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