The New Club, Brighton

Brighton. A rainy day. The British summer is coming to an end. What better way to raise spirits that to enjoy a cheeseburger by the seaside. 

The New Club was recommended to me by a friend who's regularly in Brighton and after chatting to their enthusiastic head chef Tom i realised these guys were passionate about their burger design. 

Honest Burgers Camden, Anglo-American burger league

[@yesiamben] Earlier this week the new Honest in Camden invited us over to share our thoughts on their 'American' burger. This was a rather exciting invite for 3 reasons - firstly, we love Honest. Secondly, we love 'American' style burgers. Thirdly, it'd be our first visit to Honest in Camden. Triple cooked win.

The Troll's Pantry, Brighton

[@yesiamben] I've been to Troll's Pantry twice this year. Once again I lazily ate and didn't bother to write it up. Sorry CBB(!). Anyway, after going for a second time a few weeks back I thought I should actually sit down and make some notes et voila.

The Princess, Primrose Hill

Found on an avenue that cuts through the ever upmarket Primrose Hill, The Princess is a Victorian boozer that's recently been renovated into a multi-level gastro pub. It comprises a spacious main bar, a garden full of Banksy art, a posh upstairs dining room a handful of cosy downstairs hangouts with tables and chairs. 

Turner & Roast, Brick Lane

[@yesiamben] You can find Turner & Roast in Ely's Yard in The Old Truman Brewery on Brick Lane. Having just checked out the Crepe City sneaker event and having heard their 'Meat Porn' sauce was pretty good, I figured I'd pick up a cheeseburger.

Disco Bistro N1C popup at Skate KingsCross

[@yesiamben] The previous Disco Bistro popup at Rising Sun in EC4 served a wonderful burger (not pictured). It really was. The £10 'Disco Burger' was a Devon Ruby burger with bacon and cheese, served with fries, in a basket. The fries are much the same as they are at Disco Bistro N1C - thin, crispy and wonderful. The burger was, well - amazing. The patty was 30% fat and (from looking at my dreadfully scrawled notes) a mixture of rib, sirloin and bone marrow, cooked over charcoal. And boy was it good. Just pink enough, juicy and ever so beefy. On the bottom of the bun was some lettuce and ketchup, on the top of the patty some pickled red onions similar to those at N1C. But then there was bacon (which was pretty good), and for me, the icing on the cake - a gloopy rarebit style cheese mix consisting of beef fat, dark ale, Worcester sauce and some different cheeses. 

Tommi's Burger Joint, Marylebone

[@yesiamben] Great exports from Iceland: Bjork. Sigur Ros. World's strongest man Magnas Ver Magnasson. And probably some other stuff. To be honest, apart from some friends and family who've recently been to see the Northern Lights, a friend who went over to Reykjavi­k to (relatively unsuccessfully) hook up with a girl, and a guy I used to know who recently released an album there, I know very little about Iceland. But what I do know is we can probably add Tommi's Burger Joint to the 'great exports' list.

Street Kitchen's Buffalo Bill, Hampton Court Foodie Festival

This marvelous looking thing was produced by a burger van. Ok, a supercool highly polished Airstream burger van trailer at Hampton Court Foodie Festival, but even so, it seems things have moved on a long long way from the filthy burger van burgers of yesteryear.

I'd heard nothing but good things about Street Kitchen so was very excited to see them grafting away in the sunshine amongst the throng of other foodie offerings here.

Psychic Burger, Stoke Newington

Is it Dalston? Is it Stoke Newington? Is it both? Whatever, it's full of people dressed as French mime artists and Victorian chimney sweeps all sporting pointy mustaches. Even the girls. Ok only some of the girls, but you get the idea, it's a lot of fun here. 

Psychic Burger (from the crew behind Rita's Bar) is located in a bar/club called Birthdays. DJs are spinning tunes, folks are drinking cocktails at the bar and lucky people are tucking into the last of the soft shell crab burgers at tables in and outside. 

Shake Shack, Covent Garden

Stop the press! - Shake Shack of New York City have opened for business in the heart of the West End. Their fancy-pants new Covent Garden location is ideal for hungry theatre goers, tourists and passers by as its right in the middle of the Piazza. I went along to the day-before-it-opened sneakpeek to see how the UK Shack fared against my stateside experience of NYC's most beloved burger establishment.

Bill's, Westfield, White City

Bill's first restaurant opened in Lewes just outside Brighton. The second one opened inside Brighton and was the first experience i had of Bill's, for an excellent breakfast some years ago. All of a sudden Bill's seems to be taking over London in a Byron-esque fashion, which hopefully is a good thing. 

Ginger Pig Cafe, Hoxton

The Ginger Pig Cafe in Hoxton was reviewed recently by Burgerac who loved the place. I went along with some pals last night and enjoyed it too. Surprisingly, this cafe has absolutely no affiliation with the Ginger Pig butchers. Their meat comes from a chap on the Essex road, and very decent it is too.  

Elliot's lunchtime-only cheeseburger, Borough Market

It was Daniel Young who first brought Elliot's Cafe to my attention when out of nowhere they jumped straight into his top three London burgers a little while back. Its taken me a year or so to try one due to their ball punchingly annoying unusual policy of only serving their burger at lunchtimes from Monday to Friday. 
Luckily i got to try their burger entry for London Burger Bash and it was seriously impressive. Understanding our plight, Elliot's very kindly hooked us up with a Saturday lunchtime burger under the proviso that we keep it absolutely top secret. So please don't tell anybody, or nag them to sell you burgers at the weekend. Actually no, perhaps you should nag them to sell burgers at the weekend, tell them its for the good of humanity or something.

Naughty Nuri's, Ubud, Bali.

Naughty Nuri's is something of a local legend here in Ubud, a small town in central Bali that claims its the cultural capital.  The venue is a roadside diner type wooden shack with around 4 largish tables inside and 3 out front. People are seated Wagamama-style at these shared tables enjoying the smell of cooking bbq sauce wafting through the air all the while. At Nuri's they stray from the traditional Balinese menu and offer up super tasty BBQ and burgers as well as some excellent cocktails. Celeb chef Anthony Bourdain claims the martini's at this little Balinese shack are the best outside of New York City.

The NEW AdCod cheeseburger, Chelsea

 

The Admiral Codrington has for some time been known for serving one of, if not the best burger in London, thanks mainly to the passionate ex-head chef, Fred. 

Since Fred has left and joined the Byron burger boys there's been much web rumour about the AdCod burger quality going downhill. After some twitter debate about this with @JamesBreakage we were both invited to see what we thought of the new AdCod burger, so in the fine name of burger research i ran straight there went along first, and James checked it out shortly after. 

Solita, Manchester

Dave BigMac reveals the burger secrets of the north

Solita, or South of Little Italy as I'm sure no one will ever call it, can be found in Manchester, England's Northern Quarter, on Turner St. The following is a recounting of the authors first and only visit so far, written from memory as the review while welcome, was also unplanned.

Bukowski Grill, Shoreditch

@yesiamben on the smallest burger spot in Shoreditch.
I went to Bukowski Grill in Boxpark towards the end of last year and promised CBB I'd write a review for the blog. I didn't. I figured I'd write one this week so decided it'd be as good an excuse as any to meet and a friend and head there for another burger. After all it's only just down the road. So here you go.

Burger & Lobster, Soho

@yesiamben experiences B&L...

Last week I headed down to Soho to finally try Burger & Lobster. I say finally because every time I talk to someone about burgers (who isn't a burger glutton) they say "so have you tried Burger & Lobster." Irritatingly I have to say 'no' every time, at which point the conversation ends. To be clear, I don't think it's because they've actually been to Burger & Lobster, but more that they've read something about it, heard something about it from a friend, or seen some celebrity Instagramming pictures from inside. 

Wenlock & Essex, Islington

Highly regarded by some yet has left others underwhelmed, is the Wenlock & Essex burger is a goodun or not? Read on burger fan, read on... 

Directly opposite the Islington branch of The Diner sits this grand old pub. Nicely decorated, well lit and with a huge bar, its a decent spot, and definitely a place i'd happily while away an evening with pals and beers. 

Giant Robot, Clerkenwell

Lookout! its @yesiamben again!

The attention to detail and actual science that's going into this review is, ahem, fairly awful I'm afraid. You see eating here was a total unexpected surprise, and I was somewhat, well, for lack of a better word - drunk. I'd been drinking in Clerkenwell at Craft Beer. If you're in the area (or planning a burger), I definitely recommend that bar. There is a *lot* of good beer on tap. 

Patty & Bun, Soho

@pattyandbunjoe started selling his tasty burgers at the Doodle Bar in Battersea. I never made it over there but people raved about them. Next he moved to the Endurance in Soho, an old fashioned boozer just off Berwick street. This is where I first tried Joe's Ari Gold and Smokey Robinson burgers, in amongst a rowdy crowd of locals and a handful of excited diners sitting in the corner. The burger was great, and the fan base kept growing. Less than 6 months later, the inevitable Patty&Bun restaurant has opened in Soho and I went there last week to check it out. There were at least 50 people waiting outside in the 4 degree January evening air when I got there but fortunately my burger pals had been waiting for 40 mins already and asked for a table for 7, so I didn't have to wait long. A head nod to the friendly staff who gave the queue regular updates and well, hope. 

The Henry Root, Chelsea

 

The Henry Root Letters is a book of amusing letters written by fictional wet fish merchant 'Henry Root' who lived in Chelsea in the 70's. Its a silly book but its beautifully written. I was excited to hear that there was a restaurant named in his honour, and that they sold a burger. I wanted to go immediately. 

Sitting just off the Fulham Road, this cosy little place looks very inviting. Spacious, quirkily decorated yet grown up. We lucked out and got the great circular table in the far left corner.