Advance Preview: Diablo Burger at The Diner: Ganton Street, Soho, London

I was recently invited, with a couple of fellow burgerites, to preview a burger concept put together by the executive chef for The Diner's upcoming seasonal halloween menu.
 
The Diablo burger is an 8oz USDA beef patty, coarsely ground and consisting of a combination of cuts from the rib, sirloin, fillet and chuck. It is topped with pepperjack cheese, rashers of streaky bacon, and comes with fries. On the side sits a pot of blood-red (clearly highly oxygenated) devilish relish.

The Diner recommend this burger served medium-rare, so that's what we went for, and here's the low down:

My previous review of double decker burger in The Diner, Soho, covers the bun which is a custom creation (tested to its juice-bursting limits in the lab of a North London bakery). The Diablo burger bun is the same part-brioche, milk-glazed bun but it ditches the sesame seeds.


The Diablo burger is a good looking package, shamelessly flouting the three-finger rule of burger size. 

The following toppings come as standard on the Diablo: Sliced pickles, onion, thick rashers of streaky bacon and pepperjack cheese. Under the patty sits a big slice of beef tomato and a leaf of round lettuce. The devilish sauce comes served in a small pot beside the burger. 

The combination of cuts inside The Diner's Diablo burger means this patty is seriously juicy. The fat from the rib and chuck mixed with the melt in the mouth qualities of fillet and sirloin combine to form a beefy yet creamy patty - and I'm happy to report the beef was perfectly seasoned.

Whilst the bacon put in a strong show with an excellent charring that enhanced the whole burger, the pepperjack cheese didn't show its true colours, with only glimpses of it's spicy flavour showing through. Salad was fresh and didn't clash with the burger, but the tomato was a bit slidey on the base, although not enough to deliver topping tsunami fail. 

I tried the devilish relish on one half of my Diablo burger. This relish is made from maple and jalapeños and packs a great punch, whilst not being too sweet. If anything, this sauce could be hotter!


Overall rating: 8.5/10


The Diner 'gets' burgers, and this proves that something is going right in test kitchen. A great, well executed burger that is really only needing a couple of minor tweaks to score even higher. And with a £9 price point, I think it's spot on.

One final note, if you are eating at The Diner there is a 'secret shakes' menu available, and the picture below is of the Oreo shake. It's blooming brilliant.