[Review] Redhook burger, Turnmill Street, Farringdon, EC1M 5QU

Redhook, a stripped back restaurant ostensibly focusing on the best of British produce was my destination for a lunchtime burger. 

Redhook cheeseburger

This is how it went down...

Location:

Redhook is located just behind Farringdon Station on Turnmill Street, EC1M 5QU. It's situated just a stone's throw from Ember, one of the worst burgers in London, and just around the corner from Byron Cowcross St. I visited on a Friday lunchtime with another Nick who writes this blog. 

Price:

Bodmin Moor Beef Burger - £9

Presentation:

This burger has impact on the plate. It's got caramlized beef, thick tongues of bacon, and a dark demi-brioche bun with striking white sesame seeds. It looks good, and immediately my mouth is salivating.

Redhook Bodmin Moor Beef Burger

Toppings:

The smoked bacon was good, but needed to be cooked for longer - there were long strands of unappetizing, unrended fat that had to be peeled off before it could be enjoyed. American cheese was present in good quantities, but was sweating rather than melting - having been added to the burger too late in the cooking process (and certainly not cloched). The pot of tomato relish on the side was left alone as an astringent accompaniment that didn't match the rest of the meal.

Meat:

Overdone. I'm very sad to say that the meat in both our burgers was cooked med/well, with the effect of making it slightly gummy/sticky, resulting in a pretty dry mouthful. HOWEVER, the beef was of obvious quality as it had a great depth of beefy flavour, in spite of how it was cooked.

Med/well burger at Redhook

Bun:

The bun was excellent. A toasted and sesame-seeded demi-broiche with bounce, squash and other onomatopoeic bun words.

Accessories:

We diversified and went for a portion of french fries, and a portion of chunky fries. The frenchies were perfect little strips of a crunchy potato joy, which made the contrast between them and their undercooked, soggy neighbours all the more depressing. A clear winner, and a portion of chips relatively untouched.

Overall rating: 6.5/10

Ok, I'll admit, it's not terrible. There are bits that are really quite good, but overall this burger didn't live up the sum of its parts. There were errors - undercooked bacon, overcooked beef, soggy fries, unmelted cheese - that stripped points away from a good initial impression. 

Maybe I should have gone for seafood, or steak, as that's what Redhook touts as its specialities, rather than the burger. But I didn't and so left disappointed.

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