Burgershack at The Royal Oak

 

Another day another burger. This time I'm checking out the Burgershack pop up run by my favourite burger blogger, Burgerac. Found in a quite area of Marylebone, The Royal Oak is a lovely pub, if not a little expensive on the drinks side but alas I'm here for the food. With a menu promising childhood memories of simple burgers I was keen to try, especially as simple cheeseburgers are what I love the most.

First up is the cheeseburger (the dirty one). I'm a big fan of a simple cheeseburger and this certainly fits that description. With a simple white bun, juicy patty with American cheese and a saucy mix of mustard and ketchup you can't really go wrong. Simple food at it's finest and whilst a little reminiscent of a fast food burger in terms of toppings the meat quality was excellent, it was cooked to perfection and all-in-all it was really tasty. Next time I'd like to try the burgershack (the posh one).

We also ordered the chicken burger which really was a taste sensation. Perfectly cooked, crispy yet succulent chicken with delicious mayo. lettuce and cheese toppings. One of the best chicken burgers you can have in London for sure!

One the side we had the mouth watering deep fried pork shoulder amaze balls and chilli cheese fries. Both were outstanding and just writing this post is making me want to go back and eat them all over again.

A terrific pop up that you really should try and visit with great prices and excellent quality food. I wish you all the best Burgerac!

Tacu Tacu at Casa Blue

In my endless hunt to find the finest burgers in London I decided to try out the pop-up Tacu Tacu at the cocktail bar Casa Blue on Brick Lane. Tacu Tacu specialises in Latin American food with a small range of burgers and tacos. I was happy to see the bar nice and busy on my visit, everyone was eating and on first exception the food looked great.

Steve and I ordered both burgers; the Mexican Baja shrimp burger and the hot Havana beef burger. The shrimp burger was unusual but delicious. I'm a huge fan of shellfish but I've never had a burger patty made from shrimp before and it was a taste sensation. The patty was dense with shrimp and held together well. It was flavoursome and the roasted red pepper was a nice accompaniment. The avocado, garlic mayo was extremely tasty and the bread held everything together nicely. The beef burger was just as delicious, the beef was seasoned well and the toppings gave it a nice kick. It was cooked perfectly medium rare and once again everything held together well when eaten by hand. Both burgers were on the large side and extremely filling.

We also tried a couple of tacos; beef and duck. Whilst both tasted great the duck with melted cheese was definitely my favourite of the two. That being said the combination of toppings on the beef taco were wonderful.

As for sides we thought it best just to stick with chips and burger sauce. The chips were crispy, not too salty and surprisingly tasty. We also ordered a slice of mojito cheesecake which tasted just like the cocktail, delicious.

All in all I thought this meal was fantastic, the quality really stood out and it's somewhere I'll definitely visit again.

Dragonfly Brewery at The George and Dragon

I love trekking to different parts of London to sample a burger, so when I was invited to the Dragonfly Brewery at The George and Dragon in Acton I was very excited to discover a new place. I've never been to Acton but it feels like one of those up-and-coming towns with new restaurants and bars opening all over the place.

The really cool thing about this pub is the microbrewery at the back where lots of different beers are brewed. As always, I'm not a beer drinking but I was happy to see a couple of interesting looking ciders on display. Steve had an Early Doors IPA which he says was nice and light and a good accompanying drink for a burger. I had Blackberry Bush cider which was sweet but not sickly, a lovely choice. We also shared a half pink of kriek (a sour cherry fruit beer) after our meal which was a nice substitute for dessert. I drank so many of these in Belgium a few months ago and swore the stuff would never touch my lips again but after a big meal it was a fantastic palette cleaners, I'm glad I was sharing a half pint though as it's pretty sickly stuff.

On to the food! The Dragonfly Brewery have created a burger menu to compliment their selection of beer,s with their on-site brewed Dark Matter being a key ingredient. I'm often overwhelmed by a large menu, especially when it comes to burgers so it was nice to see a compact selection of food. I went for the St. George as I was intrigued by the onion jam and Steve opted for the Full Monty for obvious reasons! We also ordered a portion of chips and beer battered onion rings.

 

The onion jam was lovely and sweet and combined with the cheese and bacon really made for a delicious burger. I meat was high quality and whilst it was a messy burger due to the jam is was a delight to eat. My only issue was that it was a little too cooked for me, I like my burger very pink so in hindsight I should have asked for it to be cooked medium rare. The onions rings were absolutely delicious, you could really taste the beer batter and they had a lovely crunch.

 

As you can tell from the picture, Steve's burger was a beast and looking back I don't think he even finished it! Whilst another messy one with oozing cheese, beef chilli and jalapeños it was totally delicious and a flavour explosion. The beef brisket chilli was especially tasty! The chips were nicely cooked but on this occasion it was the onion rings that were the stand out side order. We were way too full to even attempt dessert but there was a nice sounding brownie on the menu.

I liked this pub a lot, it had a lovely chilled out atmosphere and the price of the burgers was reflected in the quality of the meat. A lot of pubs these days are guilty of producing below parr food but at gourmet prices but this is definitely not the case here. Next time I'm back in Acton I'll definitely be popping my head in again, either for a burger or a refreshing cider.

Have you been to many microbreweries x

Bill or Beak at KERB Kings Cross

I absolutely love KERB, it's my favourite food market in London so when I was invited down to the Kings Cross branch for a photography lesson I jumped at the chance to sample some delicious food whilst practising my photography skills.

With all the tasty food stalls it was hard to pick what to have but once I spied Bill or Beak I knew immediately where I'd be stopping for lunch. With the promise of a duck and pork burger topped with Vietnamese dressing and tempura shallots I knew the Beak option was the one for me. The burger was delicious with the meat being succulent and the onions being crunch, I'll definitely be back to try the Bill option.

Thanks for the day out Simply Health x

Follow @hansyhobs

Tommi's Burger Joint at the Princess of Wales

If there's one thing I don't mind going out of my way for it's a burger which is why I headed (all the way) over to Primrose Hill on a school night. Tommi's Burger Joint, whom I'm a long standing fan of, are holding a pop-up at the Princess of Wales pub on the third Thursday of each month and the burgers they're serving up are delightful!

I first tried Tommi's well over a year and a half ago in Marylebone and then again on a trip to Iceland in December 2012 and very single time I've tried one of their burgers the taste and quality remains consistently good. The burgers are cooked to perfection, as are the fries and now I'm looking forward to the permanent Kings Road restaurant opening up (finally a decent burger joint in my neighbourhood).

This time around I tried the New Yorker which is a bacon and Monterey Jack cheese burger complete with sweet pickles, onions and horseradish mustard i.e. my idea of burger heaven (minus the pickles, I don't like pickles). It really was delicious, the meat was nice and pink, the burger held together even though it was on the messy side and the individual flavours of the different toppings really came through. All in all an extremely delicious dinner.

To accompany the burgers the Princess of Wales were serving up some lovely drinks. There were a few tasty cocktails on the menu so I went for the Ginger Ninja, a ginger and honey infused rum and ginger beer mix followed by the Breakfast Margarita which includes tequila, grapefruit juice and marmalade. Neither of these were drinks I'd normally go for and considering I'm not a huge fan of ginger or grapefruit I found them rather tasty, the Ginger Ninja especially so. My friend also tried the Peanut Butter Milkshake (vanilla vodka, caramel spiced rum, vanilla ice cream, milk and peanut butter) which is my idea of hell (I hate milk) but she LOVED it! And for all you beer lovers do not fear because the Princess of Wales has a mighty fine collection of craft beers too!

During their residency Tommi's Burger Joint is running a diferent theme each night. On this particular evening it was a Man vs Food challenge where the contestants have 5 minutes to devour the Ultimate Burger i.e. a super New Yorker with 3 patties instead of 1.The next night is on the 20th March and I'm sure the theme will be just as exciting!

Will you be tempted by this Primrose Hill pop-up x

Follow @hansyhobs

Dirty Burger

 

1.Menu 2. Napkins 3. Beer fridge 4. Branding

5. Burger, crinkle cut fries and onion rings 6. - 8. Cheese burger

I popped up to Kentish Town on Friday to watch some bands at the HMV Forum and after a couple of ciders it would have been rude not to pop into Dirty Burger on the way home for a pre-emptive hangover cure. Found in a glorified tin shed around the back of Pizza East this burger joint is a nice little place and not as grubby as the name would suggest. We popped in just before 1am closing and there were only a few other people there which meant we got a seat around the large table. After acquiring some cider from the help yourself fridge (you do have to pay for them by the way) we patiently waited for our burgers, chips and onions rings.

The burgers are that perfect takeaway size, small enough to be eaten easily without too much mess and big enough to satisfy you cider induced hunger. They were very tasty and reminded me of a bigger and better quality double cheese burger from McDonald's which is a compliment as those bad boys are damn tasty! The chips and onion rings were delicious, you can't beat crunchy crinkle fries and deep fries chunks of onion can you?

All in all a nice little burger joint. They only do a cheese burger and at £5.50 it's pretty good value for money, the beef was good quality, it held together well and most importantly tasted good. I wouldn't say it's worth the trek to Kentish Town if you live on the other side of London but if you're in the area then definitely check it out. If you're looking for a proper restaurant I'd recommend Chicken Shop next door which I will be reviewing next.

MEATmission

1. MEATmission 2. Menu 3. Food menu

4. Sweet Cheeks cider 5. Ceiling 6. Bar

7. Food (Dead Hippie x2, Dirty Chicken burger, Green Chilli burger, chilli cheese fries, fries, deep fried gherkins) 8. Monkey Fingers 9. No Brainer cider

I finally made it to Yianni Papoutsis' new baby for lunch yesterday, MEATmission. From the success of MEATwagon, MEATeasy, MEATliquor and MEATmarket this Hoxton Market burger joint opened just before Christmas and I can confirm that once again they've hit the nail on the head. The interior is dark and edgy with evil eye symbols on the ceiling and caged up bar. The seating area is a mixture of high booths and long benches arranged in what I image a hipster themed Oktoberfest hall would look like. Despite my use of the word 'edgy' I actually prefer this place over MEATliquor as the vibe is a little more casual and a little less Dalston Superstore despite being a stones throw away from the area. Anyway, onto the food. I shared a Dirty Chicken burger and Dead Hippie with my friend Katie, we had heard great things about the chicken burger but fancied some beef hence the reason for half and half. What I can say is that the Dirty Chicken burger did not live up to the hype. I find chicken burgers a bit bland, they just don't have all the interesting flavours and mixtures a beef burger can have and in comparison to the much loved Dead Hippie it isn't something I would order again. Don't get me wrong it did taste good but I just preferred the Dead Hippie x213123. However, the Monkey Fingers i.e. deep fried BBQ chicken strips was a whole other story. Holy moly these tasted amazing, so tangy and coupled with the blue cheese sauce they were by far my favourite component of the entire meal! If I have to recommend one thing on the menu it would be the Monkey Fingers, they were bloody delicious.

I like MEATmission a lot but I'm not sure I would readily make the journey from SW LDN to Shoreditch to just to eat here. Sometimes I feel a get a bit bored of the whole MEATliquor empire. I'll go a couple of times and absolutely love it, then decide I'm fed up of the place and then rediscover my love 6 months later. So for now I'm going to stay clear for a little while but I know in 6 months time I will be craving a Dead Hippie and Monkey Fingers like nobodies business.

PS you can book a table here which is amazing - no queueing for hours thanks very much!

Byron 2012 Round Up

 

 A year at Byron

Byron is hands down my favourite big time burger chain. It blows the likes of GBK and Handmade Burger Co. completely out of the water and with it's ever growing empire in London (plus Kent and Oxford locations too) it's firmly staying on the burger map. My go-to burger is the cheese burger with Monterey Jack (medium rare thanks) and courgette fries (damn those crispy vegetables taste so good) but what I love most of all is the constant stream of monthly specials. This year there has been 4 specials and most of them have been absolutely bloody delicious!

In May the Chilli Queen was released to celebrate the Queen's diamond jubilee. Created with the help of burger legend Fred Smith this green chilli cheeseburger with spiky chipotle mayo was delicious! Hot, hell yes (I don't normally go for chilli cheese burgers) but still divine and because of this the Chilli Queen (now know as The Chilli) will become a permanent feature on the Byron menu from tomorrow!

In August we were introduced to the Californian to celebrate the summer. Overloaded with guacamole, pickled red onion, dry cure bacon and shredded iceberg lettuce I really enjoyed this burger, even with the lack of cheese! This was definitely a top special of mine and would love to see it become a permanent fixture on the menu.

November bought with it the MO Burger, something Byron have been doing for a few years but this was the first time I'd tried it (I didn't really do burgers pre 2012). This was my least favourite special of the year with cheddar cheese, pickled red onion, salted cucumber slices, shredded iceberg lettuce and mustard dill dressing. I'm not a fan of pickles or cucumber so I ended up removing a few constituents of this one but that being said I still enjoyed it.

And last but most certainly not least was the Triple Cheesemas bought to you this December and without a doubt my favourite special of the year! This beauty was a double cheese burger with American cheese, Emmenthal, Monterey Jack, pickled red onion, shredded iceberg lettuce, pickles & spicy Byron sauce. All I can really say about it is OMG because it was that freakin' good, go good I went back and had another one 2 weeks later!

So there you go, Byron did a bloody good year of burgers and I can't wait to see what specials they have lined up for 2013. And if you were wondering what that last picture is in the bottom right hand corner, well it's a little burger purse my friend bought me for Christmas because you know, I love burgers!

Tommi's: London vs Reykjavik

Tommi's in London - cheese burger

Tommi's in Reykjavik

Tommi's in Reykjavik - steak burger and chocolate fudge cake

When Tommi's Burger Joint opened in London several months ago I was excited to try it out, I knew nothing about Iceland at the time but hearing this burger joint came all the way from Rekjavik was an exciting concept. The Marylebone burger joint is in the heart of what I like to call Burger Land with Meat Liquor and Patty and Bun only a few minutes walk away so the competition is fierce.

First of all, I absolutely love the décor of the place, fairy lights everywhere so the place has a lovely warm and friendly vibe about it. It's small but both times I've been it hasn't been particularly busy so getting a table has been easy. The menu is small which is something I prefer, too much choice can be overwhelming and with a small menu it normally means the chefs can really concentrate on the taste of the different burgers. On both my visits I went for the deal of the century which is a cheeseburger, fries and fizzy drink (diet coke thanks). At £9.40 I wouldn't exactly call this the deal of the century, however you can't deny that a burger, chips and drink combo for under a tenner is some sort of a good deal! Now this isn't the best burger I've ever had but I did enjoy it nevertheless, the flavours are simple and understated and I imagine it's on a par with McDonald's but sometimes a simple and quick burger is all you're after and if that's the case then this is the place for you. It's not my favourite option in Burger Land but it's definitely a place I would recommend a burger lover to check out especially as the staff are lovely, it's less than 5 minutes from Oxford Street and the restaurant is a nice place to rest your feet in.

Now talking about the lovely staff on my second visit I knew I had a trip to Reykjavik planned for the following week so after a little chat with the waitresses I left with a list of bar recommendations and told them I would definitely be popping into the original Tommi's in the Reykjavik harbour which nicely brings me on to part 2 of this review. FYI all the bar recommendations I received (B5, Celtic Cross, Bar 11 and Dillon) were excellent!

I spent a long weekend in Reykjavik with a group of friends and our first port of call on the Thursday evening was to check out the original Burger Joint. The London waitresses had told me there were a few different locations but we wanted to check out the original down by the docks. As for décor it is very similar to the London branch but with even more fairly lights and hilarious burger themed accessories making it perfectly festive for our visit in December. I decided to try the much raved about steak burger with chips and fizzy drink followed by a shared slice of chocolate fudge and ice cream. First of all let me just say that Iceland is not cheap, everything is more expensive so there is no point even trying to compare the price to London. I wasn't thrilled by this burger, the steak had an unusual taste and I found myself wishing I'd just gone with the cheeseburger. However, despite the differences in the patty the style of this burger (and the chips) was just like the London branch so in my opinion they've done a great job at replicating the original branch over here. As for the chocolate cake, well I love chocolate cake and this one was huge and delicious, nuff said!

I was in Reykjavik for a long weekend so we hadn't planned on having another burger but after a choice of venue mishap the following night we ended up in the bar B5 which has a little Burger Joint kitchen on the side. None of us wanted another burger but we had 30 minutes before we had to be back at the hotel for our Northern Lights excursion so we didn't have time to go anywhere else. This time I went for the cheese burger deal of the century which by Iceland's standards probably is a pretty good deal and it tasted just like the one I had in London. I wouldn't recommend going to B5 for a burger as it's nowhere near as nice as the original Burger Joint décor wise but I was sort of glad I got to try it out.

The style of Tommi's has definitely carried well across the 3 different branches I've been able to try (I'm not sure if there are any more in Reykjavik but let me know if there is) and the burgers are worth checking out but don't expect any table service or even menus as this a quick style eats place.