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.

Price: 

Grab Burger and fries - £9.

Presentation

Is that a big, bold, Diner branded bag I see before me?! That's right, this burger turns up wrapped in its own grab bag. Everyone loves a present, and what better gift to unwrap than burger and fries. Great start!

The burger is presented part-wrapped in classic greaseproof burger paper and the fries come filled to the brim in a paper cup reminiscent of those found at a kid's party.

A rare sighting of the shy Grab Burger in its natural habitat

Toppings

The Grab Burger is peppered with toppings from a layer of ketchup coating the underside of the top bun, through sliced and melted american cheese covering each patty. Also included are dill pickles, and on the base sits a layer of chopped lettuce and USA sauce which, from what I could tell is a modified thousand island type sauce. That bottom layer needs a little tweaking, maybe a thicker layer of lettuce, as the patties slid around on the slick bun bottom.

Steve, grabbing his burger.

Meat

The Grab Burger is made up of two 3oz USDA beef patties, cooked medium-rare, composed of a blend of shortrib/chuck, making it wonderfully fatty which delivers an uber-juicy burger. The beef taste was slightly muted in spite of the pickles, and I added a touch of French's mustard to pep it up a bit. Future iterations are going to include another slice of cheese to sharpen the flavour.

Grab Burger bite through #1

Grab Burger bite through #2

Bun

The bun execution here is masterful. Inspiration is taken from the slider bun at The Exmouth Arms, baked by Harvey Rinkoff, which The Diner have taken and made bigger. It appears as a crusty white roll, but beneath that exterior is some excellent bun engineering - it's soft, it's squishy, and it soaks up everything the juicy patties and liberal application of condiments can throw at it. There's absolutely no doubt this is a Bun Win! 

Bun winning - the Grab Burger from The Diner

Accessories

Along with the burger wrapped in its grease proof home, came an overflowing cupful of french fries, and they were magnificent. Perfectly crunchy with fluffy interiors and outrageously moreish. There was a mumbling of approval from everyone as we crammed the hot, salty fries into our mouths. Very good fries indeed.

Overall: ...

Ok, so normally I'd give this a score, but as this was the very first in a series of advance previews, and this burger is going to be tweaked and fiddled with until its launch on 31 January 2012 (in time for the SuperBowl), I'm simply going to recommend you get one before they drop off the menu on 12 February. I think this is going to prove a very popular burger, especially as its priced very competitively at £9 including fries. I for one will be back for another as soon as I can.


An honourable mention must go to the beer this burger was complemented by, bottled Lone Star, it was cracking and comes with a Burger Me! recommendation!

Lone Star at The Diner, Soho