There's been a lot of talk (too much, dare we say it) from food bloggers mainly, and critics, about the quest for the best burger in London. On blogs across the capital, great swatches of digital column inches have been taken up with dissecting patty density, the right consistency and provenance of melted cheese and the quality of the bun itself. We've even heard of people queueing two hours for a burger out of the much-vaunted Meat Wagon, which tours the pubs of London.
Here at Hot Dinners, we don't hold ourselves out to be the ultimate burger experts - but, like most foodies, we know what we like. We like the kind of American slider burger you get at places like Shake Shack and PJ Clarke's in Manhattan. We really liked the recent burger we had at Bar Boulud in Knightsbridge. We hated the burger we had at Hamburger Union some years ago in Soho.
So we were pleased to hear that the Hamburger Union joint on Upper Street had closed and been replaced with a branch of the fast-growing chain Byron Burgers. A lot of people like Byron - certainly each table at the Islington branch boasted a little fold out catalogue of critics who'd lavished praise on their burgers - Giles Coren and the Metro's Marina O'Loughlin included.
The menu here gets right to the point, there are six basic burgers ranging from the classic to veggie, by way of the Byron - which includes dry cure bacon, mature Cheddar and Byron sauce. We ordered a couple of cheeseburgers with Monterey Jack - one with a Portobello mushroom topping, and a Byron. All were billed as coming medium 'unless otherwise requested', although when they arrived were just a shade too well done for our taste. The burger was a pretty good size - possible to eat your hands without unhinging your jaw - and of the two, the Byron came out ahead on flavour. We particularly liked our chips - both the French Fries and the homemade skin-on chips, and the courgette fries (battered, fried slices of courgettes) were a good way to pretend we'd gone for the healthy option - an illusion that was shattered by the arrival of our top-notch vanilla milkshakes with added malt.
Service was speedy, friendly and attentive and the Islington branch has a decent-sized upstairs that's a little less frenetic. Just four weeks in and the place was packed early evening on a Sunday. The manager here was just heading off to open Byron's new branch in Canary Wharf, and they've just opened in Covent Garden this week. Byron Burgers is probably coming your way soon - and is worth a visit.
