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slideshow photos by Paul Winch-Furness

My BurgerMonday pop-ups provide a burger-loving stage and audience for chefs who don’t currently have a London kitchen to work in or who, for artistic or personal reasons, wouldn’t dream of doing burgers at their restaurants. Miles Kirby accepted the challenge to build an original burger from scratch for the Rite of Spring pop-up at Andrew’s caff on March 21st only because he knew it would be a one-off. He’d neither be asked nor expected to make room for a burger on his menu at Caravan Restaurant, Bar & Roastery.

But Miles exposed a weakness in the very BurgerMonday model that made his appearance possible. Had he topped his 8-ounce patty of coarsely ground rib meat with a single high-impact topping the result might have been different. His Caravan burger would have been enjoyed and then forgotten. Regrettably, the combination of three killer burger accessories – chipotle mayonnaise, wild garlic leaves wilted in butter and St Gall Irish raw milk cheese – under an architectural marvel of an egg-brushed bun baked by St John Restaurant‘s Justin Piers Gellatly produced an unintended result. Many of the 67 Londoners at the pop-up weren’t even finished with their burgers when they began asking when they could have another and another after that one. It didn’t help that the coffee porter they were quaffing was a single-barrel brew that wouldn’t be poured again any time soon. The hoppy porter, ideal for burgers, was brewed exclusively for the pop-up with Caravan-roasted coffee beans by Jasper Cuppaidge of Camden Town Brewery.

The pressure on Miles will not let up. Food and restaurant photographer Paul Winch-Furness has compiled the slideshow above featuring at least a dozen compelling and vibrantly coloured reasons why the chef must reassess his Caravan burger ban. Miles can take comfort only in the fact that the slideshow might have made an even longer, deeper, more powerful case for the propagation of the Caravan burger had Winch-Furness not felt a sudden and uncontrollable urge to put down his Nikon and pick up a Caravan burger.

A man can only look at a roomful of burgers dripping beefy juices, chipotle mayo, wild garlic butter and liquified St Gall cheese for so long without taking decisive action.

Speaking of which, it’s your call, Miles Kirby: Will there be life for the Caravan burger after the #BurgerMondayPopUp?