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

Christmas Burger #3 - Honest Burgers - Christmas Special

Christmas Special - Beef patty, smoked bacon, deep fried panko-crumbed Camembert, cranberry sauce & rocket (with rosemary fries) £11 including rosemary chips

Burger type: Pub/Gourmet/Inbetween/Dirty

Christmas burger round-up part 3. Usually the weak link, right? Wrong. It was the turn of Honest Burgers and I was hoping for something pretty special, save for the usual queue. Fortunately I timed my visit bang inbetween lunch and dinner and got a table straight away (despite now having 5 branches, queueing remains an issue at Honest Burgers, although they do use a text system to let you know when your table is ready - ideal for those of the pre-food pint-in-a-pub persuasion. I can only suggest that they need to open more branches still. Or idiots stop telling everyone how good their burgers are on blogs...). The burger arrived with Camembert oozing over the patty and a nice stash of bacon topped with cranberry. The beef, just like my last visit, was top notch and cooked perfectly. The fillings add a lot of flavour and plenty of moisture to the burger. This is by far the most Christmassy of the three festive burgers, and it tastes awesome. There's no scrimping on the quality of ingredients at Honest Burgers and you can tell. Well done Honest Burgers: a deserving festive addition to the 10/10 burger wall of fame. It's being served until the 5th Jan so be quick!

Rating: 

Meat 3/3

Bun 2/2

Fillings 2/2

Package 2/2

Extra point? Yes - this is Christmas is a bun

Overall 10/10

Honest Burgers - Special

Special - Beef & black pudding, apple tempura, tarragon & caper mayonnaise £10.50 including rosemary chips

Gourmet/Dirty: Gourmet

It's been a little while coming, and I've finally made it to Honest Burgers. Highly rated by a mate of mine, I'd been meaning to get down to the original restaurant in Brixton Village - but I found myself in the Camden area in the mood for a burger so it seemed the right thing to do. I had every intention of trying their signature burger - the Honest Burger - but, at the risk of running before I could walk, I plumped for the special as it sounded too good to miss. Firstly the highs - the meat is awesome. Sourced from Ginger Pig it is cooked to perfection and the black pudding went together perfectly. The brioche bun is top notch with just the right squishiness but strong enough to hold the burger together. All the burgers here come with chips making them better value than a lot of burger joints - others should take note. Their rosemary salting is top as well. They packed so much flavour I didn't touch any sauces - a rarity. The apple & beetroot coleslaw is also worth a mention, as is the fact you can have any of the burgers in a gluten-free bap - big brownie points from the wheat-free crowd. There's just the one sticking point - I wasn't sure about the apple tempura. Call me traditional but apple goes with pork. And I didn't think it really worked here, but it far from ruined it. Overall a top burger then, with just the apple keeping it from greatness. Looking forward to getting the signature Honest Burger down the burger hole very soon...

Rating: 

Meat 3/3

Bun 2/2

Fillings 1/2

Package 2/2

Extra point? No

Overall 8/10