PART 8 - AUGUST: HONEST BURGERS (Soho / Oxford Circus)

Ordered: Honest Burger (incl Rosemary Fries) & Buffalo Wings

Rosemary fries were great. Esp considering they come with the burgers. Has the nice crispness of well cooked fry, the TASTE THE POTATO of having the skin on and the home-roasties flavour added by the rosemary. Seeing the rosemary on top also helps.
- The quantity is also nice and big. You often get so much less from places where to pay for your fries so a generous bale on your plate is a very welcome sight. These fries were the clear winner for this trip and if I had a CHIP WIN award this would go here today.

Buffalo wings are in the same style as Patty & Bun: fried batter coated with sauce and spring onions to garnish. The sauce however is a fiery red, closer to Meat Markets. The staff asked if I'd like them as a starter or a side and whilst I can seeing it working as both I'd take it as a service side. That way you can mix it up with the fries and have beefy burger bites in between wings.

THE HONEST BURGER of course is the main attraction here and it did not fail to deliver on its namesake promise. The bun has the glazed brioche appearance that is popular now but without the yellow and over sweetness that others get wrong.

For some, the way the onions were done will be either hit or miss. Instead of grilled, raw or fried onion (or onion rings) the Honest Burger uses sweet onion chutney much like a Branston pickle or onion jam. I happen to like this type of onion but, like a brioche, this can add a bit of sweetness that might not be welcome for some.

Whilst standard condiments come free on each table you can pay £1 for special pots of Chipotle Mayo, Curry Sauce or Bacon Ketchup. I wouldn't say any sauce on its own would be worth an extra quid but a ketchup made of BACON comes very very close.

When we visited the Soho restaurant we found that on top of the selection of burgers and specials you can have the FEDERATION version which essentially doubles every single item that lies between your bun halves. This suddenly takes your middle weight burger (on par with Patty & Bun and Meat Market) in to heavy weight territory, matching Hawksmoor for cost and size. For the hungry fools that dare a veritable mountain awaits you and all balance is scarified in the name of juicy, messy, MEAT.

Every burger ordered came with its own knife for you to cut in half and enjoy the layered cross-section but if you choose to go double cutting is not advised as you will need all the bun integrity you can get.

**
It is, however, worth noting that not all Honest Burger joints have the same menu. We found in Soho (due to the size of their kitchen) that their menu was limited and did not include the same sides like chicken wings.

PART 7 - JULY: BUKOWSKI GRILL (Shoreditch Boxpark)

This was a fallback site after an attempt to have Secret Cinema BTTF Hill Valley Lou's Cafe failed by Lou being out on break. In a way I'm glad we did as this was a surprise hit that is worth another visit.

Ordered:
Fat gringo burger
Burbon chicken burger
Both come with triple cooked chips

Burbon chicken burger brings back good memories of America's (not authentic at all) Asian stalls that would sell teriyaki-like grilled chicken on sticks or more often pop them in a bap to make a burger here. This one delivered on the moreish sweet BBQ meat and added just the right amount of salad to balance. One thing of note is that the tasty nature of the meat meant we had to stop twice to prevent the chicken disappearing in to our mouths leaving the rest behind. Such is the danger of noms.

The fat gringo is a good standard cheeseburger with bacon, salad and their special sauce for a little bit more variation in flavour. Single patty was good, topped with crispy/candied bacon and housed in a brioche bun that wasn't too sweet. However the cheese was a little overpowering for the meat. Mild cheese or blue would have been a better accompaniment.

Bacon on a cheeseburger is always a winner. Bacon win.

Triple cooked chips can often promise a lot and disappoint if anything short but the ones that came with each burger delivered well. Perfect golden crunch through to a little white fluffy centre and the right level of saltiness to hit the "just one more" mark every time.

PART 6 - JUNE: MEAT MARKET (Covent Garden)

MEAT
MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT
MEAT MEAT MEAT
MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT

Phew. Just had to get that out of the way.

Ordered: dead hippie burger, green chilli burger, buffalo wings,  dead hippie fries

Dead hippie burger - double cheese burger plus grilled onions, lettuce and dead hippie sauce. The dead hippie sauce is just like big mac sauce giving the total effect of a vastly improved big mac with less bun and more high quality beef.

Green Chilli burger: MM do two types of chilli burger. The red variety comes with beef chilli mince on top of their double cheeseburger. The green instead is topped with a heap of chopped green chillies. We chose the green! The tasty cheeseburger pairing shines through and is warmed nicely by a zing of chilli heat.

I had half of each burger with my accomplice,  Chris, and they both disappeared quickly.

Aside from the quality of the burgers (at a reasonable size), the other thing that stood out was the generously portioned sides that were given to us in full takeaway TINS.

You could have chilli fries, skinny french fries topped with mince chilli, cheese and more green chillies (making a chilli french fry lasagna) or you could have the dead hippie fries which were topped with grilled onions cheese and their dead hippie sauce.

Surprisingly the buffalo wings were similarly generous. More than enough for two people came a pile of wings with blue cheese dips to use if you so wished. The wings themselves were done in the more traditional buffalo wing style, no batter, and let the meat on the bone stand out.

As the name might suggest, all the items containing MEAT are really where this place stands out. The fries are ordinary skinny fries but throw chilli mince on top and you have a winner. Similarly the MEAT is the strongest part of the burgers (which have very little in the way of salad to interfere with the MEAT flavour) and  MEATy wings. Not one for vegetarians then.

MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT MEAT.......

PART 5 - MAY: GOODMAN (Canary Wharf)

YEAR OF THE BURGER: Part 5
GOODMAN - Canary Wharf

Fifth month and already at fifth meat meet.

Word had reached Goodmans about the YotB and they were ready for us. Welcomed with open arms: A large table was set aside in a partitioned area and the friendly staff asked if there was anything else they could do to help, including photo taking and info from the chef. They may have mistaken us for writers of some description - we were just people who wanted to eat good burgers!

This was clearly a place that prided itself on its meat quality. All visitors to the restaurant are brought what I can only describe as The Great Board of Beef. Their chef talked all the way through the board describing each of the different cuts and the sources of beef used. UK steaks can be chosen for a grass-fed flavour and American imports for sweeter corn-feds. To go with this, patrons are also given a viewing of all the different cuts on offer to show the types of marbling before cooking. As a special extra for this trip an additional plate was brought out solely for their beef patty: High quality Chuck cut from the neck.

£15 give you a genrous burger with which ever toppings you desire, including bacon & cheese, plus a nice portion of chips and pickles. For 50p more there is an option for Truffle Chips which is the same crispy set of chips but with a hint of truffle oil for smell. One portion of truffle chips could be shared but for moreish eating for one the standard chip is best.

The bun is a classic toasted sesame which was a nice change from popular brioche types (which can sometimes be too sweet), the bacon is crispy and the onion pleasantly comes as a single cross-sectional slice on top of the beef. There is plenty of salad which can be seen as a determent to many but thankfully it neither makes the package too soggy or overrides any of the main beef taste. The bun held out well.

The beef patty was a little more medium than the medium-rare of the Hawksmoor burger but that little bit of extra cooking unlocked a wealth of flavour from the rendered fat. Pink and juicy in the middle there was some water content that dripped to the plate but nothing near the puddles that some other burgers can made. Overall it was well-balanced and let the star attraction, the beef, take center stage.

The one other thing worth comment was the pickles. Normally pickles are somewhat tolerated or okay but the ones they served here, included  on the side, were sweet - almost like Japanese pickles. Never before have I gone out of my way to add pickle to an already handsome burger. A first for everything.

If you find you have room for desert I also recommend the white-chocolate creme brulee. The thickness of which nearly refused to let go of the spoon.

The beef on the bone is dried in-house and can be seen proudly on display.I may have to come back here at some point if only for the steaks left on that board.