[Infographic] London Burger Review 2013

Here at Hamburger Me!, I realise this blog isn't just about eating burgers, it's far bigger than that. It's a celebration of the ultimate comfort food that is now in glorious abundance throughout our capital. 

One of the joys of authoring and curating this blog is it gives me licence to work on some really fun things, things like this infographic summarising my London Burger Review.

Click me, I get bigger!

This doesn't sit in isolation however, so check out my accompanying analysis and the London Burger TOP TRUMPS in more detail below.

Share my Burger Infographic with your friends, and let me know what you think!

London Burger Analysis

Top Buns:

First up it's London's favourite burger bun - and by a long mile it's brioche - but what came first, Miller's or the tastes of burger lovers?

London's best burger bun

Way back in the day Gordon Ramsay's Maze Grill started using Miller's brioche buns for their burgers, and Fred Smith used them religiously at the Admiral Codrington during his tenure there (creating master pieces such as the Ad Cod Cheeseburger, the Big Boy, and the 333 Chilli Cheeseburger). Since then, a spate of other restaurants have been using brioche for their burger buns as a matter of course, so you can see it has majority market share on the London burger scene. The fact it works beautifully with aged beef, and has the properties to keep a gushing burger juice monster together as surely just by-the-by.

Least popular was no bun (or a Flying Dutchman if you're ordering in In-N-Out), which shows, albeit incredibly tenuously, that if you're on a no carb diet, you need not apply...or you don't read my blog.

As a point of general burger knowledge, Elliot's Cafe in Borough Market offers diners an in-house baked linseed bun which is gloriously light and sprinkled with toasted, crispy linseed - a rare treat which beautifully complements their aged burger patty.

Best Cheese:

And so, onto cheese. London's love affair with the yellow stuff on their burgers is wide and varied - but overwhelmingly London told me Monterey Jack is its favourite burger cheese. It's a mild, creamy cheese that can get a great melt on over a burger patty (particularly when using a cloche) but I have to admit it's a bit of a surprise choice, as I would have expected American cheese to top the rankings - but it only came a distant third - why not make your own American cheese?

Perhaps the Montery Jack is due to the influence of Byron as one of the main places offering it as a cheese selection on their burgers...

London's favourite burger cheese

Also interesting is the second choice of smoked cheese obviously demonstrating (again with little robust scientific backing) that London's love of BBQ is just bubbling under the surface, or perhaps a bit of smoked cheese perfectly complements a mature beef patty...

Patty Size:

Finally, let's get to the meat of this article (sorry). Most popular patty size. Some honest poll answering reveals 6oz is the perfect-sized patty for the majority of Londoners to wrap their chops around. Interestingly, in spite of 6oz pipping the other sizes with the most votes it sits below the median in overall votes, with the lion's share of London's burger lovers tucking into patties 8oz and above. As a hamburgerologist (yes, I've given myself that lofty title!) this means London loves BIG MEAT. In fact, 25% of you would go for 12-14oz burgers - you meat fiends...!

London's preferred burger patty size

Burgers by Tube:

With a nod of the head to Chris Pople's restaurant tube map (and the fact that Eversheds got in touch to tell him to take it down) I've gone for a lighter take on the London tube map, and highlighted a few joints by their proximity to tube stations. 

London Tube Map with key burger locations

But it doesn't end there - how about a series of your favourite London burger joints designed as collectible cards?

You got it! 


LONDON BURGER TOP TRUMPS

Here are some of my favourite burgers in London, transformed into top trump-style cards.

Burger Top Trumps!

Here they are in more detail:

Bleecker Burger: Burger Van working the Kerb scene, currently travelling between King's Cross and The Gherkin. 

Burger Bear: Street food burger vendor mainly working out of Red Market.

Dirty Burger: From Soho House, this burger shack is tucked around the back of Chicken Shop in Kentish Town.

Hawksmoor burger: A big ticket burger from London's big-hitting meat shrine.

Honest Burgers: Best in breed British burgers (say that with a mouthful...of burger)

Lucky Chip burger: The expanding Lucky Chip empire delivers comfort food and the best bacon cheeseburger you'll taste for £6.50.

MeatLiquor: The Meat(insertpunhere) franchise is based nr. Bond Street and delivers juicy, dripping burgers that hit the spot.

Patty & Bun: Relative new boy on the block, Patty & Bun serves massively juicy burgers - the Ari Gold gets my vote. 

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