Hamburger Me! is THE London burger blog. Covering burger reviews across London, incorporating the most comprehensive London Burger Map, and Best Burgers in London.
Festival food turned Fitzrovia kitchen residency Saucy Chip popped up on my radar courtesy of their PR bods a few weeks ago. Launching very softly earlier this year the sauce-focused comfort food outfit has slowly been building a following among the local creative crowds - and is putting a few smiles on faces of people in the know.
Based out of basement venue, The Jerusalem Bar & Kitchen on Rathbone Place (hop-skip-jump from Oxford St. and Tottenham Court Road) not only can you get your fix of sweet nourishing American-style diner food with a trolley of sauces to satisfy you wildest condiment desires, but the beers are crafty and the bar is suitably low key too.
Fronting in plain sight between a minicab company and a betting shop and directly opposite a neon and glass fronted Shake Shack at the north end of Victoria station, Bleecker Burger's new permanent location in Victoria is as brilliant as you'd expect.
Seven weeks after the big launch (on 27 January 2017), I bumped into Zan (Bleecker's founder) while sampling the classics from their new kitchen.
Iconic. The 4ft high mounted cut-out of Bleecker's logo takes pride of place on the bare walls.
Triple threat. Bacon double cheeseburger. Angry Fries. Black & white milkshake.
A bit like Mary Poppins. Practically perfect in every way.
Gratuitous close up. THAT cheese. THAT bacon. THAT sauce...
So business is good at Bleecker, and so it should be the way they're serving up these burgers. Really pleased to see that quality hasn't suffered with expansion too. Keep the good work folks :)
Every now and then (and less frequently these days than I'd like) I discover a new burger venture that I hadn't previously experienced. Meat the Chef, a fried chicken specialist, has been serving out of a hatch in their trailer for over a year, and I stumbled across them in Broadgate Circle (Liverpool Street), just the other day.
They rotate with other recent additions to the Broadgate Circle street food group - Eat the Farm [review of their great Dirty Cow burger here]. But this one is all about chicken, so here's my run down on what Meat the Chef have to offer.
I recently had the opportunity to travel with work to Singapore, which meant I had a chance to hit up a few burgers joints in The Lion City - here's how it went down...
1. Burger Joint, Gemmill Ln
Burger: Bacon cheeseburger
Side: French fries
Hailing from New York where the original Burger Joint sits behind a curtain in the lobby of Le Parker Meridien Hotel on 56th Street, Singapore’s Burger Joint outpost is similarly hidden in plain sight. All you’ll see is a neon burger on the wall of a white building on Gemmill Lane (off Amoy St.). The set up is simple – order at the hatch from a small selection of classic American burgers (grab a side or one of the huge number of craft beers) and then wait for it to be ready a few minutes later. You can choose to have your burger cooked to order – so naturally med-rare is the way to go as they use some great quality USDA beef. I ordered it with ‘the works’ so came piled high with salad, pickles and condiments.
You all know that Lucky Chip has long been one of my favourite burgers in London, well now there's another place you can get some of their burger action, and it's not East London.
Welcome to the Lucky Chip residency at The Camden Assembly. Kicking off with a launch party on Tuesday 20 September you can eat (some of the best) burgers and listen to a load of great music. All part of the regeneration of Camden Market. Juicy.
The UK's National Burger Day should, in my view, be a national holiday. What better way to celebrate hundreds of thousands of people coming together in a celebration of juicy, coarsely ground beef in a bun? Well we're not getting a national holiday (boo) but instead we have a Bermondsey-based burger party, hosted by Street Feast at Hawker House, bringing together some of the UK's best burger talent.
So...here's your primer for National Burger Day 2016 and a selection of what you're going to get.
The menu:
Bill or Beak.
Filled bun specialists Bill or Beak will be serving up their ever popular rolls. Here's the "Bill" to whet your appetite - no preview shot of their Fried Chicken Biscuit!
Photo credit @mrjbarker
Bleecker St. Burger
Hailing from across the pond, Bleecker Burger founder Zan and the team have been experimenting on a special burger which includes a melted American cheese. Cheesy.
B.O.B's Lobster
The folks at Street Feast stalwart B.O.B.'s Lobster are once again kicking it at National Burger Day with their souped up special. The composition is a fried calamari butter burger, and here's their preview. Looking good!
Burger & Beyond vs Burger Gang
One of a couple of collaborations going on at National Burger Day this year. This good looking beast from burger slingers Burger & Beyond and burger mad Burger Gang, brings together a 90-day aged patty, pancetta-style bacon, cold smoked American cheese and marrownaise....I know!
Busan BBQ
Korean street food specialists Busan BBQ are hitting up National Burger Day with a buzzing Asian special. It combines an aged patty from Quality Chop, charred kimchi, mustard pickled onions, ssamjang mayo and American cheese. Burger porn below!!
Chuck Burger
Starting life in Hatch End, Chuck Burger has come on the scene hard, serving up Cheeseburgers the way they taste stateside. At National Burger Day they're showcasing a special burger they're calling the Firestarter. It comprises a28-day dry aged beef patty, grilled onions, diced gherkins, American cheese, pancetta bacon, fermented red chilli mayo, and a green jalapeno salsa. Spicy!
Dip & Flip
The perennial favourite from the guys in South West London - Dip & Flip is all about beef, gravy and runny cheese. And if it ain't broke, why fix it?! Their National Burger Day offering will therefore be familiar but with a hit of green chilli. Awesome.
Le Bun
The talented Le Bun folks appear in tantalisingly short residencies across London. And wherever Le Bun are, so too are great burgers. And yes, they're here for National Burger Day and sporting their take on that classic McDonalds Big Mac - Le Mac. Patriotic!
Lucky Chip
This has been one of my favourite burger joints since day dot when they started in Netil Market. Lucky Chip are going to be joining the party with their Dirk Diggler burger. An eye-poppingly meaty combination of 35-day aged longhorn beef topped with braised beef short rib, American cheese, pickled coleslaw, Sriracha Kewpie mayo & spicy BBQ sauce. Juicy.
MotherFlipper
Almost a guaranteed fixture at National Burger Day, the guys at MotherFlipper are going to be here again offering up two of their classics: the candy double bacon flipper; and a double up version with 28-day aged Angus chuck, glazed bun, ketchup, mustard, red onion, pickle, American cheese and a huge helping of bacon fried in maple syrup. Word.
Petare vs Temper
You know it's going to get awesome when chef Neil Rankin is involved, and so it is with his new restaurant, Temper, combining with Venezuelan street food outfit Petare. They're putting together a 50/50 chuck/mutton burger patty, grilled Provolone cheese and mustard pickles wrapped in a Venezuelan arapa. Boom.
No preview pic, so here's something outrageous from Bad Egg instead.
And as if you needed anything else to push your excitement levels through the roof, here's my video of National Burger Day at Battersea. Enjoy.
So that's what you'll get if you're able to make it to the party - otherwise you'll just have to keep an eye out on Twitter and Instagram for glorious, glorious burger porn.
They are also discounts available from more than 900 restaurants across the UK - check out the official National Burger Day 2016 website and download your voucher for 20% off.
Having had the best laid plans for a romantic weekend in Venice scuppered by the French air traffic controllers strike (*shakes fist*) just three hours before we were supposed to fly out, it took another hour and a half to scramble around and find a last second replacement that didn’t involve flying over French air space. Cue a hastily booked trip to Germany’s capital, Berlin.
