Honest Burger

The final stop on my London trip in the search for some of Londons best burgers lead me to Honest Burger. 

http://www.honestburgers.co.uk/

Honest Burgers have become famous in London for their success, coming from a small marquee to a chain of restaurants throughout London. They started out sourcing fresh meat down from a farm in Yorkshire and turning that into fresh meat patties to serve with simple rosemary seasoned fries they began to expand. They now have a total of 7 restaurants at the time of writing this memoir, all across London (Brixton - their original restaurant, Soho, Camden, Portobello, Kings Cross, Oxford Circus and Tooting). With this much success and growth the meat memoirs had to see if these burgers were some of the best in London. 

Having to catch a train from Kings Cross the Kings Cross restaurant was my choice for a lunch time burger. 

Arriving early lunch time I wasn't sure if there'd be a long wait or not but the restaurant was surprisingly quiet. 

The staff behind the bar quickly welcomed me and ushered me to a rustic timber table. The whole room is dry rustic timber with a white tile bar. There's an open kitchen and additional seating in the basement too but the ground floor is light and spacious with great views for people watchers thanks to the large windows around the restaurant. 

Interior

Light Rustic Interior

The staff didn't seem to give me much time to look over the menu before asking if I was ready to order. When I asked for a few more minutes. I was given no more than that before I was asked again. Feeling rushed I quickly made my choice from the flow chart style menu. 

The flow chart look of the menu is very simple to use. Chicken titles linked to the chicken dishes. The majority are beef dishes but there's a vegetarian title linking the dishes for vegetarians. 

Menu

Unlike every other burger restaurant sampled this weekend, and most others these days, honest burgers are served with salted rosemary fries rather than you having to buy fries as an additional side dish. 

They have a small selection of additional side dishes including coleslaw, chicken wings, onion rings and additional sauces to choose from. 

The menu reads as their name suggests. Honest. Simple. Burgers. With just 5 beef burgers to choose from I opted for the Tribute burger (£10.00). 

Beef patty, bacon, American cheese, burger sauce, French's mustard, pickles, onions, and lettuce. Sounded like a classic combination to me. 

The bottom of the menu notes that all burgers are cooked medium / pink unless other wise requested. When ordering the waitress made sure I was happy with this, which I confirmed I was after all the other "pink" burgers I'd eaten so far this weekend had been to my liking I thought these would be similar if not the same. 

To compliment the burger I ordered a side of onion rings too having not had any all weekend. 

The burger arrived after what didn't feel like very long but I was engaged in conversation passing the time. 

On a large enamel plate came a generous portion of fries along side a thick beef burger inside a perfectly round, perfectly golden bread bun. The size of the beef patty hid the salad and other toppings on this burger, with just an edge of onion and a dribble of mustard visible. 

Tribute Burger (£10.00) with Rosemary & Salt Fries

Take the top off the burger to reveal 2 slices of very thick bacon! It's great to see proper bacon on a burger and not that microwaved paper thin stuff. With American cheese stated on the menu it was never going to be much more than a cheese slice and that's what you get. 

Topless

The beef patty looked juicier than any of the weekend yet, and biting into it revealed why. 

Having been asked if I'd be happy with my burger cooked pink in the middle I expected a little pink colour to the middle, but this burger I'd describe as blue in the middle. It was bordering on barely warm in the centre. The beef was great quality, the patty almost falling apart like mince still. These were possibly the thickest patties sampled in London. So no complaints there. But the meat in the middle, although tasty, just shouldn't be that pink in a burger in my opinion, I'd have felt a little more comfortable had it been cooked more. 

Pink? More like Blue Centre

The side of skin-on fries were fried to a great crisp and seasoned well, not that the Rosemary seasoning was very obvious. They were well salted though.

The second side of onion rings were 5 large rings of onion in a crispy loose batter that easily fell away from the onion rings. They tasted good but were nothing outstanding. 

Optional Onion Rings (£3.00)

Conclusion

Honest burgers are obviously having a great success throughout London with their simple menu of classic burger flavour combinations. 

The staff in this restaurant seemed rather keen to take my order, and although it's a simple menu, when trying to take in the surroundings etc. I needed a little longer to browse the menu and decide. I couldn't understand their hurried attitude when the restaurant seemed so quiet. 

Honest Burgers use simple ingredients that are obviously fresh and well made. Their beef patties are some of the thickest available in London that I found, and I've never seen such a perfectly rounded and golden brown bread brioche bun. 

They've concentrated on perfecting the ingredients and combining this with simple sides it's working. I imagine it won't be long before they've expanded beyond the capital city into other areas of the UK. If they do, I only hope they don't loose their original intentions along the way. 

May be it was just this particular serving, or this particular restaurant, but to me a burger needs to be cooked more than this. Yes it tastes great. but there are reasons a burger needs to reach a certain temperature in the centre, and I couldn't be sure this burger had reached that temperature. I still ate it and to no ill effects, I just imagine that based on other restaurants idea of a "pink" burger, people won't be expecting something quite this pink. I'd also worry how long before one bad batch of meat gets through. I suppose if they source their meat from a particular farm and that farm can keep up with demands then hopefully the quality is controlled right up to mincing and patty making. 

It wouldn't put me off Honest Burger by a long shot though. Next time I'm in London I'll visit Honest Burger again and would hope to see them expand out of London. Next time I visit though I'll be sure to ask for the burger more towards well done, as may be my preference just didn't stretch to this extent of "pink". 

@honestburgers

Meat Rating: 6/10

Money for Meat: Paid in Full 

Pit Smoked Barbeque

Prior to visiting London I'd shared on social media the reason behind my visit (to watch a favourite sport of mine at Wembley), and one food company had replied to tell me that they would be serving outside Wembley stadium and inviting me to visit them. 

Pit Smoked Barbeque was their name and after looking on their website (linked at the end of this memoir) and reading about their custom made smoking pit I was intrigued.

Pit Smoked Barbeque

There were a number of stalls available to choose from outside Wembley, but as Pit Smoked Barbeque had been in touch and after reading about their equipment I thought I'd choose them. 

Pit Smoked Barbeque Outside Wembley

They had a small menu of just three options from their van, all served on a brioche roll:

1. 18 Hour slow cooked pulled pork with BBQ sauce (£7.00)
2. Smoked XXL hotdog (£6.00)
3. Ultimate combo - a combination of both of the above (£8.00)

Menu

A simple menu for event catering, but as all items sounded like they'd satisfy another meat craving I went for the combined option! 

It's worth noting at this point that I didn't make them aware of who I was, or introduce my self prior to ordering to remind them that they'd contacted me prior to this. I just ordered like anyone else. 

So, on to the food.

I fully expected the usual arrangement of a frankfurter on a dry bun, then for it to be topped with pulled pork and optional coleslaw, before being doused in BBQ sauce. I was therefore surprised when the 'slaw went on the bun first, then the pulled pork, then finally the sausage and a thin line of BBQ sauce. Different way of doing it.

The bun was a fresh bun to start, not like the stale things that catering trailers usually sell you at big events. The coleslaw wasn't all all salad cream or mayonnaise either, but instead more just crunchy cabbage and carrot. So far so good. 

The pulled pork then. Now pulled pork from trailers usually isn't prepared that fresh and ends up being in a hot plate for a while and going dry. As their website states, they bring a BBQ pit with them and it smells great but they have the cooked foods on hot plates ready to serve, which is where this pork came from. As previous pulled pork has been when served like this, it was a little dry. It had a decent barbecue taste to it though which couldn't be avoided. They didn't scrimp on the pulled pork either. The 'slaw and pulled pork filled the bread bun. There wasn't any room for the sausage.

So the sausage became a balancing act on top of the pulled pork and that was covered in a 

quick dashing of BBQ sauce. The sausage was well cooked and well seasoned and a good diameter with generous length (steady!). The smoked barbecue taste was again a positive with the sausage as much as it was for the pulled pork. The skin was a little tough for my preference, which I can only liken to that of a frankfurter. 

The smoked BBQ sauce added extra smoky flavour to the meal as well as helping bring some moisture to the meal. 

Ultimate Combo meal

The problem with the meal was that without having a table to sit down and eat at, keeping the sausage on top of the bread and pulled pork was a difficult balancing act. It all tasted great though. 

Conclusion

Pit Smoked Barbeque often cater for large events including Reading Festival, Wembley events, barbecue events in Manchester, and many other events around the country. So although you may not be able to just visit them on request, you might come across them at a festival or event. 

If you do I highly recommend their food compared to the usual bare minimum catering food that's often available. 

The barbecue flavours they offer from their smoking pit are great. If anything they offer you too much barbecue, that or they need to find larger bread buns (my preferred solution over serving less).  It may have been better if the food came straight from their pit to the bread but I ordered at a quieter time and imagine when it's busy the sausages and pork wont have been on a hot plate so long so would probably be a bit juicier. 

If you see them at an event and you're not sure which catering van to choose from then you're in safe hands with Pit Smoked Barbeque. Hopefully they can introduce a bit more to their menus as time goes on.

http://pitsmokedbbq.co.uk/

Meat Rating: 6/10

Money for Meat: Paid in Full

Dirty Burger

With so much planned during my time in London I wasn't able to fit in all the burgers I wanted. In an attempt to, I found out that Dirty Burger were open bright and early at 9am and could be found in various locations around London (Whitechaple, Vauxhall, Shoreditch, & Kentish Town. They also have a store in Chicago!). A little out of the way for my day but closest to where I was staying I opted to visit the Kentish Town store, so I woke up early and made the trip on the tube up there to see if they'd offer me a burger at 9am. What better way to start the day?

I knew this place was a bit more hidden than some other restaurants, and without the steel bin on the corner of a side street I'd have probably walked past it. 

Bin sign

Head towards the bin and around the corner and you see, leaning onto the back of another restaurant, hidden away under the fire escape is a small corrugated metal building. Through the fire escape bars you can just about see the "Dirty Burger" sign. It's different I'll give it that. 

It's in there somewhere

Different

As you can imagine, at 9am on a Sunday morning in a little London town, a burger restaurant isn't too busy so I didn't have to wait or anything. I'd tweeted them about a week before to ask if they served burgers first thing in the morning to no reply so just thought I'd head down there and risk it. 

Entering the little building there's a high level wooden table around the perimeter and a centre breakfast bar type table in the middle of the room. To the left is the kitchen built into the back of the other restaurant. 

"Rustic" interior

"Rustic" interior

No real need for artificial light I suppose. May be the little bit of heating though

The staff were friendly for this time on a Sunday morning (can't imagine I'd be that friendly at work at that time on a Sunday). I asked if they served burgers but as soon as I looked up at the menu it became clear the answer would be no, not until 11am. A little disappointing that they didn't reply on social media to answer this for me, but I was there now so I'd sample their breakfast menu instead. Simple enough menu, either a sausage and egg or a bacon and egg sandwich including bottomless tea or coffee for £4. 

The Menu

There are fresh doughnuts to the side of the window into the kitchen too if you have a sweet tooth for breakfast. I settled for the sausage and egg sandwich though. 

Fresh made doughnuts

I'd barely opened a complimentary paper before they called me back over for my breakfast sandwich. It looked a bit empty on a tray on it's own but it towered high enough in it's wrapping. 

Wrapped breakfast

Opening the wrapping let out a great smell of sausage and egg. If I was disappointed with having to settle for breakfast before I was quickly coming around to the idea now. 

Sausage & Egg Sandwich (£4.00)

Between the small brioche bun looked like a simple fried egg atop a sausage patty. It wasn't until I took a bite that I realised there was more to this that met the eye. A little lick of BBQ sauce seemed to have been smeered onto the bottom bun and the egg had been peppered for flavour. 

Peppered egg

The sausage patty was a little thin but good quality and well cooked. No gristle or obvious fatty parts as can be the case with sausages. The sausage meat was well seasoned with herbs and mustard seeds. Gave it a really great taste! The cracked pepper on the egg also really helped this little bun pack a morning punch! 

Half gone 

Runny Egg on well Seasoned Sausage Patty

The combination of the barbecue sauce and the runny egg yolk meant that this wasn't too easy to eat without slopping down yourself. However hard I tried! 

It was all worth it though. 

I soon realised what the sink was located in the eating area for, as my hands were a real mess after eating this. 

Wash up point

Conclusion

After initially being disappointed at not being able to grab the burger I'd hoped for I was pleasantly surprised with a great breakfast sandwich, which although may not look much for a meal, tied me over until lunch time. For a mere £4 it was very impressive and I'd definitely consider going out of my way again for this breakfast as it beats most other fast food breakfasts I've had before. In fact I'd prefer it over most greasy spoons! 

The venue is a little difficult to find and I don't imagine it's too great to spend much time in there in the cold depths of winter when it's wet, cold and windy outside. It's probably a bit draughty. 

My only criticism for Dirty Burger is their lack of social media communication. It would have been good to know I wasn't going to be able to get a burger, there again, if I hadn't tried I wouldn't have sampled such a great breakfast, so fries and potatoes I suppose! 

Meat Rating: 8/10

Money for Meat: Paid in Full

Patty & Bun

The third stop on the meat tour around London was to Patty & Bun for an evening meal. This restaurant is often regarded as serving some of the best burger in London so we couldn't miss this off while in the city. 

They have two restaurants within the city but we opted for the one near to Oxford Road on James Street (the other is located near Bishop Gate). This is a street full of little restaurants and is very busy in an evening for people eating out and socialising. It seems that Patty and Bun are one of the few which doesn't offer outside seating as almost all the other restaurants on the street have seating to the front of the shop. 

The small, open front restaurant stands out on the street thanks to the red paintwork. Arriving, your welcomed by a member of staff at the front door who asks how many you're with and then asks you to wait outside while your table is prepared. Being a weekend evening it was quite busy for our visit and we had to wait 20 minutes or so. 

Normally this isn't a problem, but with only a small bench for a number of people waiting outside at such a busy time it means you're left standing in the street waiting. There is a menu to look over but this would probably be little consolation should the weather be anything like traditional English weather. There is a small overhang to the front of the restaurant but it wouldn't be able to shelter everyone waiting (unless you were all suddenly very comfortable with each other).

Front of the restaurant

Menu

Once we were offered our table the waiter showed us to a table toward the rear of the restaurant. Inside the restaurant is quite small and dimly lit and it becomes clear why you're made to wait on the street, there's just no room for waiting customers inside. There are a set of tables along either side of the restaurant and a small bar tot the back. The kitchen and toilets are located down the stairs to the rear of the restaurant. The decoration is quite simple with chip board lining the walls, and sketches on cardboard hung from the walls higher up. 

Open fronted

Inside the restaurant

Decoration

Each step of a burger?

Having been sat at our table we were offered a paper menu to look over and reconsider our choices. The burgers vary with a wide range of flavours of different sauces and relishes. They also offer chicken and lamb burgers in case beef isn't your bag. Having heard great things about their "Smokey Robinson Burger" this was my choice, combined with sides of fries and "Winger Winger chicken dinner" BBQ chicken wings. It wasn't long before the waiter was back to take our order and deliver our drinks we'd ordered on entering. 

Paper Menu

They also offer a daily special but due to the time of day they had sold out of this option on our arrival. 

Places are then set with a brown paper place mat to save on any plate washing and the centre of the table has cutlery and additional sauces to save you having to get your own. I'm a fan of this as it's more like a restaurant. They've managed to eliminate most of the washing up but keep the need for service staff, as the trend nowadays seems to be for customers to get their own cutlery etc.

Centre pieces

The wait isn't too long before the food is delivered, despite how busy this little restaurant is. 

The sides come in a polystyrene cup and the burger is wrapped and sealed with a signature P&B sticker indicating which burger is wrapped inside. 

Smokey Robinson Burger & Fries

The burger is huge! I was feeling hungry and was tempted to ask if they did any double burgers before ordering but the beef patty in these burgers is so thick a single is adequate enough. 

As you unwrap the burger the cheese tries to hold the burger to the wrapping. Thick, stringy, melted cheese which has to be pulled away from the wrapping. It's great to see proper cheese on a burger, not the usual thin cheese slices. 

Unwrapping

Beneath the patty, the bun is coated in thick ketchup and P&B mayo, along with the lettuce. Then on top of the patty they have a big dollop of caramelised onions and the thick cheese. 

Smokey Robinson Burger (£8.50)

Inside the thick beef patty is a slightly pink in the centre and seems to be high quality minced beef. Under all the onions it's difficult to see the bacon but it's in there! The caramelised onions really flavour the meat and Patty and Buns mayo is a really great sauce. Really sweet flavour. This is easily the best burger I'd found in London so far! 

Burger Section

It's also possibly the messiest burger in London. 

Burger Mess

The fries are crispy with skin on, and quite heavily salted (£2.75). They taste great though. They don't taste like they're cooked in regular cooking oil, there's something different about these fries. They're then seasoned with some rosemary for a bit of extra flavouring.

The wings are also served in a polystyrene cups like the fries, but there's a decent number within the cup (roughly 6 wings). They're doused in a thick BBQ sauce which is very messy to eat. The sauce is has a tangy tomato flavour to it followed by a very sweet sugary flavour. The wings are cooked so well that when I put one down and picked it up again by the bone it left the chicken on the table. Couldn't be cooked better. 

Winger Winger Chicken Dinner (£5.50)

Conclusion

Patty and Bun was the best burger I ate on my search around London. The beef patty was good quality and cooked to perfection. The sides were spot on too! And P&B sauces are fantastic! They've done a great job on the recipes for these sauces. 

The only thing that lets it down is the restaurant size. It's not too bad once you're inside but having to queue outside I imagine puts a lot of people off, especially in poor weather. It's worth the wait though for those willing to wait around outside! I'd be willing to wait in the rain next time as this will be my place to visit next time I'm in London! 

@pattyandbunjoe

Meat Rating: 9/10

Money for Meat: Paid in Full

Covent Garden Meat Market

Second stop in my travels around London was to Covent Gardens Meat Market. This London burger outlet is hidden behind painted read and black windows on the first floor of the Jubilee Market Hall in Covent Garden. 

It's a little difficult to find at first, and you'll be mistaken for walking past the small door in the building leading up to the Meat Market. Wandering around inside Jubilee Market Hall doesn't look like the place you'll find burgers being served among the little stalls of clothes and souvenirs. Looking upwards you see the red and black windows and you realise you're looking in the wrong place so try to find the staircase to head upstairs. 

Meat Market

At the top of the stairs your eyes are drawn everywhere at once thanks to all the brightly lit slogans and arrows overhead and the neon colours fridge magnets everywhere. It's a stark contrast to the market on the ground floor. The room is a long thin room with the kitchen down one side opposite the seating area. Walking along to the far end you find the ordering point with a menu to the right to look over. 

Quotes and Signs

All simple enough and due to being fairly hidden it's quiet inside so no waiting around. 

Meat Market Menu (Part 1)

Meat Market Menu (part 2)

The menu offers a varied selection of burgers, all of which are doubles, a couple of hot dogs to choose from and a choice of flavoured chicken wings and fries for sides. 
The colourful graffiti style cocktail menu on a chalkboard beneath and standard drinks menu to the side. 

Cocktail Menu

Drinks Menu

There's also a small note on the menu stating that all the burgers are cooked so slightly pink inside. The best way to cook them right?

Burger Cooking

Once you make your choice there's a bright red arrow above your head pointing to your order point. The server takes your name and gives you a plastic cup if you pay for a soft drink for you to use the self service drinks machine covered in bright fridge magnets. 

Drinks Machine

Find ourself a seat and wait for your name to be called out over the tannoy system letting you know that your food is ready to collect from the other end of the kitchen area. 

Order collected

My order was for the dead hippie burger having heard good things about the Meat Markets dead hippie sauce (their home made burger sauce). The Dead Hippie burger boasts 2 beef patties, cheese, minced onion onion, pickles, lettuce & dead hippie sauce.  

The wrapped burger stood tall against the side order of fries and unwrapping the burger revealed thick beef patties between a thick white bread bun. 

Dead Hippie Burger

Dead Hippie Burger

The beef patties inside are soft and juicy with good quality meat used to make the burgers. It's worth noting I didn't specify how I'd like my burger cooked so expected a pink centre to the middle of the beef. It was slightly pink, but only just. It was leaning more towards being a well done burger. The hippie sauce was a highlight of this burger. Most burger sauce tries to re-enact a popular high street burger sauce but the Meat Market just makes their own, and it tastes great. A peppery taste to it really goes well with the beef burgers. 

The cheese slices are melted to a thin liquid coating to the patties and the lettuce and pickles help reinforce the bottom of the bread bun as the sauce tries to make it fall apart.

Dead Hippie Burger

For a side I'd opted for cheese fries and was amazed at the size of the portion of fries. A foil case usually used for a greasy take away filled with fries which were barely viable under the heavy dosing of grilled cheese and sprinkling of onions. 

Cheese Fries

The fries were disappointing compared to the burger. There's just too much cheese on these and the fries are nothing more than cheap take-away style frozen fries. A real let down. Serving good burgers like this they should be backing them up with better sides.

Conclusion

The Meat Market is a trendy restaurant in a popular tourist and shopping area of London. It's a little hard to find but worth looking for if you're on the hunt for a decent burger to fuel your shopping spree. It's not too up market and offers great quality burgers at reasonable prices compared to others in the area. It doesn't seem like the sort of place aiming at business men in suits for customers, more towards a younger audience or people taking a break from shopping. The burgers are of a mountainous size with all being doubled for a similar price to a single burger in some of the near by burger restaurants. 

The process from entering to eating is simple enough and works well with everything clearly sign posted. 

The sides are the biggest let down for the Meat Market. It's a shame too, as their other food seems to be on the ball and destined to succeed even in this hidden location. 

@MEATmarketUK

Meat Rating: 6/10

Money for Meat: Paid in Full