[Preview] Burger & Shake, 47 Marchmont Street, London, WC1N 1AP

Burger & Shake opens its doors this weekend on Marchmont Street, just around the corner from Russell Square tube station.

The Burger & Shake House Burger

I have to admit to being a little turned off by their marketing efforts - the 'sexy burgers, triumphant hotdogs etc.' stuff, but heading along to the preview I going to admit that I'm quietly impressed.

The house burger is a combination of 28-day aged Ayrshire beef, topped with American cheese, sweet cured bacon, dill pickles (from Vadasz Deli), and tomato sitting on a bed of chopped lettuce with horseradish and mustard ketchup. It's all wrapped in a cream bun from the Bread Factory.

The menu is small, consisting three burgers, two hot dogs, a lobster roll, buffalo wings and sides.

Burger & Shake Prices:

Burger - £6.75
Cheese Burger - £7.75
House Burger - £9.00
Fries - £2.50

I had the house burger. A combination of 28-day aged Ayrshire beef, topped with American cheese, sweet cured bacon, dill pickles, and tomato sitting on a bed of chopped lettuce with horseradish and mustard ketchup.

It's well presented, and takes its influences from a number of places. Lid off it's similar to the Joe Allen Burger, the taste is pure Uncle Sam from Byron, the chopped lettuce bed is straight out of Fred Smith's 101 Burger cook book, but altogether the execution is pretty good.

The patty is thin and has the right balance of crispy caramelization on the outside, whilst retaining a pink interior. The American cheese is excellent. I feared the sweet cure bacon would be too solid, but even that had a nice crisp on it. And the cream bun, lightly toasted, is glorious.

There are a few things that need tweaking – more seasoning on the patty, more liberal lashings of the horseradish and mustard ketchup, and more 'bite' to the pickles which, while tasty, are lost in the combination – but the tweaks are not major, and I get the impression they're keen to get it right. The price point at £9 sets a high bar for a 6oz bacon cheese burger without fries, on a par with Bryon, so time will tell whether that's the right price point.

The good news is this burger made me smile – it's a proper comfort burger. I'm quietly impressed with Burger & Shake, and I think you might be too.

Burger & Shake can be found at 47 Marchmont Street, London, WC1N 1AP. And you can check out some more fab photos from @Grobelaar on Flickr.