Hamburger Review: Sophie's Steakhouse London

Sophie's Steakhouse Angus Burger

OK, first of all, "I love Sophie's Steakhouse". Especially their Fulham Road outlet. They do good steaks, have a good atmosphere and I can not complain about anything,... anything but their burgers (well also their meat quality isn't as good as Goucho, but thats another story).
Most of the time I complain about restaurants which are trying to make a burger into more than it is or should be (fancy bread and cheese, garnishing etc). But this time it is a bit too basic. The bun was left under the salamander for a few minutes too long, and was almost brittle (will I ever use this word again?). Yummy bacon though.

'The meat patty':... OK, they are a steakhouse, hence they have good meat. I assume that if a burger order comes in, the chef grabs a steak and throws it into the grinder, forms a patty and onto the grill with it. A steak is not a burger, although both need to rest before preparation, there are different cooking processes taking place on the inside. Which is why a perfect burger consists of different types of meat, that have different properties. Fat content, muscle tissue, and water content need to be finely tuned to make a good burger patty. Lastly, like so many burgers there was a geometrical failure... the patty is too small. (maybe that's something only McDonalds can get right, because they "design" all their food)
Angus Steak yes - Angus burger NO!

Rating: 3 out of 6

So I had to try their Hamburger as well. Just to make sure they are rated properly. The first thing to be noticed, the regular, cheaper burger has a better bread than the more expensive Angus burger; AND it comes with a leaf of lettuce. I like the garnish on the side.

The bread is very well caramelized, preventing it to  sucking up the moisture from the patty and making it soggy. Even without the lettuce as a moisture barrier the bread remains its texture (I begin to wonder if they have another chef working on the cheap burgers; who knows more than the head-chef doing the lux version).

And the patty itself, ...nice. Grilled flavors, moist on the inside. Juicy? Yes, but again a "geometrical failure". I ended up with too much bread.

Rating: 4 out of 6

Hamburger Review: Corgi's Deli Chelsea London

Corgi's Deli on 367 Fulham Road in Chelsea

Went here with my friend Samar, after looking for something to eat and a place that allowed dogs (had my puppies with me) on Fulham Road. So I have to get them some plus points for allowing dogs, but it didn't help much with my burger rating.

The first thing to notice is the bread. Sorry chef, this isn't it. Just looking at the picture again my mouth feels dry and full of flour. ...but lets have a look at the patty first. Fair enough, it was home made, formed from fresh minced meat and it tasted grilled and juicy, good job there. If only the bun wasn't 40% larger than the meat patty, and resulted in an overabundance of carbs on my plate after I finished the burger.  Tristan would say: "So bad,.... Sooooo baaad".

Although the toppings were all fresh, cucumber on the side, and it was served on a porcelain plate... this burger did not blow me away. The composition on the plate and that of the burger itself was not very aesthetic (see picture). As for the taste; the meat was good, the type of bun and its size need to be changed, and the plate would look much nicer if you had the fries on it and not in a separate bowl on the side.

Rating: 3 out of 6

Heston Blumenthal's 'Perfect burger' attempted by Larissa Röhmig

So here is a first one... A homemade burger review.


My friend Larissa had a go at her own burger. The inspiration was the Big Burger episode of "the fat duck" chef Heston Blumenthal's show "In Search of Perfection".
In the show Blumenthal makes the whole burger from scratch. Hold on, okay he made the bun from scratch, all other ingredients were just chosen very specifically.


This burger was made with conventional buns from the supermarket, which were totally acceptable (although I still wonder what they would have tasted like). The patties were however made according to the recipe and consisted of 625g beef chuck, 25g salt, 1.2kg short-rib meat, minimum 30-day dry-aged, as well as 625g beef brisket. Minced and mixed by the helpful butcher at the Selfridges food-court in Oxford street. 


The meat was first wrapped in cling film and chilled, then cut into two finger thick patties and pan fried in very little oil. Afterwards they were covered with cheese and grilled in oven until the cheese was molten. In the meantime the patties were caramelized in the remaining fat, until golden brown. Add lettuce, a slice of tomato and a blanched onion (very very good, I never had this, but it makes a huge difference), et voilà,.. a lovely burger. 
As a side dish we had potato wedges that were prepared in the style of Jamie Oliver (zest of lemon added to a herb mix). Very tasty.
As you might know, I like my smokey chary grilled flavor, which this burger didn't have. But neither did Heston Blumenthal's. So I really wonder why he prefers to make it in a pan. But I have to admit it was delicious. Mainly because of the fresh ingredients, the quality of the meat and the good company. :-)


Rating: 5 out of 6

Hamburger review: The Grand Union Bar London

The Grand Union Bar in Camden

The Grand Union Bar is a chain of eight bars/pubs throughout London. They have a menu of 18 different gourmet burgers, as well as a couple of vegetarian and bread-less alternatives for ... the strange people.

My order consisted of a cheese and bacon burger, with chunky chips (which are the best in London according to Time Out magazine) and a portion of onion rings.

When the burger arrived it looked very good, although it's architecture was a bit uninviting due to its height. The bun was a sesame bun that had a sort of glazing on top. I should ask a baker what this glazing is, as most buns do not have it (probably egg-yolk and water just saw a recipe on the A bountiful kitchen blog). The size of the bun was small on first sight but turned out to be ideally proportioned to the size of the patty. The ingredients of the burger were very fresh. The lettuce and the tomato looked as crisp, as if they had just been picked from a field down the street.

The meat patty on the other hand had a strange smell to it, which I found a bit chemical. This can however be due to the cheese or my malfunctioning nose due to party favors I had the night before. As you can see in the picture, the meat has a very dark almost black look to it. I am sure that it hadn't been the worst meat quality I have ever had, but this chemical flavor somehow turned me off. On the upside, the burger had been grilled and not fried. Although probably on a gas or electric grill, as it didn't have any charcoal flavor.

The side dishes were both very good. Understandably the chips are award-winning, as the are made from a special potato (Fresh Maris Piper potatoes cooked in salted water, fried once only). But even more surprising were the onion rings. They were made from a fresh onion that was fried in a batter, that would normally be found on fried fish.

Rating 5 out of 6

http://www.gugroup.co.uk/bar-grill/ourbars/

Hamburger review: VingtQuatre London

VQ VingtQuatre

VQ is a restaurant on London's Fulham Road. As the name suggests, the restaurant is open for 24 hours. They have a very diversified menu, and are not a specialized burger restaurant.

The burger looks very good, and comes with two patties, two slices of cheese, a strip of bacon, and fresh lettuce, tomato and pickles. The bun is made from the right flour and has sesame on top, it is however a bit too big, which makes the burger too dry and disqualify it as finger food.

The beef patties are not made of the best meat quality, and they are not grilled but fried (in my opinion, although I have to admit that I am not 100% sure, but I couldn't taste any charcoal flavor).

The fries and coleslaw sides were both very good.

Rating 3 out of 6

http://www.vingtquatre.co.uk/vqlocation.htm

Hamburger review: The Bountiful Cow London

The Bountiful Cow at 51 Eagle street central London (close to Holborn tube station),

This place was recommended to us by a friend ...claiming it was the best. Well, it wasn't.

(and Cécile, this time I wasn't alone in my criticism, but five other people had the burger).

First of all lets start with the bun. It was a Ciabata bread which I am not a big fan of, since they are too big most of the time and don't lead to an adequate bread/meat ratio making the whole burger too dry ( although I just learned that people like to adjust this by leaving the top bun, which kinda defeats the purpose of a "finger/fast-food food" -burger, but whatever...do whatever you want, it would just be nice if it was ideally balanced in the first place).

As you can see from the picture, the salad was a bit withered, the cheese wasn't properly melted and the patty... (taking a deep breath).

It, the patty, was very hard, not juicy, nor fluffy (remember to add a table spoon of water to the meat), and just disappointing.

There was something good about it,... like so often the fries were very good.

One thing is for sure though, it is a large burger. Portion sizes are big in this place, but the produce quality just lacks a bit.

Rating 2 out of 6

http://www.thebountifulcow.co.uk/