Byron W8

222 Kensington High St   020 7361 1717

An airy, clean-lined and spacious Kensington parlour, serving top-class burgers at reasonable prices; service is friendly but sometimes inattentive.

A rave review elsewhere drew us to this new burger parlour, which has stealthily opened in the heart of Kensington (by the entrance to Holland Park).

It’s an impressively airy and capacious space, decorated in cool and neutral hues. On the design front, shame that – as is so often the case – someone didn’t ensure that the banquette and the chairs have their seats at exactly the same level, but that’s a quibble: this is a place offering a comfortable and civilised retreat from high street shopping.

The menu is simple and we confined ourselves to checking out the star item. And the burgers were indeed very good. If you like an unformed patty, cooked on the rare side, this is the place for you. It comes in a simple soft bun (almost, but not quite, à la Wimpy). French fries were on the good side of ordinary, and coffee was commendable.

In the early days, service was rather up-and-down: friendly and trying hard, but, by the end, we were reduced to almost Winneresque degrees of napkin-waving in an effort to get ourselves noticed. Indeed, the great man lives just around the corner, so no doubt we’ll get his verdict on the place in due course too.