Two slices of bread and a slab of meat, simple ain’t
it? Although bread has been eaten for thousands of years in countless forms and humans have been eating meat for just as long, it took a surprisingly
long time before someone thought to combine them. Bread was the original crockery; in medieval times stale
bread was used as edible plates soaking up the juices of whatever was being
eaten, leading to open–faced sandwiches. Bread is even used as the delivery vehicle
such as for Shooter’s sandwiches or pain surprise. Despite the vague claim of a Jewish religious leader being the inventor of the sandwich, the widely
accepted factoid has it that back in the 18th century the Fourth Earl of Sandwich was the first to have the bright
idea to put cold meats between two slices of bread. Handy during a game of cards as marking your hand with sticky fingers is not a good thing.
Fast forward a hundred years and some bright spark
decided to put some hot mincemeat in a bun and the burger was born. No one
knows exactly who the innovator was and frankly I don’t care, what matters is that it was created. What seemed like a relatively simple evolution has led to waves
of innovation, debate, favouritism and politics. Burgers were big news in
1950’s America with Whitecastle pioneering the fact that burgers, uniformly shaped,
could be made fast. Then McDonalds created the franchise and with these two weapons they unleashed a steady torrent of meat slurry into the face
of Joe Public. They ate it and they loved it.
Over the years our love affair for the burger has
waned, becoming a symbol of everything that is wrong with modern society – greed, lust and excess. Greasy, fatty fried meat in a carbohydrate-packed bun served with
oily chips, washed down with high-fructose corn syrup. Soon governments and media
declared fast food as the 'food of the poor, the stupid and the gluttonous'. "Shame on all those that eat it!” they cried. Do it, and do it now; lest we have time to
look at ourselves dunking our chocolate digestives in our tea and dripping on our copies of the Daily Mail. Acres of trees are cut down every week to ensure
thousands of column inches can be dedicated to how we are eating and drinking
ourselves to an early grave and taking the taxpayer with us. The face of this
epidemic: the humble burger.
Outside of the world the Daily Mail seems to have created, the burger has made
a comeback. The food culture of this, and many European
countries, has exploded and people have decided that they will eat anything as
long as it tastes good. Fuck the
diets, what matters is taste. A form of self-fellatio, people run around
endlessly like food junkies desperate to get their next fix. McDonalds is
scorned and mocked, not because it is unhealthy, but because it’s shitty solidified
grey sludge. Look at American chains such as In-N-Out. They are heralded by both the press and the public, yet the offerings are essentially the same. The only real difference is taste and one saying they care about the quality of what they are serving. Both are still high fat, high carb foods.
London has more than its own fair share of burger joints. Mega-chains such as McD's and BK as well as smaller chains and independents. Below I present six very different offerings from around the
capital. A street food van, small independent types, dirty slices of Americana
and one supposedly down-on-its-luck chain. Forgive me for not visiting the Golden Arches for comparison - I think we all know what that tastes like.
Bleecker Street - Simply The Best
I've written about these guys before and to signpost where this is going: this is, in my
opinion, the best burger in London. Full stop, hands down, shake it all around. A more controversial point would be that I
don’t even think anyone else is even close - maybe only the guys directly below. When I tell friends this I find it
hard to describe why exactly. The bun is pretty straightforward and there are
none of my favourite accompaniments such as pickles, pickled/caramelised onions
or a spicy sauce. What it does have however is exceptional beef, tasty cheese and some moreish burger sauce. The bun is beautifully toasted giving a nice crunch and there are two thin circles of charred onion that gives a light smokey flavour. The cheese is pure Americana and gives a creamy blanket for the patty. Overall though, the star is the beef.
