The Best £1.50 Steamed Burger in London
Ted’s Steamed Burger Does What it Says in the Tin
There’s no arguing Ted’s Restaurant‘s steamed cheeseburgers are world famous. Not since the circa 1959 burger joint was featured in George Motz‘s Hamburger America, the book as well as the film, and on the TV show Man v. Food.
But convincing family members that Ted’s had been worth the schlep to Meridien, a small city in central Connecticut about 100 miles northeast of New York? No such luck. Laurie, Bill, Aaron and Viv Youngandfoodish were all put off by the dense, monochromatic, flavour-challenged burger meat. So was I. [Read more...]
At MEATliquor, Burger Love is Blind
MEATliquor occupies a hidden site back side of Debenhams’ Oxford Street flagship, its only tag a red neon sign that spells MEAT as if viewed through shutter shades. No matter. The bar-and-griddle is the first taxable address registered to the Meatwagon‘s Yianni Papoutsis and Scott Collins, his partner at Meateasy, the back-pub pop-up his burger truck inspired. The mere presence of their burgers and cocktails is enough to shift London’s collective eatinerary to the grey corner of Henrietta and Welbeck Streets. Even the 73 bus is on MEATliquor deviation. [Read more...]
What Do You Think is Wrong with the Dalston Superstore Burger?
The bacon cheeseburger at the Dalston Superstore in theultra- cool heart of East London sure is tall. Maybe the skyscraper burger is the bar’s idea of New York style.
Whatever.
I identified no fewer than eight serious problems with the one I ordered medium-rare. [Read more...]
Bewitched, Bothered & Betruffled: The Opera Tavern Deluxe Pop-Up Burger
One of two things usually happen when chefs try to tart up and upsize something that’s already really good: Either the enhanced version doesn’t measure up to the original or it’s so good there’s no going back. [Read more...]
Beating the Back Bacon Burger Bind
Sourcing the best Britain has to offer can spoil a good burger in short order. A prized cut of dry-aged, grass-fed beef that’s ideal for a steak might be too lean and therefore eat too dry for a burger. The finest farmhouse raw-milk Cheddar can re-solidify as the heat-exuded moisture evaporates, seizing up the smooth, melty texture a cheeseburger demands. And award-winning dry cure back bacon can be too chewy to cut cleanly with your teeth. You bite into a burger and end up pulling an entire rasher (strip) out from under the soft bun. [Read more...]
What Ava Gardner Can Teach Us About Two London Burgers
At the age of 14 I was already a liberal New Yorker precociously attuned to injustices in the world around me. It’s a shame, I recall telling my father, that the American big band vocalist Jo Stafford (above right) did not have the flawless curves of Hollywood actress Ava Gardner (about left) nor Ava, Jo’s sultry voice. My father laughed, then, recognising a life’s lesson moment, turned sympathetic.
“Sorry, kiddo,” he said.”You can’t have it all.”
[Read more...]
Princess Burger Transformed Into Prince Meatloaf
Come mid-August I welcome a glass of pink wine or pink lemonade for cool refreshment. But oddly I’m no happy camper when my Provence rosé tastes like old-fashioned lemonade, or when my freshly squeezed lemonade is no sweeter or pulpier than a dry rosé. I’m funny that way.
Same with burgers and meatloaf sandwiches: At their best I love them both. But give me a burger patty with the mealy, mushy consistency of moulded meatloaf and I’m transformed from young&foodish to young&moodish. How fortunate that no one saw this side of me when I, seated solo with no one to the left or right, tried the squashy Aberdeen Angus beef shin burger with foie gras and white truffle mayonnaise (£10.95) at the handsome Princess of Shoreditch pub in London. [Read more...]
