Founded by Tom Barton and Phil Eles, Honest Burgers is one of the stars of Brixton Village. They have been at the forefront of the current burger craze and a hit with burger lovers since opening early last year. Their simple, no-fuss offer of a ‘Burger with Chips’ draws hundreds every week from all over London to their restaurant in the heart of Brixton Village market.
Now - in an exclusive with Hot Dinners - we catch up with Tom Barton to find out about their upcoming restaurant in Soho, set to open in the coming months.
For those who don't know the story, how did Honest Burgers come about?
Both Phil and I set up a small catering operation in Brighton. We settled upon burgers as a simple item, which we could produce well. We had really good feedback and began to establish a bit of a following. When we discovered the unit in Brixton Market, 15 months ago, we went for it. It was ideal.
Tell us more about your new site in Soho?
We’re excited about our new place - it's on Meard Street, a historic and unique part of Soho (that's just off Dean Street - Hot Dinners Ed). It's slightly larger than our current place with room for around 40-odd. My girlfriend is taking care of the interior design and next week I’m going to help my step-dad make all the furniture.
And the food?
Essentially, we're looking to replicate the offer of our Brixton restaurant. The "Honest experience" has always been about food that was tasty and simple. No frills, no messing around and certainly no long menus.
We want people to experience our chips, so all burgers will still come with a side of them. We’ll still be doing our regular specials and we’re also looking at perhaps adding a few more to the menu.
What drinks will you serve?
Our drinks selection at Brixton has grown with our audience and we're really happy with where it is right now. We’ll be serving beer, wines by the glass and by the bottle as well as a few spirits. We've no plans for cocktails right now but if there's demand we'll definitely look at adding something uncomplicated.
With so many burger joints around at the moment, what distinguishes the "Honest Burger"?
Some restaurants want to be all things to all people - and we just like the idea of doing something really well with good British produce. We think our burgers tick all of those boxes. Our suppliers have all been incredibly supportive, especially Tim Wilson from the Ginger Pig with whom we've developed a great relationship. He has agreed to exclusively supply us his beef mince for our burgers. Finally, we're not shy to admit that of all the burgers out there at the moment, we've probably got the most British of them all.
Honest Burgers Soho opens this summer on Meard Street, Soho. You can find out more about their Brixton site and follow them on twitter.
Photo by Cat Linton.
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