London, UK
The London Burger Bash arranged by Young & Foodish
was the final cook-off between some of the best burger joints in town, held at
Borough Market. After several qualifying rounds, the finalists were Bleecker StBurger, Patty & Bun, Burger Bear and Fred’s. I arrived at 2 pm, and
although the space wasn’t particularly packed, there were long lines for
everything. I was a bit confused about where to start, especially because
Patty&Bun was cooking from the Street Kitchen air streamer. After circling
around for a while, I got into the Buger Bear queue. Their beef patty was
served with a sloe gin bacon jam and American cheese. The finishing touch on
the disco burger was glittery, edible paint on top of the bun. The jam was a
bit too sweet tasting in my opinion. Burger Bear should be given credit though
for having the best bacon of the show. It was crispy, but not burnt, and
complimented the beef patty perfectly. I then lined up for Fred’s Bacon
Cheeseburger. This was really tasty, with balanced and straightforward garnish,
but I found the very yellow colour of the bun and its texture a bit strange, so
it didn’t get my vote. After a breather and a beer, we went to the Bleecker St black
pudding double cheese number. I haven’t had black pudding since I was little,
so I was a bit afraid of tasting this one. It turned out to work really well!
The texture and flavour was great, although maybe a bit too greasy. The final
burger was Piggy Rascal by Patty & Bun. This was the most complicated burger,
thus I won’t list all of its ingredients. It had a delicious and runny sauce
that spilled everywhere. My final vote went to Patty & Bun, but I was so
full at that point that I wasn’t thinking clearly, so don’t trust my choice. Usually
these burgers cost around the order of magnitude of £ 8 for a full burger, so
getting four half burgers for the price of £47.5 wasn’t the best deal. There
was however a slider by included in the price, a sweet coffee by Bicerin, and a
huge portion of tasty and filling potato and sweet potato chips by Almost
Famous Burgers. The chips were sprinkled with bacon crisps and a little Percy
Pig sweet. I really enjoyed them despite being extremely full, and it was very
upsetting to throw them in the bin almost untouched. Although I liked the atmosphere
and food, I think the concept is slightly flawed. It was difficult to judge
impartially when I was hungry for the first burger, ok for the second, full by
the third and sick by the fourth. It would be better to try all the burgers at
their full size on separate, and equally hangry occasions. Generally I prefer
classic cheeseburgers, so the advanced concepts of these meals were not ideal
for me. I should have skipped breakfast so I could have been more impartial in
my judgement and gotten
more value for money out of this event.
The winner was: Bleecker St Burger
The winner was: Bleecker St Burger
