Did gourmet burgers ever go away?
Not entirely. But smashburgers served in fast food outlets or deliberately stripped-back, grungy settings have dominated the conversation for the past few years. Now, more ambitious, indulgent burgers are making a play for our attention, with restaurant interiors and wine lists to match.
Such as?
Launched last year, Notting Hill restaurant Dove has helped put the gourmet burger back in the spotlight. Jackson Boxer’s thick patty of 50-day dry-aged beef, topped with melted gorgonzola and onion lyonnaise (made with champagne, no less), has proved an ingenious way of generating buzz and encouraging people to book earlier tables: only 10 are available each service.
Very clever. Anyone else?
Why yes. Former OMA executive chef Jorge Paredes is heading up Milk Burger, a burger and champagne restaurant also in Notting Hill. Menu details are limited, but a bone marrow and truffle burger sounds like a statement of serious intent. There’s a pleasing circularity to its choice of premises, too: the Westbourne Grove site once housed a Gourmet Burger Kitchen.
Talking of GBK, is there anyone with a bit more scale?
Have you, err, heard of Jordan Bailey’s Heard? The chef earned two Michelin stars for his cooking at Aimsir just outside Dublin, so could reasonably be described as overqualified for flipping burgers. Though best known for smashburgers, his growing brand has recently introduced a range with thicker patties. Both styles use aged beef from regenerative British farms. His forthcoming Covent Garden flagship will offer wine pairings devised by his sommelier wife Majken Bech-Bailey, plus a dessert and cocktail speakeasy downstairs.
Are the established burger groups getting in on the action?
Burger & Beyond is one to watch. It positions itself as a nice restaurant that serves burgers, distinguishing its approach from the US burger bars, diners and dive bars that provide the template for many of its competitors. Without the branding and the heady aroma of sizzling beef, you might not immediately clock its speciality. That positioning extends to the menu, which also includes top-quality steaks sourced from Mr Txuleta. Its £22 bougie burger combines two dry-aged beef patties with double American cheese, steak sauce, marrownaise and beef fat onions in a demi-brioche bun.
Hang on a minute. What makes a burger gourmet, anyway?
Good question. The term became so overused during the last burger boom that it could mean little more than a mass-produced brioche bun and a miniature bucket of chips. This latest crop has far more convincing culinary credentials: carefully sourced and aged beef, chefs with serious restaurant experience and toppings that do more than make the burger taller. The real test, of course, is whether all that effort produces a better burger. A few squirts of truffle oil does not necessarily a good burger make.
So, is this the end of the smashburger?
Hardly. Heard and Burger & Beyond show that thin patties and serious culinary ambition can happily coexist, and the rise of French smashburger imports such as Dumbo and Junk show that thin and crispy is going nowhere. But the thicker gourmet burger is back in the conversation - and this time it’s asking to see the wine list.