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

MEATliquor - Dead Hippie

Dead Hippie - 2X mustard fried beef patties, dead hippie sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, minced white onions £7.50

Gourmet/Dirty: Filthy!

MEATliquor - you either love it or hate it. Judging by the fact there are still queues mid-week a lot of people love it. They've come a long way since the days of MEATwagon and now have three fixed outlets. Still serving up the same unashamedly greasy american-style fast food, they were the originial King of London burgers when they threw open their doors in 2011. Since then there have been a whole host of new pretenders to the throne popping up across London. So how does one of their most popular burgers - the Dead Hippie - stack up? Well, pretty damn well. The meat is absolutely awesome. Perfectly seasoned, perfectly cooked and with 2 patties it's what this burger is all about. The bun is squidgy - not too moist, not too dry, not too sweet - just spot on. The fillings all add to the meat and the cheese doesn't overpower it as it can in other cases. Dead Hippie sauce - whatever it is - rounds off the taste and it is class A addictive. Sure, if you don't like your burger greasy then you might prefer something like this. If you do but you don't fancy queueing you can hit MEATmarket for a quickie, or book a table at MEATmission. The Dead Hippie is everything an American style burger should be. If only it was bigger...

Rating: 

Meat 3/3

Bun 2/2

Fillings 2/2

Package 2/2

Extra point? Yes! Dead Hippie sauce is awesome and £7.50 is cheaper than a lot of other burgers out there.

Overall 10/10

Haché - Steak Bavarian

Steak Bavarian - Roquette, beef tomato, sliced sweet sweet red onion, Haché mayo, topped with smoked Bavarian cheese and caramelised onions. £9.95

Gourmet/Dirty: Gourmet

This was my first visit to Haché burgers and I was impressed! I chose the Steak Bavarian - a really good burger if you like smoked cheese. The meat itself was awesome (one of the best tasting patties I've had) and the other fillings worked well together. I like the fact you can choose either a ciabatta or a brioche bun for any burger. The bun was good, although by the end with the caramelised onions did get sickly. On the whole though this is a top burger. Haché could improve their sides - the coleslaw and wedges I had were fine but pub standard - GBK and Byron are ahead of them for this. The menu selection is huge and there are a lot of flavours going on. I'll be back to try the Steak Canadian (sweet cure bacon and cheddar cheese) as I have a feeling that with the quality of the meat here this could be an even better burger than the Bavarian. It's definitely worth checking out one of Haché's four branches. Oh and you get smarties with your bill.

Rating: 

Meat 3/3

Bun 1/2

Fillings 2/2

Package 1/2

Extra point? No

Overall 7/10

GBK - The Don

The Don - Bacon aioli, blue cheese, American cheese, onion jam, rocket, mustard mayo, brioche bun. £9.95

Gourmet/Dirty: Gourmet

'Another GBK burger already?' I hear you say. Well as I've mentioned before the GBK app gives rewards and this burger was free. So I couldn't resist heading in for a quick burger fix. The rating will be based on the full price though. I enjoyed this burger - the meat, as ever, was good quality and cooked well. Anyone who likes blue cheese on their burgers/steaks will enjoy this as the flavour is spot on. The rest of the ingredients work well for the overall flavour of the burger. All is going well for The Don; BUT I think the bun, which was a little charred in my case, lets it down somewhat (and I'm usually a champion of the brioche bun). For this burger I think a soft floury bun of the type that Byron use would work better. The brioche bun is too sweet, becoming sickly by the end, and doesn't work with the sharpness of the blue cheese. Nearly a great burger - close but no cigar.

Rating: 

Meat 2/3

Bun 1/2

Fillings 2/2

Package 1/2

Extra point? No

Overall 6/10

Byron - Byron

Byron - Dry cure bacon, mature Cheddar, lettuce, tomato, red onion and Byron sauce. £9.25

Gourmet/Dirty: Gourmet

National Burger Day burger #2. Byron's signature burger doesn't disappoint. Meat cooked medium and smothered in cheese. Good quality bacon and salad and the Byron sauce completes the fillings and adds to the taste. Fantastic bun that is well rounded, just the right squishiness and holds the juices without being too sweet. I also like that they give you a gherkin wedge on the side (with all their burgers). Lacks a wow factor, but a solid performer with all aspects thought out and executed well. All other burgers should be compared to this.

Rating: 

Meat 2/3

Bun 2/2

Fillings 2/2

Package 2/2

Extra point? No

Overall 8/10

GBK - The Capital

The Capital – American cheese, crispy shallots, tomato, pickled onion, shredded iceberg, secret sauce. £7.95

Gourmet/Dirty: Gourmet

National Burger Day burger #1. I don't think the burger looks particularly good - certainly not in the photo. Lettuce is streaming out, and the bun looks dry and isn't nicely rounded - appears homemade and amateurish. On the plus side the meat was cooked medium as requested, and GBK meat is pretty good in general. I can't help but think this is a poor man's Taxidriver (a better burger with upgraded ingredients - will review soon). Tastes ok but would be improved with a better bun. Nothing special and definitely not the best burger GBK do. Kudos though to GBK for their help-youself monkey nuts and water, regular offers and app that gives a surprising amount of free food. I also like their order-at-the-counter system as you don't have to wait for table service or feel compelled to tip. GBK won me back with these touches and I'll be back to give their other burgers a chance to shine.

Rating: 

Meat 2/3

Bun 0/2

Fillings 1/2

Package 1/2

Extra point? No

Overall 4/10

Red Dog Saloon - The Devastator

The Devastator – 3 x 6oz patties, 200g pulled pork, 6 rashers applewood smoked bacon & 6 slices American cheese + lettuce, onions and pickles £22.75. Sandwiched by coleslaw and french fries.

Gourmet/Dirty: Inbetween

A fair monster of a burger – but not as big as I imagined given the hype and price. That said I was relatively impressed. Given that it’s a little gimmicky, the meat was good. Cooked medium (as proper burgers should be) and nice flavour, and there’s enough to satisy most people. Bacon added a smoky flavour but cheese is slightly over-powering. This one had to be a knife and fork job, and given the contents I won’t mark it down for being so. The pulled pork was tasty but cold and I don’t think it added anything to the burger except volume. Burgers are great and pulled pork baps are great but let’s keep them separate. Chips and coleslaw were average. Despite the great patties the rating takes a hit from the price – I could accept up to £20 because of the copious meat but given that chips aren’t included £22.75 seems a little steep. They should throw in chips as it would save a few quid but cost Red Dog very little.

Rating: 

Meat 2/3

Bun 1/2

Fillings 0/2

Package 1/2

Extra point? No

Overall 4/10

Five Guys - Bacon Cheese Burger

Bacon Cheese Burger – All the way (Mayo, Lettuce, Pickles, Tomatoes, Grilled Onions, Grilled Mushrooms, Ketchup, Mustard). £8.75. Five Guys style fries and Coca Cola Freestyle drink in the back.

Gourmet/Dirty: Dirty

A decent burger. Greasy but not overly soggy. A fast food burger of the type you crave occasionally. The foil wrapping keeps the heat in so thumbs up. Messy, grease satisfying but without any of the anticipated indigestion after – it actually went down well. Meat is of a decent quality but perhaps overcome by the other ingredients – not too surprising given their number. Chips are salty and soggy in keeping with the unhealthy vibe. Again, if you’re in the mood they’ll go down ok. They’ve also got a Coca Cola Freestyle machine – 100+ drinks combos. If you’re in the area and you need a quick grease hit Five Guys is worth a stop.

Rating: 

Meat 1/3

Bun 1/2

Fillings 1/2

Package 1/2

Extra point? No

Overall 4/10

Byron - Big B

Big B – Two 3oz hamburgers, double cheese slice, onion, shredded iceberg, pickles, burger sauce, potato bun. £9.50. Courgette fries and coleslaw in the back.

Gourmet/Dirty: Gourmet

Great taste from the burger sauce but the burger is too fragile. Potato bun has a nice taste but perhaps a brioche bun would hold it together more. The two 3oz patties are good enough without being meat heaven. All in all nice tasting but I wasn’t blown away by it and it’s not robust enough to stop its insides falling out.

Rating: 

Meat 1/3

Bun 1/2

Fillings 1/2

Package 0/2

Extra point? No

Overall 3/10