Poorly Executed Pub Fayre from Hoop and Grapes, 80 Farringdon Street, London EC4A 4BL

Location:
The Hoop & Grapes is a classic city boozer that sits at 80 Farringdon Street, just off Holborn Viaduct, towards Fleet Street. Unassuming apart from the overflowing hanging baskets that adorn the entrance, the pub is actually a multi-level bar and restaurant.
Price:
Plain burger with chips £7.50.

Kobe Burger at Smithfield Bar and Grill

Recently, and I realise to people situated in and around Smithfield Market this may come as a disappointment that I've discovered it so late, I discovered that Smithfield Bar and Grill has a section on their menu dedicated to burgers. Not only that, however, nestled in the burger section is a burger to make my pupils dilate, and heart beat faster - a 100% Kobe beef burger.


Now, for £18.50, this is probably the most expensive burger I've had in London, beating the terrible £16 Gaucho burger, which is just the other side of Smithfield market, by a grand £2.50. Luckily though, until the end of January, Blackhouse are offering 50% off food so I could take this bad boy down (plus bacon and cheese) for just £10 then I'm laughing, right? 

Advance Preview: Grab Burger at The Diner, Ganton Street, Soho

The Diner in Soho needs no introduction to regular readers of this blog. I reviewed their double decker burger a little while ago, and brought you an advance preview of their halloween burger, The Diablo, as well. So when I was offered the opportunity to join a number of my fellow burgerati in an advance preview of their latest creation, I was there faster than you can say 'grab burger'.

The Grab Burger is being launched on 31 January 2012 in time for the Superbowl and the concept is built around the classic American cheeseburger.

Burger Me! Calling Cards from Moo.com

Those lovely people at Moo have come up trumps with some spanking blogging cards. The packs feature a number of designs from across the Burger Me! blog, and a couple that you'll be seeing cropping up soon. And did I mention they're awesome.

So now, I'll have a little something to leave behind when on the search for the Best Burgers in London. If you're a restaurant and you're serving burgers, you may see one of these in the near future.

In fact, they're so awesome, I took a picture to demonstrate their awesomeness:

Some other things I like about Moo.

1. They do a small number of products, and do them bloody well
2. The user interface is brilliant
3. Their upload and design tool is excellent

Now, as they're a great bunch, they've also given me an affiliate link to give you 10% off your first Moo purchase - it also means I get 10% off my next set of blogging cards - so everyone's a Meat Winner!
If you want to find out more, simply follow this link: http://www.moo.com/share/spmr6z.

Hache Burgers brioche bun knocks socks off their ciabatta offering

Location:
On a Saturday night, this intrepid burger blogger and a couple of fellow dining companions (@eatingsoho and @fredsmith_) happened to be in the area and decided to pop into the Haché burger outpost on Fulham Road.

It was a pretty busy Saturday evening for them and it took about 30 minutes for our table to be ready, but we grabbed a pint in the pub next door before being seated in a corner.

I've reviewed Haché in Camden previously and where their offering fell down was the ciabatta bun, which makes it a challenge to get a consistent bite-through without everything falling out. When news arrived that Haché had begun to offer brioche as a bun option - I had to try it out!

Upping the Game: GBK Responds to Burger Competition in London

Location:
On Northcote Road, a five minute walk from Clapham Junction, sits an outpost of the New Zealand embassy.

GBK Northcote Road is an experiment from GBK that they call 'upping the game'. It is clear from the success of Byron, Haché, The Diner, Kua'Aina, and the addition of burgers to the menus of many other restaurants, including Hawksmoor and Goodman, that burgers are hitting the big time. They're simple. They're comfort food. They're relatively cheap. And you (more of less) know what you're going to get.