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: 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: Shoreditch House London

Shoreditch House London

The Shoreditch House is one of many private member clubs in London. So if you aren't a member and manage to eat here, you might want to order something more .... sophisticated. Just to make a statement that you do not belong to the creative bunch of directors, writers, actors, and other artists that make up the average guests.

Although this is once again not a specialized Burger place, I must write about it as it is one of the better burgers, one should have had in one's life. Especially if you are a bit hungover. Trust me you will appreciate it.

This burger is a feast of sinful indulgence. As it comes fresh from the kitchen, sizzling, smelling of grilled meat, molten cheese, and toasted bread. Remember to work of those calories the next day, or preferably the same evening.

The burger consists a freshly ground meat patty which has been flame grilled, resulting in some charring and smokey flavours. The lettuce comes in a single leaf as opposed to the cut up slices other restaurants are putting on their burgers (hello BigMac). Very important: it is underneath the meat where it can act as a moisture barrier to the bottom bun. The homemade bun, although a bit too fancy for a true sin-burger, has the right appeal as it matches the environment. Nothing wrong with it, just because it matches the rustic feeling of the unshaped charred meatloaf, strong cheese, and the fresh greens it is served with.
The side fries are well fried. Golden, yellow-brown, crispy, not fatty, just right. Just like the burger

Overall rating 6 out of 6

www.shoreditchhouse.com

Hamburger Review: Scotch Steak House London

Scotch Steak House London

Maybe i should introduce a negative scale? Because this was once more a burger from the very low end.

Since Scotch Steak House do not have their own website, all I could do was publish the post another blogger has written about them, and which was the number one search result on Google. Read it and you will get an idea about how bad it was.

I don't even want to write about it, the only reason why I went there is that it was around the corner and I was really hungry. So I keep it short. Another burger with a salad mix instead of lettuce (no salad dressing though), the patty tasted surprisingly fresh, but had diced onions in it, and thereby disqualifies as a Hamburger. The fries were not crisp; they were limp hanging potato cuts. This is a point where it isn't even fun to write about burgers anymore. Bad food can really ruin your day.

Rating: 1- out of 6

http://www.planetbods.org

Hamburger Review: Black & Blue London

Black & Blue Steakhouse London

Although Black & Blue is a steakhouse chain, I wanted to give them a try (mostly because the only real burger chain that I had not visited yet was Fine Burger, and they are on the verge of bankruptcy). In retrospect I should have gone there, since Black & Blue was rather disappointing.

The chain must be struggling in the steakhouse market, since Gaucho Grill, who offer the best steaks by far (outstanding products and service), are expanding all over key locations in London.

B&B's menu on their webpage is slightly different from the actual menu I saw at the Notting Hill Gate outlet.

But enough about this,... back to the important things in life. "The Hamburger"

My order consisted of the standard Hamburger (medium rare, bacon, and cheese), the house fries as a side, and the flowery fried onion (their version of the onion ring) for starters.

The Burger was mediocre, and there are a couple of things to criticize. While the salad and tomato topping were fresh, all the other ingredients were lacking quality. First and foremost the meat could not satisfy what I had expected. Though juicy and well cooked, neither the flavor, texture nor the smell could keep up with what specialized burger places offer.

The extra pound spend for the bacon and cheese, was not worth it. Since the bacon looked like it had been fried to charcoal on the outside, while on the inside it was still raw (neither taste was very appealing). The bun was a bit soggy, probably due to the juicy medium rare patty. This could have been minimized if the bun had been properly caramelized beforehand.

The flowery onion is probably the most unhealthy thing I have eaten in a long time. It is made from a large Spanish onion, that is then battered and fried. Due to its size, stay away from it unless you are more then four people.

Overall Black & Blues' Burger is not something I can recommend to eat there. I do not recall the quality of the steaks, but I sure hope they are better than the Burgers, because otherwise this chain is doomed with all the competition that is out there.

Rating: 3 out of 6

http://www.blackandbluerestaurants.com/

Hamburger Review: Haché London

Haché at 24 Inverness street in Camden.

I was really eager to go to this one. Since Haché have won the Time Out award for best burger, and have received great reviews overall it was on the top of my to-visit list and see for myself.

The place was very friendly and welcoming and the menu looked good (probably a bit abuzz for my taste). So I ordered my standard Burger or as they call it "steak au naturel" (medium rare), the chunky fries with chili sauce and onion rings as sides. Since they did not offer any milkshakes, I ordered a Coke.

Let me start with the Burger, because I am not sure if it should be called that. This is exactly what I had expected. Someone who is looking for a burger might find Haché a bit pretentious. It is fancy and extravagant, but to their defense not expensive. Something you will taste with your first bite is that their meat patty is a french steak Haché (if you want the definition look it up on their webpage). Although it was perfectly cooked, I would not call it a Hamburger, but a "french minced meat sandwich". Haché's burgers come in a bread that is too much bread roll and not enough burger bun. In fact it is ciabatta. They use rocket instead of lettuce, and the plates are garnished as you would expect it at a upscale restaurant, and not in a burger joint. Do not get me wrong here, the food was outstanding; but just not a real hamburger.

Now the side-dishes, were actually disappointing. The fries were mushy on the inside and the onion rings had hardly any onions in them, but consisted of pure batter (but they looked delicious).

My overall assessment is,.... well I can not give one, since this is not a burger place. But what they offered was delicious, well prepared and without a doubt tastier than most of the other "real" burger places I have visited. In their defense, I do not think that Haché tried to take a burger and turn it into something better. They simply took something else and called it a burger. Haché is for the french, for women, for anyone that likes style and does not mind pretentiousness, or thinks that this combination of protein, carbs and fibers will be much healthier than others. If you are looking for something new, want to impress a girl without spending over 40 pounds, or just want a "french minced meat sandwich"; Haché is your place. But if you are looking for a Hamburger that is nothing but that, you are better of with GBK. As for the onion rings,... Hamburger Union had better ones (which was about all they had).

Rating: 6 out of 6 (but on the "french minced meat sandwich" scale)

http://www.hacheburgers.com/

Hamburger Review: Byron London

Byron "Proper Hamburgers" at Westfield Shopping mall London

Byron is yet another Hamburger chain that offers gourmet Hamburgers. Their motto is made up of the simple statement: "Proper Hamburgers". And without a doubt they do keep that promise.

Byron uses meat from Aberdeen Angus Cows which are "traceable" and purely grass fed. The patty's are formed from daily fresh grounded rump, chuck, and brisket. The burger is cooked as ordered, but I found it slightly to done for my taste. Although they do not use a sesame bun, their bread is much better then that of other burger places and does not necessarily try to be "extravagant" or anything else. The toppings are lettuce, tomatoes, and onions (bacon can be ordered extra). As someone who does not appreciate

cucumber on a hamburger, I was happy to see that they had placed it on the side.

As a side I had hand-cut french fries with chili sauce. The hand-cut fries were a tad more expensive than the regular fries, which I expected to be general frozen fries. So I went for the more expensive version. Although I expected the fries to be more chunky like the ones from GBK, I have to admit; these were good, maybe even better. These were real potatoes, and they sure tasted that way. The chili sauce, that was a different issue, it is not as good as the one from GBK and reminded me a bit of Sriracha (the thai chili sauce), and was too spicy for the fries and the burger.

As for the milkshake, it too was not as good as GBK. The portion size was a bit disappointing when I got the steel shaker. It was only three quarter full and the taste of the shake was a bit too floury for my taste.

Overall, Byron burger accomplish the mission that they have set out to do. They offer simple hamburgers, which go back to basics. A patty of top quality meat, in a bread that is neither stale nor soggy.

Rating: 5 out of 6

http://www.byronhamburgers.com/story/

Hamburger Review: Hamburger Union London

Hamburger Union at Leicester Square London

It has not been the first time I have been here. But as I needed to have a picture of their burger and see if my previous assessment had been correct, I once again tried a burger from Hamburger Union.

Now, the original plan was to go and test Fine Burger. But when I stood in front of their Bond Street outlet (which was still listed on their homepage), I had to discover that it was closed and another restaurant was setting up shop in the location. After calling them I found out that they closed several locations at the beginning of the year, and had two remaining outlets in London (Message to management: Update your website, regularly! Especially when you're closing 70% of your restaurants). Since I did not want to travel to Kings Cross, I changed my plan and settled for Hamburger Union, where I had gone once before.

Unlike in commercials, the pictures you see in this blog are showing the burgers just the way they are served.

Now, let us dissect the basic parts of a Hamburger. The way I see it, a burger consists of three parts. Number one and the most important aspect of a good burger is without doubt "the meat", secondly the bun, and last are the toppings.

The meat in their burger, although not the worst meat I had in a burger, was definitely frozen before. As you can see in this picture, Hamburger Union uses a "British bun" (I call it that, because this is the same kind of bun you would find on a pub hamburger here in Britain). It tastes stale, floury, and gets soggy because it has not (or can not) been caramelized properly. Why don't you use regular HAMBURGER BUNS???

As for the toppings; yes they were fresh, but that could not save the burger.

There are not many positive points to talk about except one; the Onion Rings side dish. Although they are probably not homemade, they taste just the way they are supposed to taste. Same goes for the fries, they taste just the way your average McDonald's fries do (if that was the intention).

Hamburger Union's product is far below par. Somewhere between the front door where it says Hamburger Restaurant and the kitchen, there was an error in communication about what this place is supposed to be. For a place that specializes in Hamburgers, this is simply not good enough, and reminds me of the pub's next door (of which there are quite a few at Leicester Square already). This goes for product quality, preparation, presentation, and even the service. Avoid this place, if there is a GBK close by, and you probably get a better value for money at the Burger King around the corner.

Rating: 2 out of 6

http://www.hamburgerunion.com/

Hamburger Review: Gourmet Burger Kitchen London

Gourmet Burger Kitchen at 50 Westbourne Grove in Nothing Hill.

What can I say?

They never fail to deliver. GBK get the Burger spot on. Unlike other gourmet burger restaurants they do not try to re-invent the burger by adding fancy bread, strange toppings, or experimental sauces.
GBK's burgers are simply designed, consist of fresh ingredients, and are cooked to perfection. The flavor and the quality of the meat are impeccable.

My order consisted of a Chili Burger, a portion of fries with the homemade chili sauce, and a vanilla milkshake, which cost 14 pounds in total. As mentioned before, the burger was cooked exactly as I had ordered it (medium rare) and the freshness of the ingredients could be tasted from the first bite. The meat is juicy, full flavored, and when you close your eyes you can smell the smokey, caramelized aromas from the grill.

Unlike other gourmet chains, GBK use a regular sesame Hamburger bun, and this is just what this burger needs. Quality-wise it is above the buns of McDonald's or Burger King, but it simply serves as a packaging for the meat; and does not add distracting flavors to the sandwich. The fries, as can be seen in the picture, are homemade chunky fries that taste fresh, and are crisp without being greasy.

A special treat is the homemade chili sauce. GBK offers several sauces on the side, such as Garlic Mayo, Blue Cheese, Satay, etc., but the Chili sauce is simply the best in my opinion. The Milkshake is delicious, freshly made, and comes in a well sized container.

Rating: 6 out of 6

http://www.gbkinfo.com/index.php

Hamburger Review: Ultimate Burger London

The Ultimate Burger SoHo London

Here's my fourth Hamburger Review. Today I visited the Ultimate Burger at 36-38 Glasshouse Street London. My order consisted of a cheeseburger, a portion of fries and a vanilla milkshake.
The burger is made from "traceable" Scottish Beef, and served in a fresh sour dough sesame seed bun, with lettuce, tomatoes, relish, and mayonnaise. In the beginning I felt that the beef did no smell particularly fresh. but later I found it to be almost delicious due to the relish which added sweet and sour taste explosions that went very well with the meat.

The "house"fries are nothing special, and are probably bought from a convenience food supplier. The milkshake on the other hand was very rich in flavor and tasted like fresh vanilla ice-cream.

Rating: 5 out of 6

http://www.ultimateburger.co.uk/

Hamburger Review: Carnaby Burger Co. London

Carnaby Burger Co. in Soho London.

I went to this place with my friend Marco on a Bank Holiday, and we were very surprised, but the place was very empty (possibly due to the financial crisis) and by the time we had our food, we were the only customers in the place.
Burgers range from 6 to 9 pounds and are served in a bun with lettuce and tomatoes. They are not coming with any side dishes, so these have to be ordered separately. The meat of the burger is mediocre and the design of the burger appears to be over crowded and cramped.

The cooking of the burger and the quality of ingredients is excellent. The service however is not. This place would surely benefit from a little bit more atmosphere.

Rating: 4 out of 6

http://www.burgerco.co.uk/