#Meateasy - New Cross SE14

I had never visited the Meatwagon, Yianni Papoutsis' hugely popular travelling burger van but became aware of it once it got stolen and Yianni ingeniously decided to strike a deal with Goldsmiths Tavern in New Cross Road to take over the upstairs room and turn it into a burger joint.  The blogs have been humming with praise and as lovers of a fine burger, the other half and I made the trek to New Cross last night.  I am a bit of a SE London novice, we have some friends in East Dulwich, I've been to Greenwich and have driven through New Cross on my way to the O2 but I have never hung out there, as much as in my head I am sometimes a groovy Goldmsiths' art student, writing beat poetry and smoking reefer while looking grubbily handsome...anyway....back to #Meateasy (hash-tagged because of the use Yianni makes of Twitter to update his many fans).  We were guided by scrawled messages on the outside of the pub to a side door and up some grungy stairs, hearing what sounded like a really wild party going on up above.  Entering the room, it was a bit like a party - super crowded, good music playing, lots of booze and the funky waitresses/hostesses occasionally banging on a tin bucket when someone had deposited a tip.  We were told that the wait for food (we arrived at 8.30pm) was around an hour and despite being starving we decided the burgers being carried past us looked worth the wait.  We consoled ourselves at the bar with excellent New York Sours (as pictured - I know it's weird to not have a picture of the burgers but the one I took is really just of a bun and doesn't do it justice so you get the drink picture instead).  The woman working behind the bar was obviously an expert mixologist 'cause these babies were sensational.  The one hour turned into almost two and we were getting delirious with hunger, also a little squiffy after two sours and a beer but the upside was that the place had started to empty slightly (it certainly couldn't have got any fuller) and we managed to nab a table.  I almost wept with relief when they called our number and shortly afterwards we had the main event put in front of us.  I had a cheese burger, the other half had a chilli burger and we shared the famous onion rings and some chilli cheese fries.  So was it worth the wait?  Oh yes people.  If you are a fan of burgers this is the nuts - soft, lustrous, savoury, meaty, perfectly seasoned goodness - I had to stop myself from wolfing it all down in one go.  The onion rings were also fantastic and the chilli cheese fries took me back to the end of big nights out in my younger days in Australia - there is nothing like fries covered in some sort of sauce and cheese, simple but delicious!  This place is a real experience and I loved the huge mix of people that were there - from the aforementioned Goldmsiths' students to ageing hipsters, businessmen and food geeks (whilst I may be a lithe art student in my head, in reality I like to think I am a combo of the last two categories).  But be quick people, this "residency" only lasts until April 16th - and my advice, get there as close to the 6pm opening as possible and definitely try out the New York Sours.