A few more London burgers

Once again, I have neglected my blog. New job, new flat (hopefully), Skyward Sword... The list of distractions is almost endless. However, with January safely dispatched for another year, I find myself with time to reflect on the meals that missed out on a write up. Among them, a mixed bag of burgers. Cue the inevitable round up post, the blog equivalent of the episode of that show you love, compiled almost exclusively from recycled old footage. 

The Poke at the Draft House

The Draft House, Tower Bridge

Definitely my least favourite of all the burgers I have eaten in the last few weeks. Some of the constituent parts were excellent but others missed the point. The Draft House burger comes on a great bun - slightly sweet, soft and speckled with sesame seeds - and you can wash it down with a pint of whatever you fancy from their wide selection of beers and ales from across the globe, but there end its positive points. The burger itself was weird, over seasoned and flecked with herbs, like one of those overly fiddled-with burgers from the bad old days before Byron. I had "The Smoke" which tasted not of subtly smoky meat and cheese but rather like it had been doused in Liquid Smoke. It overpowered whatever flavour the beef might have had. So I wouldn't recommend the burger but as a place for a few interesting beers in the warm after a chilly stroll down Maltby Street, the Draft House does the job admirably.

Meat Liquor, Welbeck Street

Do you like a great burger enough to queue round the back of an old car park in order to get one? If the answer is yes, you have probably already been to Meat Liquor, so great was the hype that surrounded the opening of the Meatwagon folk's latest venture. Twitter-fizz aside, it still lives up to the praise heaped upon it. Where else can one sample deep fried pickles? The old favourites are there: the chicken wings, the cocktails and the trendy-as-hell staff. Although, on the latter, I didn't really appreciate division of labour amongst the team. If I wanted to eat in a place with an (almost) all-female waiting staff and management that exhorts you to tip generously so the "burgerettes" can buy more pretty shoes, I'd go to Hooters or the 1950s. Is this really what our mothers burnt their bras for? However, the burgers are amongst the best you will find in this city, and could easily hold their own against their American counterparts. Even if you hate queuing, make an exception for meat.

The Lucky Chip

Lucky Chip, Hackney

Here be another point of contention between me and my beloved Mr Fork. He'd have you believe that Meat Liquor serve the best burgers in London. There's a good chance he is right but, even so, something about the Lucky Chip burgers is so fantastically addictive, so marvellously meaty, that I cannot help but place them top of my list. They are the perfect burgers - juicy and meaty, slathered in plasticy cheese and served on a soft, sweet, springy bun. Now you can find them at the Sebright Arms, you don't even have to brave the winter's cold to have one. Highly recommended.

The Draft House:

Meat Liquor:


Lucky Chip: