Oh God no! Have you tried it. It’s gross!

I sort of understood what he meant. Burgers, like cupcakes and meatballs, two other madly popular retro comfort foods of the moment, put you in touch with your inner 12-year old. That’s a big part of their appeal. And any non-Korean 12-year-old will tell you the very idea of fermented, pungent, spicy cabbage-on-a-cheeseburger is gross. Likewise a slippery, grease-leaking two-fisted burger that’s as hard to hold securely with its bun as is creme caramel with chopsticks.

What did you find gross, I asked Charlie, the kimchi topping or the makeup of the burger itself?

Kimchi. I thought it tasted of terribly strong blue cheese. SO disappointing.

If anyone in the Almond family, inspired by a Momofuko Milk Bar creation, had plans to bake kimchi blue cheese croissants for Charlie this Christmas I would suggest they reconsider.

The Hawksmoor kimchi burger is hardly faultless. The safely spicy kimchi is not crunchy, as any sort of burger pickle ought to be.  It’s runny rather than chunky – no help to an unctious steakhouse patty which, augmented with beef marrow on the inside and braised beef on the outside, is engineered to be sloppy.

Even so, a great burger is an untidy, implosive handful you shouldn’t eat without a stack of napkins at the ready. And by that standard, the thrill-a-second Hawksmoor kimchi burger is as great as it is gross.

The kimchi burger (£15 with triple-fries chips) is only available at Hawksmoor’s new Seven Dials location (near Covent Garden), for lunch in the dining room,  all day and night at the bar.