Patty & Bun - James St W1

A few months ago myself and a disreputable trio of blokes from work had a delicious burger at the Patty & Bun pop-up at the Endurance pub in Berwick St in Soho (and a few beers of course).  So it was super exciting to hear that the P&B crew were opening a permanent establishment in James St, just round the corner from St Christopher's Place (or near Selfridges for those unfamiliar with the area).  The same rag tag bunch and I went there for lunch today and as much as I am all for variation I couldn't go past the Ari Gold burger - beef patty, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickled onions, ketchup, smoky mayo (their wonderful secret sauce) on a perfectly toasted brioche bun.  Not surprisingly, given their name

 - the quality of the meat and the bun are top notch, in fact I would go so far as to say the bun is the best I have had, or at least on a par with Umami Burger in LA.  The burgers come wrapped in wax paper, accompanied by delicious "skin on chips" with rosemary salt - it's a rough 'n ready, all about the burger place and that's just how I like it.  I've tried all the fancy schmancy burgers but in the end make 'em dirty - ideally at Dirty Burger, MEATmarket or Patty & Bun.  I know there's lots of talk about the burger craze getting out of hand, "can London handle another burger joint..." etc but to be honest if they are this good - keep 'em coming.  I will personally guarantee to keep each and every one in business.

Dirty Burger - NW5

Burgers - what a year it's been for burgers in London eh?  Seems like every corner you walk around there is either a food truck selling a burger (a la Mother Flipper), a cool diner style eatery selling burgers (a la Honest Burger) or just some dude wolfing down a burger (a la me).  It is the time of the burger, the era of the beef patty, indeed the golden age of the bun.  Anyway, before I whip myself into a frenzy, let's re-focus on Dirty Burger, one of the more recent burger joints in town and certainly one that has been getting a lot of attention, not least because it is located behind Nick Jones' new Kentish Town foodie destinations, Pizza East & Chicken Shop.  And when I say it's located behind, it would be more accurate to say "in a lean-to in the car-park" which I suppose adds to the rough 'n ready burger ethos these guys are trying to establish.  I liked it - the corrugated iron shack vibe made me a bit homesick for Australia, where corrugated iron abounds (not sure where I am going with this, back to the burgers....)  Dirty Burger is a pretty simple proposition - after 11 am the choice is limited to one burger, a cheeseburger and a choice of either crinkle-cir or onion fries (before 11am they do a "dirty breakfast" which I am really keen to sample).  There are the usual soft drinks and shakes but given we were in NW5 we were forced (willingly) by Ben to imbibe the local Camden Pale Ale, which is a mighty fine brew.

 The burgers were on the small side (which I think is actually a good thing - they were just right) and friggin' delicious.  The onion fries were a bit of a revelation - I could have happily chowed through several bags of those.  The shack is so small that the seating area was full (it was 7.30 on a Saturday night so no surprises) so the four of us sat outside on the metal steps, happily munching away at our burgers and slurping down our pale ale.  It was pretty fine actually - happy days.

Honest Burgers - Meard St W1

 It's always cool when two previous blog posts come together.  I have written before about the absolute kick-ass burger deliciousness of Honest Burgers in Brixton Village Market and I have also waxed lyrical about Meard St, the jewel in the crown of Georgian Soho.  Well blow me down if Honest Burgers hasn't gone and opened a snazzy new joint on Meard St.  Praise be.  I went with some colleagues today and sat outside in the sun, eating one of the best burgers I have ever eaten (see pic below) - a special, with a beef and black pudding patty, apple tempura (how brilliant an idea is that??) and tarragon & caper mayonnaise.  It was awesome...just friggin' awesome.  Accompanied by the usual Honest Burger rosemary salted chips, this was the lunch of champions.  These guys know what they are doing and this new outpost is really lovely.  Top it all off with great service and what is there not to love?  What are you waiting for burger lovers?  Get down to Honest Burger, soak up the Georgian vibe of Meard St and take a moment to appreciate that sometimes two great things come together and make the world a little better.

The Ship - Wandsworth SW18

Ah The Ship - this place should have actually been my first post for the blog as I have been going to this pub for years (as long as I have lived in Wandsworth) but for some reason I didn't write the post back in 2009, then I had a brief falling out of love (more below - it was very brief!) and then we moved a bit further back into the wilds of SW18 and so I wasn't going there as much...anyway I'm getting ahead of myself, let's start again.  The Ship is a wonderful pub, definitely in my Top 3 (if not the top actually) in London and has been serving thirsty punters since the late 18th century.  The problem to all but locals is finding the place.  On the banks of the Thames, right next to Wandsworth Bridge, tucked in between a massive development of modern flats and a concrete works, situated on the somewhat confrontingly named Jews Row (one of my American friends couldn't believe there was a street called this!), The Ship's location does not seem immediately appealing.  However for me, keen student of Wandsworth history, this little enclave is really interesting.  Pier Terrace, which connects Jews Row and Wandsworth Bridge, retains some of its original cobbling and there was once a street of terraced housing running all along it, part of an extensive network of two up two down terraces that were demolished to build the Wandsworth roundabout and one way system.  The Other Half and I used to live in nearby Eltringham St which is a weird remnant of this long gone network of streets - which was one of the reasons we loved it there and also the reason for my fascination with what this area used to look like (as recently as the 60s).  The Wandsworth Garage is about the only other reminder of the pre-roundabout days.  The Ship is definitely worth seeking out - equally brilliant whatever the season, in the warm (ha!) summer months, the pub really comes into its own with a huge outdoor space between the pub and the river and a fantastic BBQ on offer (as well as an outside bar).  The food is really great at The Ship - particularly in the restaurant area - I remember when we first visited years ago we couldn't believe that food of that quality was being served in our

local pub.  Given London's current obsession with burgers, The Ship's version deserves special mention - it is a fine specimen (as you can see) and outranks (IMHO) some of those that London's burger cognoscenti rate more highly.  The Ship are also famous for their Scotch eggs - drool away here.  The staff are great (one of our favourite waiters in all of London works in the restaurant) - this is a really friendly pub.  So why did I fall out of love with it?  I am so reluctant to even mention this, because it was a small blip in an otherwise unblemished record and the management were so good in their response....anyway, here goes.  The Ship, being in SW London and literally just over the river from Fulham, does attract its fair share of rugger bugger types - not that there is necessarily anything the matter with that (the church of London Stuff is a broad one) however it does mean that at certain times (big rugby matches the obvious example) The Ship can get over-run with very drunk, very boisterous Hooray Henrys and Henriettas.  Which is fine in the bar - because you can (as we did on this one particular day) scuttle, like the middle-aged reformed party people we are, to the restaurant area to escape the revelry.  However on the day in question, which unfortunately was the day we were taking some north of the river friends for their first visit to the much raved-about Ship, we had a large table of braying, pissed up youngsters at the table next to us.  Throughout what tuned out to be a pretty painful dinner, male members of the next door party ended up on top of their table, constantly banged into our table (albeit with very well-spoken apologies delivered each time) as they got up for frequent trips to the loos and generally made it a pretty rubbish night.  I was jacked off that the staff did not tell them to can it or move them into the pub - the (good) problem with the staff at The Ship is, they're just all way too nice and I'm sure they just wanted everyone to get along and have fun.  I felt like the king of the party poopers but decided to write on of "those" emails to The Ship and to their credit they got back super fast offering to refund our meal (an offer which we didn't take up) and give us another meal for free - which the Other Half and I did take advantage of.  Which all in all is the perfect response really.  So in a weird way, my brief falling out of love with The Ship made me love them more than ever.  Anyway - as I said this was a brief one week blip in almost 7 years of wonderfulness.  If you live anywhere near Wandsworth Bridge or indeed you just want to hang out at a mighty fine pub and eat some of the best pub food you'll find anywhere in London, head on down to Jews Row in SW18 and have a Scotch egg or three for me.

MEATMarket - WC2

Having fallen for the messy deliciousness of Yianni Papoutsis' burgers at #meateasy in SE14 early last year, I faithfully followed them to their first permanent home at MEATLiquor in Wellbeck Street in January.  MEAT Liquor kinda did my head in (in a dirty, sexy, scary way) and was probably one of the least relaxed, yet completely delicious meals I had had in a while.  So of course as soon as I heard about MEATMarket, Yianni's latest burger joint, I

couldn't wait to check it out.  Situated on a mezzanine overlooking the tacky Jubilee Market Hall just next to the Covent Garden piazza (which in a weird way really works as a location - I felt like I was at a fun fair) the first thing that struck me was that here I was, ordering a Yianni burger with no queues, which got delivered within 10 minutes to our table which we had scored easily (at #meateasy the other half and I waited 2 hours for our burger and had to lunge on the first vacant table and at MEATLiquor we queued for 20 minutes outside in a London winter).  The second thing that struck me was that, unlike at MEATLiquor, I didn't feel like a deranged maniac was lurking around each corner or that I would find a sex club in the basement (and yes, perhaps you detect a slight note of disappointment...).  The last thing that struck me was that these burgers were still f*cking awesome.  My friend Don and I also ordered some amazing sides, including poppaz (cheese stuffed, breaded and deep fried jalapenos).  From what I hear the evenings get busy, although not quite to MEATLiquor levels - I am keen to try out the alcoholic milkshakes very soon.  As an added bonus for me, since my work has moved offices, MEATMarket is now a short 5 minute stroll away - so I plan to eat here...a lot.

Brockley Market - SE4

So after wanting to go for some time we finally made the trek (3 trains - not sure we did it the most efficient way) to Brockley to check out the Saturday market.  Running from 10am to 2pm in the Lewisham College car park, this is a real local gem.  I had heard lots of good things about the market, in particular from some faithful blog scouts, Ben and Gen.  It was a magnificent Saturday when the other half and I made the trek from the SW to the SE and by the time we reached Brockley station we were starving.  First stop was the wonderful Browns of Brockley for a flattie - it was so hard to resist the yummy food on offer there but we had come to Brockley Market to eat and I wanted an empty stomach to fill with market treats (that sounds kinda icky - sorry).  With the Spring blossom coming out and the sun shining, Brockley looked its best and the streets we walked through to get to the market were really lovely, by the time we reached our destination we had made plans to move to Brockley.  It felt so peaceful and the streets lined with large red brick Victorian houses were as nice as you'd get in more "sought after" areas (and a lot less hectic).  At the risk of sounding twee, our stroll also included a friendly cat sitting on a gatepost who rolled over to have its belly scratched.  Anyway enough Brockley love, on to the market.  First impressions were that it was

small but perfectly formed - given we were miles from the tourist hot-spots of Borough we didn't have to deal with the hordes (although if jokers like me keep writing about it it won't be long).  As much as we wanted to check out the fresh produce stalls, it had been a long time since we woke up, so getting some food tout de suite was priority numero uno (I do like to see how many languages I can fit in one sentence).  We decided to divide and conquer and split the proceeds - the other half went straight for Mother Flipper's burgers.  With high praise from burger aficionados like Young & Foodish I knew this burger would deliver and it did.  For me, the secret to a great burger is the bun - the patty goes without saying but the bun is key to take a good burger into the realms of greatness and the Mother Flipper burger got it spot on.  I am still dreaming of this burger 2 weeks later.  My side

of the shared breakfast was a slow cooked pork torta from Luardos, Mexican street food served from a bright pink van (called Mary - the van, not the torta).  Watching this baby being made was like food porn, good thing upon good thing kept getting piled on (check out the photo for an almost complete torta) - amazing slow cooked pork, black beans, homemade guacamole and tomato salsa and hot sauce - be warned, I said "medium hot" and it was pretty zingy.  This was messy but so friggin' delicious.

As we sat there in the sun, taking alternate bites from the burger and the torta, life felt pretty darn good.  We decided that we should walk a little to aid digestion and make some room for something sweet (sorry, I really do have to stop making digestive references, not sure what's going on with me tonight...) so we took a couple of turns round the market, checking out the amazing fresh local produce - as always I bought a jar of something that looked great but will probably sit in the cupboard gathering dust, but hey that's what farmers' markets are about.  I really wished I was pig enough to squeeze in a Scotch egg from the Scotch egg guy - but I couldn't and plus Ben had bought me one a couple of weeks before so at least I knew how delicious they were.  We ended up at a great cake stall and decided on the splitting option again, this time a perfect chocolate brownie and a millionaire's shortbread sold to us by a friendly young chap with whom I discussed the merits of different brands of gin, which is the sort of conversation I am always pleased to have.  We accompanied our cakes with a decent flat white from the Dark Fluid coffee cart.  By this point we were fit to burst so decided to call it a day.  I loved Brockley Market - the food of course, the environs definitely but also the people.  Brockley seems to do cool locals - for those of us from the leafy SW it was nice to have a break from the yummy mummies and the rugger buggers (not that I am dissing my 'hood - well maybe a little, but only because I love it really).  The Brockley locals looked like they could be architects or perhaps work at an indie record label rather than the hedge fund crowd - but mostly they just looked friendly and up for it and perhaps slightly hung over.  All in all a lovely day - I can highly recommend a Saturday trip to SE4, but just don't tell too many people about it.  After queueing for ages to get into the Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy this weekend and being told last Thursday night at Ceviche that we had to wait at least an hour for a table I have decided that there are just too many people in London so I don't want them all crowding down to Brockley Market because it's the "thing to do", so I probably shouldn't be writing this blog post, but I can't not, because it's just so lovely and my mission, nay - my raison d'etre - is to tell you about lovely, unmissable things to do in London and this, my friends, is one of them.

Meat Liquor - Welbeck St W1

I finally made it to Meat Liquor on Saturday after several tries when I just couldn't face the queue - and before you judge me people, the other half and I waited 2 hours for a burger at #Meateasy so back in your box.  Man, this place is a total headf*ck - perhaps because I was jet-lagged, perhaps because I was a little drunk, perhaps because I had just eaten a burger so dirty and downright frigging delicious as well as some equally dirtily delectable chili cheese fries, I started to feel a little crazy in Meat Liquor.  Helped by the low lighting, hillbilly soundtrack and frankly scary graffiti art (my friend Ryan said it looked like somewhere you'd find a trussed up body hanging from a meat hook) - I actually needed to get out of there in the end and breath some non meaty air.  But hey, this is seriously good food and if you want to surrender yourself to the vibe, fortified by the equally superior cocktail list then you could lose your mind quite enjoyably in Meat Liquor.  You may just wake up the next morning in some abandoned warehouse, reeking of burgers and feeling violated but happy though - I warn you.

Honest Burgers - Brixton Village Mkt SW9

I have written before about the wonderful Brixton Village Market but had not yet sampled the fare from Honest Burgers - which, given what burger junkies the other half and I are, is kinda surprising.  I had actually wanted to go there on my birthday London fiesta but after Broadway Market, Shoreditch, Knightsbridge and Soho we ran out of steam - so we rectified that on the weekend and popped in before going to the Ritzy.  Oh man, this was a goooooood burger - the reviews have been positive and the provenance of their meat is top notch (Ginger Pig) but it was even better than expected.  We went for the plain beef version and the coarse, perfectly seasoned patty sandwiched between exactly the right type of burger bun (so often this lets a burger down - but not here) was delicious (to give you an idea of how good this was, as I write this I am drooling like Homer Simpson - why oh why aren't Honest Burger open on Monday nights).  Triple cooked rustic fries are the perfect accompaniment - just get down there and try for yourself.  Oh yeah - I should add, great location, cool shopfront, great service, great vibe in the market itself - it's all good folks, what are you waiting for?!