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Five to try: Bonzer Burgers
15.04.09
BYRON
222 Kensington High Street, W8
(020 7361 1717) £26
Rump, chuck and brisket from grass-fed 100 per cent Aberdeen Angus beef aged for 21 days minced daily may well explain the swift expansion from this (original) outlet to the current half-dozen. Or it may be that companies such as Gondola Holdings have shareholders dictating a timetable. The flavour of the meat is not swamped by the accompaniments and the bun understands its role as mute wrapping. Courgette chips win first prize for spurious healthiness.
LUCKY SEVEN
127 Westbourne Park Road, W2
(020 7727 6771) £30
A scientific poll — asking some friends — where they liked to eat burgers turned up Tom Conran's diminutive but authentic homage to the American Diner. If Krispy Kremes float your boat — it won't stay afloat for long — try the Kalifornian, a burger with cheese, crisp bacon, soured cream, roasted tomato and guacamole. Tom Conran is a well-travelled student of Americana. Only the detail of cheerful service is sometimes missing.
HACHE
24 Inverness Street, NW1
(020 7823 3515) £30
The restaurant name is French for “chopped” and the beef is treated that way rather than minced — or ground as Americans say. It makes for a burger described by some as the best in town but gives freedom to chop up anything — chicken, tuna, crispy duck, vegetables — and slap it between the two cheeks of a ciabatta bun. What was Randall & Aubin at 329 Fulham Road is now the second Haché.
TOM'S KITCHEN
27 Cale Street, SW3 (020 7349 0202) £40
Glazed inserts in the floor let you peer down at meat hanging in the cold store. Offcuts of the Scottish beef supplied by Macken Brothers in Turnham Green are fashioned into burgers which, served with trimmings and triple-cooked chips, are sold at £12.50. Cheese or bacon is a quid extra. Certain commodities are better bought manufactured than home-made. Ketchup is one. Goodness knows, I have tried — as has Tom Aikens.
HAWKSMOOR
157 Commercial Street, E1
(020 7247 7392) £45
The stated aim, to beat America's greatest contribution to gastronomy (the hamburger), has led the owners to Ginger Pig butchers where clod, sticking and other flavourful parts are mixed with bone marrow to make a patty sold at lunchtime for £15. Last Thursday Ginger Pig hadn't delivered. The vegetable supplier had also let them down — so no burger, no chips. Couldn't they have minced some beef and bought potatoes at a shop?
Prices estimate a burger meal with wine for one.
