Burger Heaven @ MEATmarket

Having spent a week in New York sampling the city’s finest burgers at several of its better outlets. The Shake Shack, the Burger Joint and the interesting Corner Bistro, I’ve come to realise that sometimes less is more.

Burger Monday @ The Draft House

My first burger Monday, and it will not be my last. I missed out on the last Burger Monday by a few hours. By the time I saw the email all the places had sold out. I was gutted and didn’t want to miss out again.

When the email came though at work, I was in pure panic for 30 minutes after I saw the email for the latest Burger Monday, which was going to be at the Draught House close to London Bridge.

I almost booked the 9pm sitting before the wife told me over skype to go for the 6.45pm sitting, by the time I read this it was on waitlist.  Noooooooooo.

Amazingly after much fretting and sweating the earlier sitting came available. Forget work, forget those clients who wanted to give me their credit card number and book a holiday. I didn’t care. I wanted to goto Burger Monday, and Burger Monday I was a going.

The first thing that hits you as you walk in to the draft House is the mammoth amount of beers on draft that they have on offer. Truly impressive. This was going to be a very good night. I pre ordered some of the house beers to get the night going.

This evening we were in for a real treat. 3 different burgers with 3 one third pints of beer from the Windsor and Eaton Brewery all matched to the different burgers.

We were introduced to the brewer by Daniel Young, the organiser and writer of the Young and Foodish, who amazingly along with the chef at the Draft House, Simon Noumar devised the burger menu for tonight.

OK let’s get straight down to business. First off was the Yolk Burger with the Conqueror Black IPA.

This was a perfect combination. The burger was juicy pink and the trimmed egg and runny yolk topped with a slightly burnt hollandaise, which almost gave you the impression it was cheese was sublime. Who says you cannot eat a juicy burger and live to tell the tale.

The Conqueror Black IPA looked heavy with its dark dark colour, but was surprisingly light but big on taste.

Next was the Smoke Burger (smoked cheddar and smoked streaky bacon) with the Guardsman Best Bitter.

The cheese and bacon were really good and had a wonderful but light smoky flavour to them. The burger was slightly more cooked than the first, and was slightly over powered by the cheese, but a damn fine burger it was.

The copper coloured Guardsman Best Bitter was a good match to this burger, as it allowed the smoked cheese and bacon to come through and take the glory, but still match them step by step.

And finally the Foie Burger, topped with a slab of foie gras and cherry lambic jelly with the Windsor Knot royal wedding Ale.

To be honest I was really quite disappointed by this. I think after two powerful burgers and beers, this one never really shone at all. Maybe it we’d had it at the beginning I would have been more able to taste all its nuances, but after what I’d just eaten, a battleship would have been hard to spot. Again the burger was slightly more cooked than the one before. The jelly was great on its own, but kinda got lost in with everything else, the foie gras, again never was able to shine as my taste buds were still reeling from the smoked cheese. I would like to try this again on its own, and then I’m sure I would appreciate it more.

The Windsor Knot, again paled in comparison by its predecessors. It was light and fresh and a really great beer to round off a fab night, but being a light beer it failed to shine at the finishing post.

We also had a plate of stringy fries per table and sauces to dunk into. I think everyone felt the same as we would normally just dunk the fries into the sauces, but as this was a communal table we really couldn’t do that. I wish we could though. We also had a lonely salad on the table, which no one except the girl next to me felt obliged to give it a try, as otherwise it would have felt neglected. She said it was a nice salad, and had a lovely mustardy vinaigrette dressing.

All in all it was a great night, ate some great food, drank some fantastic beers, met some nice people and found another good beer pub. Life is good.

My best burger was the first, somehow fried eggs make everything taste better, but combining the first juicy burger with the smoked cheese and bacon with a fried egg on top would have been heaven on earth. Then we could have called it the “Smoky Yokey.” I have now copyrighted this name by the way.

For the beers, I am a lover of real ales, and loved every single beer, but the Conqueror Black IPA tipped it for me over the Guardsman Best Bitter. I was expecting it to be really heavy with its dark colour, but thankfully it was pretty light and would be a great match for any burger or even a steak or roast on a tranquil Sunday afternoon in a country pub. Well that was just me day dreaming there, need to get out of the city.

I think Daniel with the al the folks of the Draft House, and the guys at the Windsor and Eaton Brewery put on a great night, one of the best I’ve had in a long while.

Daniel is doing some more events in September and October, so sign up for the emails, and I’ll see you there.

Burgers are for life, not just for snacking on....

An emotional opening day of the fabled In-N-Out Burger chain in Texas. Funny but really quite sad.

FatBoy’s Diner

When we first moved to London way back in the early noughties, we literally every weekend, or on days off from work would visit different parts of our wonderful capital city. This habit over time diminished. I put it down to living so far west that Heathrow was closer to our house than central London was.

Since I was away in Asia on hotel visits (yawn yawn yawn), Lina has brought back this habit with a vengeance. Anyone, whilst I was away who went out with her was taken to another part of the city that they didn’t know, whether they wanted to or not.

Upon my return I was whisked off to a couple of places that were new to me.

One of these was close to the East India DLR station. Very apt I thought, as I was still recovering from a torrid time in Calcutta. A dodgy kathi roll laid waste to me. But more on that in a later blog, when I get round to finishing them off.

Trinity Buoy Wharf has set itself up as an artist community. It sits facing the controversial Dome, and within petrol bombing distance of Canary Wharf.

This once buoy making workshop was responsible for all buoys and light ships for a major part of the east coast of England. Unfortunately with most areas of this part of London those old business went by the wayside. The workshop closed in the late 80’s, and 10 years later was transformed into what we see today.

I am sure I would have never have ventured out this way if Lina was not on this “let’s see the whole of London” mood. It was a sunny day, so I was easily persuaded to come out this far east.

It’s an interesting place to visit, plus a few times a year they have a few open days with some entertainment on. There is one happening in a week or two. 

Dining options are limited to the Driftwood Café, a converted shipping container that sells coffees, cakes, bacon sarnies and other café type foods. It does however have nice views over the river.

The other option is a 1940’s American Diner, complete with formica tables, aluminium cladding and kitsch value that makes it so worthwhile. Over the last 70 years has made its way from New Jersey to London, and now resides in a windy part of a forgotten London.

Its claim to fame was that it was in that spectacular film “Sliding Doors”. Yes Gwyneth woz ere. Apparently for you film buffs and stalkers, she sat in the seat next to the jukebox.

The menu is as what you would expect to find in an all American Diner in a remote part of east London. Burger and hot dogs. And not that very good ones at that.

We ordered two of the same, as we were the only ones there, and we were hungry, best not to make things harder when you don’t have to. Learnt that on this trip, eating at small places and ordering lots of different things. Big mistakes.

We ordered one portion of chilli chips to help us along. We were expecting a small bowl of real chilli to go with our fries. Instead we got some Thai sweet chilli sauce, and chunky chips. Not what we were expecting.

The burger was a bit of a let down also. The patty had been over cooked, so all juiciness has been cooked away. The bacon had been over cooked, and had a major suntan. I still cannot figure out why there was a whole cherry tomato in my burger.

The strawberry milkshakes however were the best I’ve had outside of New York. They were even served in the metal cup they were made in. Quality. Not to thick, but not to thin either. Just perfect.

After paying I asked the guys working there if things were going well. The look said it all. I mean it’s not hard to cook a burger correctly, sadly this place does not. Shame as it is a real fun place to eat. I just wish they would cook those burgers better.

GBK - How The Mighty Have Fallen

It seems like a lifetime ago now, but we used to live in Brentford. So we used to goto Chiswick a fair bit, mainly because Lina worked there. But as time passed, Chiswick ground me down to the point where I really did not like it at all. Still don’t. People keep asking us why we live in North London now. Chiswick had something to do with it.
Since our return, I have been back once or twice to see friends and meet Lina after work for a drink or some nosh somewhere.
This particular Saturday, we had a goodbye party at the Bollo. A good pub near to Chiswick Park tube. Lina was working that day, so I met her after work and we went off to get a beer and some grub before the party.
We were actually double booked that day. As we had a 40th party at The Green in Clerkenwell that night as well. It was going to be a long night.
We wandered down as far as the Roebuck. Nice gastro pub. Good beers, fun crowd and does some tasty food. Plus it has a nice large garden out back with plenty of seats. Unfortunately we never ate there, as there was nothing on the menu that took our fancy. Shame number 1.
We wandered past Franco Manca, but as I had eaten pizza the afternoon before, I really didn’t want to eat more just yet. Shame number 2.
But in the distance was the round sign of GBK. It sung out to me. Good memories came flooding back to me. Hmm hamburgers. We’d had a fantastic one recently in Byrons on Upper Street, and maybe with those sweet memories I made that fateful mistake of suggesting it. Shame number 3.
Now way back then, we used to eat once in a while at GBK. Then the burgers were pretty damn good, I used to particularly like the barbecue sauce they had. The fries were good, the milkshakes were even better and they sold Steinlager as well. What more could you want.
A big warning should have hit me as we approached. It was pretty much empty. Now this normally sends alarm bells ringing in my head. But this time they were silent.
I had more or less always eaten the barbecue burger, and it was what I wanted again. Lina opted for it as well. So off I trotted to the counter to make our order.
As I was giving my order, the kid asked me how I wanted my burger. I said “Both medium-rare”. He then replied, “ It is company policy that we can not guarantee your burger to be medium rare. Is that ok?” This left me dumfounded. Why bother to ask how you want the burger cooked, if you can’t do it. Damn I hate that in places. I mean it’s not too hard to cook a burger anywhere from rare to well done. Any chef can do it. It’s not rocket science. Grrrrrrrr.
The burger towers came, after being placed in front of a couple that had just sat down. Oh dear. Finally we got them. I really wish I had my camera with me, as they looked a sight. They were everything I do not want in a burger. To start off with, the bread bun did not look appetising at all, and tasted a bit stale. It had been put on the griddle to crisp up a little, but it wasn’t a good bun.
The patty itself had no real taste at all. The inside looked like it had been pureed not minced, and was a rather nasty looking grey colour. Maybe this is why they smother their burgers in sauces. The barbecue sauce itself was lacking in that all important barbecue taste.
The chips were nearly cooked but not quite. They were borderline on being a bit soggy, and they were not hot.
At least the beers we had were damn good. Then again they were not prepared fresh in the GBK kitchen.
What happened to the burgers I used to like. Where had they gone? Gone in their franchising scheme it had. Looks like profit before quality has taken over the GBK machine.
All this may have been because GBK have had a massive expansion over the last few years. On their website they have 51 branches in the UK, plus one to open soon in Nottingham. Also there the ones they have in Ireland, Turkey and I’m assuming Oman, Dubai and Greece pretty soon according to their website.
In my view expanding so big so fast has hit GBK hard. To source good quality beef for their burgers now has obviously been pretty difficult. Also to find decent waiters and chefs is proving problems also it seems. In some countries being a waiter is a good job. Here it is done by people who do not give a damn, and have no idea how to do it. You only have to look at Carluccios and Fish Works to prove that fast expansion does not work.
On this performance GBK has sunk a lot. Can they drag their sorry selves up again? Who knows? To be honest I don’t really care. GBK will never see the inside of my wallet again.

Byron Burger @ Upper Street Branch

Since returning from our mini stopover in New York back in March, we seemed not to have eaten a burger, and now I was beginning to have a craving for one or two.

As I noticed in New York, people there eat burgers probably two or three times a week, mainly as a quick lunch as we would eat a sandwich. They are very cheap and can eaten on the go.

The burgers there and the burgers here are so so different. Here, you pay a lot more but you also get a lot more. There, the burgers are in small buns and are not too dissimilar to those god awful chain specimens. Maybe that’s why they are still so popular.

Anyhows, I had a craving and it needed feeding. I noticed a branch of Byrons had sprung up on Upper Street. I’d seen another one in Soho somewhere, and heard of one in Kensington. The word on the street was that they did pretty good burgers.

That day I had been helping some friends move, and they had a lot of stuff, packed away in all sorts of boxes, draws, pots etc. Yes, they were not very good packers, but it did help me to realise how unfit I was. Very unfit. That will have to be put right. One day.

So, after a day of lugging too many tables up too many flights of stairs, I had a hunger that only a cow could subdue. I’m sure if we’d had been near to Buen Ayre, I think that is where I would have gone, we weren’t, but we were within walking distance of Byrons.

The welcome there is very friendly and so American. It is simply designed, lots of colour, which is good. Puts you in a happy mood. Which is the opposite from the outside. Bit bare really. Looks like they run pout of paint when they were doing it up.

The menu really has one burger on it, but with the addition of different toppings and extras you can build a masterpiece, or by paying £3.50p extra you can make it a double. They also have a chicken fillet burger and the lonely veggie option all the way at the bottom. It amazes me, as the few veggies I know do not like entering meat haven shrines. So why pander to them.

After a little time browsing the menu and looking around, we opted very simply for 2 classic burgers, onion rings and French fries. Thankfully the burgers are all cooked to medium as standard, as I hate when they ask how you want it, and they never come as you want. At least this way the cooks should be able to get them right.

First to the sides. The onion rings had that yummy sweet onion taste I love so much. The batter was a tad greasy, and being served in a bowl with greaseproof paper in the bottom. The grease made a nice little pool in the bottom. Lovely.

The French fries were ok, nothing special but cooked well and not too greasy.

The burgers though actually tasted of meat. Thank the lord. So many times recently I have tasted beef that does not taste of beef. The meat they say is ground and made into burgers fresh each day. These were seasoned very well, and had that beefy taste to them. The topping of lettuce and red onion slices are a standard that you either love them or hate them. Lina hates raw onion so I always get an extra helping.

A lot of burgers buns normally fall apart from being over soggy, as they do not let the burger rest before it goes on the bun. There was no such disaster happening here. The buns were actually really light and tasty. A compliment to the burgers.

We ordered two beers good ol’ yankee style. Not bad. I was in need of a beer after the day of hard slog I had, but on another occasion I would have ordered one of the shakes. Next time.

All in all it was a good experience considering it is a chain, but if you do one thing and do it well you will succeed. I think Byron will be around for a long time if they keep this up. Excellent. 

The All American Burger

No trip to New York would not be complete without sampling some good burgers. So after reading a few blogs and online guides to a few places, the choices were made.

The first was the Burger Joint @ Le Parker Meridien. It seemed strange at first, for a 5 star hotel to have a burger bar as one of its restaurants. But Americans do take their burgers very seriously it seems. They even have Burger Awards.

It’s situated down a dimly lit corridor behind the reception. It is one hell of a dirty little secret, but a great one. The entrance is hidden behind some heavy curtains, it’s only the illuminated burger sign that gives the game away. As you enter you’d believe it had been there for decades. Those interior designers have done a good job of creating that lived in greasy look.

The walls are covered in writing, made by patrons I believe. As there is a sign from the owners saying “ We Don’t Spit On Your Food, So Don’t Write On Our Walls”. Apt I thought. A few movie posters are scattered around as well. Some of the films I still haven’t watched. Shame. The vinyl booths add to the effect. All in all it looks great.

The food matches the surroundings. No, not greasy, beat up burgers, but well made, tasty, yummy ones. You could actually taste the meat. A rarity in meat these days, as producers seem to farm the taste out of beef these days. But these burgers had a good beefy taste. They were on the small side. But I guess from a nation that was brought up on fast food burgers (not going to name those chains), then these were the perfect size. The fries were fries really. But the chocolate milkshake was how milkshakes should be. Thick, chocolaty and great to drink.

It was pretty cheap (more expensive than a chain, I imagine), but the experience matched the food. Excellent.

The other joint we visited was the Shake Shack, which is situated outside in Madison Square Park. A good call in the summer, a bad one in the winter. Very bad. Thank the Lord for those outdoor ozone layer destroying heaters.

As with the Burger Joint, the burgers here were small but packed with flavour. Freshly cooked little patties of heaven. They are so good, they even won the fore mentioned Burger Award back in 2005.

The fries were pretty good, although the cheesy fries had a little too much cheese sauce. But all in all pretty damn good.

I’m sure on a spring or summer afternoon then this place would be packed but with the cold weather there were only a few die hards braving those icy winds.

We in England, well apart from those people who frequent those burger chains for their slice of America pie, would not pay £5 for a small burger even if it tastes of heaven. The good burgers I have found in London have been monsters and costing upwards of £10, as we don’t regard these small rounds of meat in quite the same way as the Americans do. For them it’s a  everyday lunch snack, something to keep them on the move in the same way we consume sandwiches.

To be honest I prefer the burgers I had stateside than the majority of the sandwiches I’ve had London side. But everything beats the hot dogs. 

Hamburgesas de la 80

Every country has it’s after hours food. That really bad food that you love to eat after you’ve had way too many drinks on a Friday or Saturday night.

My weakness was those kebab vans that you always found near pubs. It was a love hate relationship. They tasted soooo good once you lost all your taste buds. But once you were sober you despised yourself for eating such shit. They used the cheapest meat sucked off the bone by a machine then compacted into this oval shape ready to be cooked and then reheated time and time again until it was sold.

In Mexico I used to eat a lot of Gorditas. Deep fried fatty tacos. Just watching them cook you put on a few pounds, and your arteries clogged even before you took your first bite.

In Egypt the countless times I ate a Dynamita. A loaded pita sandwich that had everything bad for you in it. But soooo good…

All of these foods I have eaten and only should be eaten after several drinks. Never have I seen these foods being consumed by sober people. Until I hit Medellin. La 80 is one very long street and at several places along its busy roads are stalls selling some bad nasty food.

Not only are they bad for you health wise, but the portions are huge. The burgers would make any grown Texan cringe.

Did you know that all Paisas are banned from eating contests, because for them it’s an everyday meal.

Las hamburgesa stalls de la 80 are famous for cheap filling food. Only good for eating after way too many beers, but as I said the amount of people young or old, fat or thin cram around these nightly stalls gorging themselves on these monstrosities. Without been intoxicated.

As a so called foodie, I have my weaknesses. And these fatty, greasy foods that are not good for you. I do not know why, maybe it’s being in a city surrounded by bad and badly cooked food, that has weakened me. Please forgive me.

Maybe this is what this blog is all about.

Forgiveness.

Please forgive me for even thinking of going to these stalls without consuming unimaginable quantities of alcohol.

Please forgive me for my repeat visits to try all what they have to offer.

Please forgive me for ordering the special version of everything. Ie the larger version.

Please forgive me for actually thinking that as they have quails eggs they must be sophisticated, and therefore somehow ok to eat.

Please forgive me.

Please.