Honest Burgers Breakfast, Liverpool Street

Those working in the City have a plethora of burger option breakfast, what with Patty & Bun and Street Kitchen and now Honest Burgers. Some may call it slightly copycat, but Honest Burgers, who have recently opened their latest outpost in Liverpool Street, have started doing breakfast till 10am. 

Street Kitchen Breakfast

The day after the birthday I was in need of some serious head soothing. Being close to Liverpool Street, what better than Street Kitchen's breakfast.

Hiding inside Broadgate Square is an unmissable, large silver airstream, converted to house a professional kitchen and coffee machine.

Pattty & Bun Breakfast!

My favourite burger joint now does breakfast in their Liverpool Street branch! From 7.30am-9.30am, they serve their brand of breakfast to those in need.

And it's really really good.

Here's a view inside the "P&B Bacon". Bacon, cheese, egg, green tomato salsa, ketchup and brioche.

Then the "P&B Sausage." Sausage patty, egg, cheese and brioche.

Burgers Burgers Burgers: ShakeShack, Burger Bear and Disco Bistro

I went recently to one of Somerset House's open air cinema events - brilliant by the way, definitely go - and for dinner I really wanted to take my friend to Patty & Bun as she has yet to try one of the best burgers in London, however this was on a Monday and I completely forgot that they are closed then. My heart absolutely sank - I had been looking forward to that for a while!

So knowing Covent Garden was nearby, we decided to see what all the hype was about and headed to brand new American import ShakeShack. They pride themselves on using 100% all-natural Angus beef, vegetarian fed and humanely raised. I have seen pictures of rows and rows of these burgers all looking perfect and exactly the same. The same Muppet-like features: the lettuce sticking out, cheese melting over the edge and tomatoes lolling like tongues over the bun. They're all bright colours and happy.

From the start I was dubious, however I had read many a review of people saying that this one was great - it was Five Guys here that wasn't so good - so I thought why not, let's forego the brilliance that is MeatMarket around the corner and let's do it - how bad could it be?!

I had no idea.










Here it is: The Muppet. (A plain ShakeShack burger)

My reaction was not good. Take the so-called "perfect-looking" burger out of it's bag and you find the horror of the saggy and deflated bun, looking a little worse for wear. It doesn't look so happy anymore.

Only when I took the burger out of the bag did I realise the lettuce was sticking half way out the burger, to give it it's muppet-esque facade. How was I supposed to eat that?!

One bite in and I knew I hated it. The meat wasn't a good patty. It was flimsy and tasteless - it did not feel like I was eating "100% beef". The "special ShakeShack sauce" was overly sweet. The cheese was not good and there no was no texture in the burger, perhaps this would have been better had I got one with bacon. It was all one soft icky mess in my mouth and I could only stomach eating half of it. It was all very reminiscent of McDonalds - and I detest McDonalds.

The chips were slightly better. I did not like that they were crinkle cut - another mass production sign I do not like to see, but they did taste good. The ones that weren't covered in the same horrible cheese that they use in the burger, however.

We also got a white and black milkshake - chocolate mixed with vanilla. No sign of vanilla in there, only that fake chocolate flavour. So that was left too.

The only redeeming thing at ShakeShake are their concretes. Different kinds of frozen custard which basically taste like ice cream. We had the Union Shack - chocolate custard with St John's Bakery chocolate hazelnut brownie, fudge sauce, Paul A Young, chocolate chunks and sea salt.
If you don't recognise the names in there, St John is an incredible bakery and restaurant - go try a doughnut - and Paul A Young makes some incredibly yummy chocolate. He was one of the first places I tried salted caramel and salted chocolate - an epiphany back then.

This was really really good. Great textures and flavours and you can never go wrong with chocolate in my book.

However after the whole ordeal I was left feeling really disgusting and that horrible fake sweet taste of a cheap burger lingered in my mouth for hours after. Lesson learned: go British and go MeatMarket.

Maybe quality has been falling since the spectacular opening. Maybe it's just not my thing, but neither of us were incredibly impressed. J however managed to finish her burger and the rest of mine.

So I knew I needed another burger STAT to get rid of that horrible memory. Burger Bear is currently in residence at the Old Nun's Head pub in Nunhead, SE London until the 25th August. You can also find him near Old Street during the week, but you have to check his twitter for details because I'm not entirely sure.

Anyway I have heard many a good thing about Burger Bear. So I thought perfect opportunity to have a great burger and see my sis at the same time.

We both ordered a Grizzly Burger - double oak smoked bacon with bacon jam on a cheeseburger along with some angry fries.

Just look at that. That is a proper burger. It is huge, with a hell of a lot of toppings and oozing with juice and cheese.

The moment it entered my mouth I knew this was good. Oh so good. The patty was fat and juicy - but not ridiculously messy. The bacon added the perfect crisp smokiness and my word the bacon jam. Bacon jam. What an absolute epiphany that was, it tasted incredible. The bun wasn't fantastic, however held together nicely with all the juiciness coming from the burger. Safe to say it is now in my top 3 burgers in London.

The angry fries were great - but I was not expecting them to be that spicy! It actually hurt a little bit, there were a few tears, but if you love super spicy you will love them guaranteed.

Next up was Disco Bistro. It's been open at the popup rollerskating rink since July and closed this weekend so I knew I had to get there before time was up!

The burger sounded pretty epic. Cheese, secret "bun sauce", pineapple, onions and -ohmygoodness it's back - bacon jam!!!

This was deliciously oozy, however maybe a little too much. It was dripping everywhere, on my clothes, on body parts and grease was pooling in the bottom of the basket. I guess you definitely can't say it wasn't moist!! As such, the bun didn't hold together great, but it's not something I'm too fussed about.

The burger was really good. The thick-cut onion were delicious and the pineapple - which I wasn't sure on before trying - added a new dimension, a sweet extra flavour. The pineapple was in fact the best bit in there for me! Unfortunately this, plus their bun sauce, didn't allow the bacon jam to shine. Knowing what it tastes like, I couldn't detect it amongst all the other flavours, but it wasn't missed since the burger tasted pretty great already. It was dirty, messy and fabulous.

I'm not sure as yet when the next Disco Bistro burger will be available, but the same chef has collaborated at Rotary Bar Diner (just off Old St roundabout) on their menu, so for a burger of similar style and quality, head there.

Honest Burgers

Apologies for no photos, but as you read on, you will see there was no point....

I trust burgeraddict to tell me what I should eat and what I should steer clear of in the now slightly saturated gourmet burger market. He said Honest Burgers were a sure 10/10, however I had heard rumblings, mainly from Cheesenbiscuits blog, that they were not all they were cracked up to be. But I thought I'll never know if I don't try myself and headed to Meard St, Soho.

First of all, Meard St is just opposite Burger & Lobster, so it took all strength I had to drag myself down the side alley to what was hopefully going to be a great burger, rather than getting a perfectly steamed lobster for £20.

Disclaimer: it was Easter Sunday when I visited so there was absolutely no queue to speak of outside. I know however that when there is a queue, instead of making you wait outside, they take your number and and call you when there is space.

So I ordered the Honest Burger, which was basically a bacon cheese burger. Honest burgers is their name, so honestly? It was so disappointing. The worst burger out of all the gourmet burgers that I have tried, I think GBK does a better burger. My burger was so dry. I know other places add mayo and ketchup, but that is for flavour, their patties to begin with are actually moist. There was not much flavour to speak of here, in the Ginger Pig 28-day-aged beef. The burger really tasted of nothing, I didn't get any smokiness from the bacon, any flavour of cheese and to top it all off, my bun was over toasted, which didn't make the dryness any better.

I have heard people rave and rave about Honest Burger fries. I was so excited to try their amazing rosemary salted fries. So I tried one, and another, and another....hold on, why could I not taste any rosemary salt? Have they cut back on the amount of salt they use on their fries? I had only a few mouth fulls where I could taste the salt and even then it was not a strong flavour.

In hindsight maybe I should have added ketchup and mayo to make it more moist, maybe then I would have enjoyed it more. But I still think a beef patty should be juicy. Talk to me, am I right?

Burgeraddict, for the first time you failed me! I left Honest Burgers feeling full yet unsatisfied. My second worst kind of feeling (after, of course, the tired and hungry combination).

Does anybody agree with me about Honest Burger? Or am I on my own here?

Patty & Bun

I love a good burger. I loooove Meatliquor/mission/market burgers, I have been a fan since the Wagon days and I even visited Meateasy. Yep, I am a true Meatlover.

A very bad picture from MeatEasy! Must have been 2010.

When deciding which burger joint to frequent one evening, we checked out burgeraddict's list of 10/10 burgers and settled for Patty&Bun.

Patty and Bun has your nowadays standard first come first serve policy. And we went at about 7.30pm, busiest time possible. Rookie mistake. Best time to get there, like all these places, is between 3-6pm or after 8.30. In the end we queued for about an hour.

From left: Lamb burger, Smokey Robinson, Ari Gold.

For something different (that's me, always having to try new things, which doesn't always work out) I ordered the "Lambshank Redemption" burger, which consisted of a lamb patty with coriander and chilli, braised red cabbage, feta and cumin aioli. It was so tasty, and something different from these kinds of burger joints. However I only had a tiny slice of feta in mine and I love feta cheese so would have loved some more. However it had the perfect texture, was nicely juicy and very satisfying.

Their standard cheese burger, the "Ari Gold" (Entourage reference) was incredible, I knew I should have stayed safe and picked that one! He was kind enough to let me try a bite of his so I know for a fact that it was great. It had the perfect amount of juiciness in the patty, was full of flavour and had the yummiest toasted brioche that held together nicely throughout.

He also had the "Smokey Robinson" (yeah, he was hungry) which included caramelised onions, bacon and smokey P&B mayo (that mayo I think is the secret to their success). It was honestly one of the best things I have ever tasted, and, yes I'm going to say it. BETTER THAN A MEATLIQUOR BURGER. 

*Shields from backlash*

I have to give a separate paragraph to the chips. Oh, the chips. Those delicious rosemary salted, potato skinned, crispy, crunchy, fluffy chips. You will not find better chips anywhere else, not even at Honest Burger (but more on that later).

The burgers, before they were demolished, with those fries.
Also how cute are the burgers all wrapped up?!

Comparing the two, who I consider, leaders of the burger pack, Meatliquor and Patty & Bun, you can see their similarities: both do great, simple food, but very clearly you also see their differences. Meatliquor is also very much a great bar, with loud music and fantastic cocktails, so if you want more of a night out head to the former. Meatliquor also relies heavily on their range of interesting sides, which I will gladly admit are fantastic! However Patty&Bun lets the burger do all the talking and of their simple sides, their fries, with that incredibly addictive rosemary salt, blows Meatliquor's fries out of the water.

What I like about Patty and Bun is that it is very unassuming. It may occupy the no reservations policy, but this is not to cause a stir or to show how cool it is, like I feel Meatliquor does, but I genuinely believe they want to be as fair as possible as it has a pretty tiny seating area. The staff are so friendly who don't try hard to be cool and let the burgers speak for themselves, which is a pretty great strategy.

Washington DC, 2012

I thought I should go back and write down some of the places I visited before I started this blog, so I can recommend places and also so I can reminisce. This blog is as much for me as it is for you!!

Last year my best friend took a year out to work in Washington DC and I was lucky enough to be able to visit her around this time last year. I had the most amazing time, visiting famous places like the White House, the Lincoln Memorial and Capitol Hill to name but a few, but we also visited places I would never have known about had I not had a friend living there, places like Georgetown and Dupont Circle, which were like little storybook villages with giant American roads running through.

The Dupont fairytale....

I will always remember DC as the place where I had my first taste of a Five Guys Burger (great, but missing that special something that In N Out has).... 

Five Guys excitement!

The full feast!! Cajun fries yuummm...

The place where I strengthened my love of chocolate and peanut butter baked goods in super hipster coffee shops called things like Baked and Wired....

....and where I queued for an hour in 30 degree heat for some damn good cupcakes (trust me the queue was worth it) from a bakery that has it's own TV show.

The queue....

Georgetown Cupcakes

 TIP: If you're heading to Georgetown cupcakes get there EARLY!! The earlier the better. Also check their twitter feed, they do a secret special FREE cupcake of the day that they only announce via twitter!

Best places to visit: 
1. The Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building.
One of the most breathtakingly beautiful places I have ever seen.

Topshop top and saddle bag, H&M jeans, Office deck shoes. Lipstick Shiiap by NARS.

On the steps outside.
 

Everything is so huge in DC....

2. Abraham Lincoln Memorial.

Speaks for itself. So inspiring and a true feat of architechture, with stunning views.

And again....ridiculously huge. They have so much space over there!!

Might be my favourite picture ever. Was a complete accident.

3. Visit the Capitol Building and the surrounding area Capitol Hill. It is full of cherry blossoms around this time of year so it is beautiful and Capitol Hill is very pretty and clearly rather pricey!!

Capitol Hill. Mulberry Bayswater bag, Topshop top, RayBan Classic Aviators, True Reiligion Jeans and my fave Kurt Geiger boots, which have now sadly died!
Lipstick Rebel by MAC.

On my last night there we treated ourselves to an incredible meal at the Blue Duck Tavern, part of the Hyatt Hotel. 

Lobster is my weakness, so as soon as I saw it on the menu as a starter I didn't look at anything else. Nisha had veal sweetbreads with duck, which was equally delicious.

Apologies for poor photos, those were still the bad Blackberry days.

The Lobster 

For mains I had scallops and samphire (I love sea food if you hadn't noticed) and I honestly can't remember what Nisha had I was too entranced by my delicious scallops. 

I wish I could remember the sauce, all I can tell you was that it was so moist and yummy!

Then came dessert, ooooh I remember dessert. Nisha had cherry and green tea sorbet which was incredible! They did not scrimp on dessert portions either as it came in a giant frozen bucket with a wooden spoon to scoop out the sorbet. 
I am a chocoholic so I naturally chose the chocolate fondant, which was perfect in every way: moist, gooey and rich, which came with brandy soaked (more precisely drowned) cherries which honestly made me a tad tipsy! 

JUST LOOK AT IT!! OOZING!!

I have a thing for a nice bathroom too, and the bathrooms at this place were fantastic. So naturally we decided to mess around a bit inside the posh bathrooms....

Topshop top, D&G cardigan, Michael Kors Watch, Lipstick in Lady Danger by MAC.

So if you're heading out to Washington DC, I would definitely recommend the Blue Duck Tavern. It is pricey though so save it for a special night. It definitely created some memories I will never forget!