Shoreditch, Burgers, Etc Restaurant Guide

2023 Review: For a meat-free burger, this tiny brand (the first vegan restaurant in Europe to use ‘Beyond Meat’ in its patties) is well worth a try if you need a bite near the Old Street roundabout, or are down Pop Brixton way.

“The Dead Hippy burger is a dirty, dirty legend” – the best-named burger on British menus and “if not the easiest burger to eat definitely the tastiest” (especially when chased down by a boozy “hard shake”) – at the “cool” chain founded 15 years ago by Scott Collins and Yianni Papoutsis. The expansion of recent years seems to have ground to a halt with the closure of branches in Boxpark Croydon and Clapham Old Town, with a new strategy based around boosting sales via a national network of delivery kitchens launched in 2023. Top Tip – “root beer is available if you want a bit of real Americana!”

“Fab burgers with a posh turn” – including “awesome sweet potato fries” – still lead the charge at these Frenchified fast-food outfits, but they are transitioning into a brasserie group under the ownership of Hush Mayfair’s Jamie Barber. The 20-year-old original – a “great, cosy little spot in Camden” – and its Balham offshoot are all that remain as pure burger bars, while Kingston, High Holborn and Chelsea are now branded as brasseries with an extended menu to match.

This former food-truck and market-stall operation now has three bricks-and-mortar bars around the capital serving US-style burgers made from dry-aged Yorkshire-bred beef – and “wow, they’re really good”. You can enjoy them at home, too, thanks to a trio of delivery-only kitchens. Top Menu Tip – “the Bacon Butter Burger is great”.

“Smoky, flavourful, moist, DEELICIOUS – the burger is so well done, I go back again and again”, chorus fans of this five-year-old independent with five outlets around London. Some hail the burgers – made from high-welfare native breed grass-fed West Country beef, dry-aged on the bone – as “the best in town”. Founders Liz & Stew dreamt up the project while working ski seasons in Canada – hence the name.

2021 Review: “A nice, laid-back American buzz” has helped win a loyal following over the years for this small chain of Kansas City-style diners: one of the first in London to bring BBQ indoors. “It’s a fun place” (in the right mood) and the food is “decent” and in man-sized portions, but “not particularly special”.

“Still one of the steak stalwarts of London…”; “still our go-to place for a relaxed night out…”; “still the place for a discreet business meeting in the City…”. Few brands inspire as much long-term adulation as Huw Gott and Will Beckett’s steakhouse chain, which has ridden the zeitgeist since its founding in 2006; and which is now (with the help of Graphite Capital, who own most of it nowadays) to be found in NYC and Dublin, as well as Manchester, Edinburgh and Liverpool. A “terrific” cocktail in the bar, precedes “awesome steaks with fantastic side dishes, all in a cool setting”. At least, that’s long been the accepted wisdom anyway, although there’s a widespread feeling that quality “has dropped off a bit in recent years”. In this year’s annual diners’ poll, ratings improved in some respects and declined in others, with historical concerns over stratospheric prices supplanted by niggles that maybe the formula is just “starting to look a tad tired” and that service – though often “excellent” – can also sometimes seem increasingly “impersonal” (“you are just a number!”). The majority verdict for the time being, though? Still “always hits the spot”.

“This truck at Spitalfields continues to be a favourite of everyone I take there” – parked just outside the market, it delivers generous filled buns of the eponymous roasted bird, or boxes with meat, chips and salad.