It’s that time of year again when the nation applauds its favourite combination of beef and bun. Kickstarted by Shortlist Magazine and Mr Hyde, National Burger Day celebrates the rise and rise of the original fast food item. Updated for 2016, we’ve picked our favourite neighbours – in no particular order, of course. All that’s left is to choose is which one to visit tonight…
Bleecker St Burger
Bleecker St. Burger, Old Spitalfields Market, Unit B, SP 4 Pavilion Building, London E1 6EA.
Bleecker St. Burger began as a humbler burger van, taking its name from owner Zan Kaufman’s favourite Manhattan street. It was in New York City that Kaufman fell in love with burgers; the van quickly became a regular on the London street food scene. Bleecker St. Burger is now one of the capital’s most celebrated cheesburger champions and a new permanent location has opened in Spitalfields Market. Aged patties, sesame-topped toasted buns, American cheese and hand cut fries are a winning combination. They are promising something extra cheesy this year…
Haché
Haché, 147 Curtain Road, Shoreditch, EC2A 3QE.
Haché has five branches across London and prides itself on a more upmarket burger than most. A range of globally inspired designs are available; behold the Bavarian (above) – with a huge slab of smoked cheese and heaps of caramelised onions. We favour the Shoreditch branch, but you can find them in Clapham, Chelsea, Camden and Balham, too.
Hawksmoor
Hawksmoor, 157A Commercial St, London E1 6BJ
The meat kings at Hawksmoor were serving burgers long before burgers were on trend – and their offering is still one of our favourites. There is absolutely nothing not to love about a burger in a brioche bun crammed with creamy cheese and Kimchi. Absolutely nothing at all. Go and treat yourselves and you’ll spy Field Grey’s Hawksmoor aprons, too.
Red’s True Barbecue
Red’s True Barbecue, 54-56 Great Eastern Street, Shoreditch, London EC2A 3QR
All hail Red’s True Barbecue. Brand new to Great Eastern Street, we’ve been worshipping at their temple for some time at the Manchester restaurant, and when we discovered they were coming to the capital, we couldn’t believe our luck. With a barbecue bible theme, confession booth WCs and a host of religious references, the team at Red’s deliver heavenly burgers, sausages, ribs and plenty of other meaty goodness. They are famed for their donut burger – which we’ve yet to try as the image (above) worries our arteries, but fellow believers tell us it’s unbelievably tasty. Let there be meat.
Dirty Burger
Dirty Burger, 13 Bethnal Green Road, London E1 6LA
Dirty Burger is as wonderful as it sounds. The Soho House Group are behind this no frills burger haven. There’s the classic dirty cheesburger, a dirty bacon burger, and a ‘dirty cop-out’ (ouch) for vegetarians. We used to have to trek to Whitechapel to satisfy our dirty needs, now we only have to walk around the corner to the Tea Building, where there’s a tiny branch as part of Shoreditch House. The apple pie is a must-have, too.
Patty & Bun
Patty & Bun, 22/23 Liverpool St, London EC2M 7PD
Patty & Bun remains a firm favourite, too. The diminutive branch on Liverpool Street has a takeaway hatch, which makes it all too easy to walk past and sample their incredible meat. The ‘Smokey Robinson’ with bacon, caramelised onions and smokey mayo is absolutely wonderful. There’s a new branch on Redchurch St, making it a tough call between a pit stop there or Dirty Burger on the other side of the block.
Honest Burger
Honest Burgers, 12 Widegate Street London E1 7HP
Honest Burgers always top ‘best of’ lists and it’s easy to see why. The owners, Tom and Phil, started under a marquee at various food festivals before securing a small unit in Brixton village. There are now nine locations across the capital and you can often find us at their Spitalfields branch. The restaurant’s signature burger contains a blend of onion relish, smoked bacon and mature cheddar that is so good you’ll immediately want to order another. The rosemary salted chips are little nuggets of deliciousness too, especially when dipped in homemade chipotle mayonnaise or bacon ketchup. Honest serve burgers across numerous locations now – see the website for your local one!
For more information on National Burger Day and to find out which restaurants offer 20% off, visit the dedicated website.