#AdmiralCodringtonBurgerSwarm v2 - Admiral Codrington, 17 Mossop Street, London SW3 2LY

This is the second burger swarm I've been lucky enough to enjoy at the Admiral Codrington in the wonderfully sloaney South Kensington. If you missed the first one, here are the full details on Fred Smith's truly inspirational burger tasting menu at #AdmiralCodringtonBurgerSwarm mark one.

If the theme of the previous swarm was a tasting menu based on Fred's adventures across the US, then the theme of this one taking a poke at a couple of the classic McDonald's burgers, consumed by millions every day.


Fred, once again, provided a custom menu for the evening and my mouth was watering just reading it.

The order of the evening looked phenomenal. Snacks, Ad Cod style, were honey mustard glazed mini sausages and pork scratchings with warm apple sauce, quickly quaffed in anticipation of the upcoming (and somewhat understated) Bacon Cheeseburger and The Admiral's 'Big Boy' (could it be Fred blowing his own trumpet...). Sides included Mac 'n' Cheese, Chips, and Coleslaw.

Honey mustard glazed mini sausages and pork scratchings with apple sauce

Bacon Cheeseburgers at the pass

A big ass rack of bacon cheeseburgers 

Fred's Bacon Cheeseburger is like a suped-up McDonald's quarter pounder (with bacon). A miller brioche bun surrounds a small, perfectly cooked patty topped with an American cheese slice, the most fantastic salty tongue of bacon you'll ever taste, onions, and ketchup. Here it is topless:

And here it is part-way through nomming - and it's bloody brilliant:

How do you top a McD's-styled quarter pounder?

With a McD's inspired 'Big Boy', that's how. Shortly after the bacon cheeseburgers were polished off with a massive round of nomming and lip-smacking, out rolled a tray of the most divine looking 'Big Boy' burgers - like a photoshoot of prime McDonald's Big Macs, rather than the sad, soggy looking burgers that actually turn up in your cardboard wrapper.


The table was speechless. No matter what way you look at it, this is a stunning burger. 

Encased, once again, in a Miller's sesame-seeded bun, and cut with precision into three pieces, Fred's take on the Big Mac incorporated two slices of cheese (atop the patties, rather than the Big Mac's single slice below), his own special dressing that took so long to perfect he actually forgot what went into it (I'm going to reverse engineer some out of my shirt, where it happily splattered), and patties were slightly weightier than the similarly-named original, yet they were still cooked pink - a feat Fred was rightly proud of.

The Admiral's Big Boy - cut-through

 Sides were excellent, the Mac 'n' Cheese was taken to another level, though I think @Hayleymudge polished it all off before anyone could take a picture of it, the coleslaw was topped with fiery green chilles, and the chips were wedges of seriously crisp and fluffy potato. But it was the burgers that absolutely, hands-down, stole the show.


Dessert was an ambrosia-like rice pudding, topped with strawberries, and it was also amazing.

The menu was £22 a head, not including drinks, and Fred has said that, if you order in advance, he can sort you out with the Bacon cheeseburger. The Big Boys however were a once in a lifetime effort, and I feel pretty lucky to have been a part of it.