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!

Price:
Bacon Cheeseburger (Steak Canadian) - £9.25.
Cheese burger - £8.95.
Chicken burger (roasted red pepper and goat's cheese) - £8.95.

Presentation:
Good. Hachés beef burgers come out topless, but with the lid nonchalantly leaning against rest of the burger. A melted mass of mature cheddar cheese and sweet cure bacon cover the 6oz chopped steak patty, and underneath sits a salad comprising rocket, beef tomato onion and 'special' mayo. Chicory, pepper and more lettuce come as a garnish on the side. 

Toppings:
Good. The mature cheddar was actually more medium-mature, but that's fine as dominant cheese can absolutely kill a good burgers, and it was nice and gooey, still running off the burger so no waiting around under a heat lamp. The sweet cure bacon was well cooked, and tasty, but the nature of cured bacon tends to risk what's known as 'second tongue syndrome' where the whole rasher pulls out of the burger and ends up dangling down the diners chin like a second tongue. In this case it happen partially, but I managed to sever the bacon before it fully escaped. 

Meat:
Good. The beef in this patty is relatively coarse, and the burger came out medium-rare as requested. The patty had a nice charring on the outside, adding a great charcoal flavour. I was very pleasantly surprised at how juicy the meat was, as this patty looks deceptively thin, but seasoning was good and the juices were flowing plentifully enough to keep the soft brioche bun moist.

Haché burger cut-through

A fifth of the pie-burger, haché style

Bun:
Good. A sensible bun and great choice. Out of ciabatta and brioche, this wins hands down. A classic Miller's brioche bun, who's raison d'etre is to be amazing with burgers. I would have liked this bun to be lightly toasted, mine came out untoasted, and somehow the depth of flavour was muted, and the mouthfeel was almost too soft. Still, it was a marked improvement on the ciabatta.

Accessories:
Good. Sides are extra (frites £2.95, coleslaw £1.95, rocket and parmesan salad £3.95), and all were polished off. Frites were fine, but not particularly crispy. They did come out in a wicked, mini chip basket though. Coleslaw was crunchy and not over-mayo'd. Parmasan and rocket salad was moreish (from the parmesan) but actually surprisingly difficult to eat with a fork!

Overall Score: 8/10
There is little I can fault on this burger. It is a great example of a good solid burger, not massively exciting, but solid. What you have to doff your hat to is that this burger was good at 8pm on a Saturday night, on Fulham Road, after a home Chelsea game. With Haché I'm pretty confident you know what you're going to get, and this is a solid 8/10.