon fillings were good however, and each added a lot of flavour. American cheese is the right choice for this type of burger and the brioche bun did a fair job of holding everything together. It's heavy on the glazing though and squishes like a sponge so there is room for improvement here. For a pub, this is a decent enough burger and credit is due for the ideas behind the burgers here. They are definitely on the right track, but they need a little polishing to get up amongst the Byrons out there. And they need to take the patty off the heat quicker. 

Rating: 

Meat 1/3

Bun 1/2

Fillings 2/2

Package 2/2

Extra point? No

Overall 6/10

Honest Burgers - BrewBurger

BrewBurger - beef patty, Comte cheese, 5AM Saint candied bacon, Punk IPA & beef dripping onions, Paradox BBQ sauce & pickles £11.50 including rosemary chips (£15 together with a bottle of specially brewed Bourbon Baby)

Burger type: Pub/Gourmet/Inbetween/Dirty

Honest Burgers latest monthly special is in collaboration with Brewdog....well, that's one way to grab my interest. A main player in the London burger scene (restaurant no. 6 coming up soon!) together with one of the biggest names in craft beer. Hopes were set to 'high'. Brewdog have brewed a beer that they think matches the burger perfectly, called Bourbon Baby - a baby Scotch ale aged in bourbon barrels. Try it here as it's now run out at Honest Burgers, sorry folks. This comes as a deal with the burger, which is otherwise £11.50 (including damn-fine rosemary salted chips, as ever at Honest). The burger itself has been on a mini binge whilst in the kitchen, knocking back 5AM Saint into its bacon, Punk IPA into its onions, and Paradox into its BBQ Sauce. The cheeky devil. Fortunately you're top of the food chain, my friend, and you get to devour the whole shebang. So what does all this beer add to the burger? You and I both know by now that I don't need to increase wordcount talking about the patty. It's Honest Burger, and it's ruddy good. Their pickles are crisp, fresh and tangy, and a great additon to any burger. The Brewdog soaked trio of bacon, onions and BBQ sauce add a depth of flavour at a level I've not tasted many times before in a burger. Like the accompanying beer, this is deep, dark and complex. So eyes elsewhere lager boys. At face value, its a bacon and cheese burger with onions and pickles. But the beer additions make it much more than this. There's just one issue. For all its complexity, I'd probably rather those beers were slipping down my neck rather than sloshing about in the kitchen. Just.

Rating: 

Meat 2.5/3

Bun 2/2

Fillings 2/2

Package 2/2

Extra point? No

Overall 8.5/10

GBK - Camemburger

Camemburger - Camembert, hash brown, truffle mayo, onion jam, relish, brioche bun £9.75

Burger type: Pub/Gourmet/Inbetween/Dirty

Camembert eh? Definitely goes with chicken. But beef? Blue cheese is the pairing for beef, right? Right. But actually Camembert works. And better than expected. There's a really nice taste to this burger. Onion jam obviously buddies up with the Camembert perfectly, and the hash brown and truffle mayo add further depth of flavour. In fact it all goes together rather too well, and blends into a big mush of a burger. You see, that's the problem. All of the ingredients have the same soft texture. There's nothing to add crunch. And that soft, sweet brioche bun might have been the obvious choice to go with the flavours, but it doesn't help this issue. Sure, it's not the kind of burger you'd want to start sticking salad in, but a nice fat crispy onion ring could have added much needed crispiness whilst complementing the other flavours. A good burger then, but too soft to compete with the big boys.

Rating: 

Meat 2/3

Bun 1/2

Fillings 1/2

Package 2/2

Extra point? No

Overall 6/10