Whitechapel, Burgers, Etc Restaurant Guide

“East London is where you get the best pork rolls in town” – courtesy of Mark Gevaux, a former butcher who has perfected the art of BBQ baby-back ribs, from pigs reared outdoors in Norfolk and Suffolk, and his own famous ‘Holy Fuck’ sauces. Available only in Brick Lane Market on Sundays (they sell out early) and at West Ham home games.

“The best burgers in town” – “the juiciest, the most flavourful” – are a credible claim for this quartet in Spitalfields, Victoria, the City’s Bloomberg Arcade and Westfield White City, the highest-rated of the non-mainstream burger chains in our survey this year. New Yorker Zan Kaufman named them after the Greenwich Village street where she ate the burger that inspired her to quit her job as a corporate lawyer and start flipping patties on the back of a London truck, 11 years ago.

“Bloody good, succulent steaks”, with “epic cocktails and wines”, all served in “rather clubby”, “classy” surroundings is a formula that’s won fame and fortune for Huw Gott and Will Beckett’s steakhouse phenomenon. “Many happy afternoons have been lost in these places!”, which continue to be voted as London’s “best steak chain by far”, and “a go-to for business”. “Everything is top-notch: the quality and cookery of the beef; the exemplary seafood (be it Salcombe crab on toast or their lobster); even down to their excellent sides of mac ’n’ cheese, bone marrow or Caesar salad”. However, a visit “is not exactly easy on the wallet”. “It’s verrrrry expensive” (and “if you go with mates who like to chug back the wine, the bill will be massive!”). And ratings are coming under ever-more pressure due to “staff who seem unable to cope”, or meals with “too many misses at too heavy a price to be a reliable bet”. Last year, the team expanded to Manhattan and also opened a “stunning floating boat/barge” in the docks at Canary Wharf. Later in 2022, the group will also add a Liverpool branch to rival Manchester’s; and a few months later make a Dublin debut on College Green too. “Are they losing some of their je-ne-sais-quoi as they get bigger and badder? There’s a sneaking suspicion the lustre is being slightly lost.”

“Quackers about this place!” – a fixture of Spitalfields Market, this street food truck delivers “duck in a wrap and much, much more” from an “eclectic” and “mouthwatering” menu. And the duck comes with a very modest… bill (geddit?).