Byron Burger: What is the perfect burger?
What is my perfect burger?
We can break this burger down to its constituent parts, the bun, the condiments, the garnish, the cheese and the most important part, the patty. The heart and soul of every burger is the patty and this is where we will start. Lean cuts of beef tend to make very dry burgers and it is the fat in the burger that gives it the best flavour. There is also the question of getting the right texture to aid both during cooking and final product. A course grind is preferred. Even compressing the beef into patties too tightly can cause it to lose any lightness in texture completely. The patty should be in proportion to the size of the tomato, the bread and whatever else you have. Finally we get to cooking the patty, resulting in a charred seared exterior and rosy pink interior, medium rare from edge to edge, soft and oozing with juices .
And then there is the rest. The bun should not be an afterthought, it should be soft, and fresh, have sweet flavour of its own without being too neutral. It should be big enough to hold up through the entire burger without collapsing, but not so big that all you taste is the bread. The cheese whilst not absolutely necessary brings another dimension to the burger, and it too should again have its own personality. So I avoid American and Jack, which do melt nicely but are too mellow, and go for something a bit sharper like Gruyere or Cheddar or even a blue cheese, although I personally find that too salty on a burger. I feel that a burger should as standard come with some green leaf lettuce, a slice of a large ripe tomato, sliced red onion, and perhaps some slices of pickle. Optional savoury spreadable condiments are also a winner. Anything really, and Ketchup, mustard, and mayonnaise are all classics. I’ve only just decided that I’m not a fan of bacon in my burgers as I feel the saltiness and flavour of the bacon is a distraction from the beef.
Byron Hamburger, Wardour Street, Soho
I’ve been to three branches of the seven (and growing) branches of Byron Burger. Most recently with fellow foodie, Kang, at their Soho branch, which open in December in the location of the original Goth and metal bar, The Intrepid Fox, on Wardour Street. The interior is spacious and booths line the walls with windows, whilst the rest of the front of house is made up of simple tables and chairs for couples and groups of 3 or more. A video projection shows short clips of people eating burgers and even more bizarrely they appear to have Carls Junior commercials on loop. Carls Junior burgers are ok, but they aren’t great. Their commercials are incredible… incredibly bad. There are nice touches like jugs of tap water with glasses on all the tables, big tea towel napkins, and the spidery lamp creation in the middle of the ceiling.
The menu at Byron Burger is mind numbingly simple, but that is what you want from a restaurant that specializes in burgers. After all, why would you go to a burger restaurant for a salad? For the smell burgers being cooked? Service is prompt and our waiter, a Kiwi, is friendly and chatty. Drinks come in chilled glasses and they serve A&W root beer, which can be had as a float with vanilla ice cream. So let’s get to the food (which took less than 10 minutes). The fries are hot, crisp and fresh, as are the courgette fries which are simply strips of courgettes lightly battered and deep-fried. Thoroughly recommended. And so there is the burger, presented in small white bun. The patty is cooked to medium although inside could have been a little pinker and outside could’ve done with some all-important sloppy grease and a bit more charring. The fixings were good but the failing is in the bun. Like the Americans, I prefer my burger with a sweetened bun. And the Byron Bun has none of this. It is just a bit too plain.
Over the last decade many serious chefs have taken a shot at improving or reinventing the burger and we’ve ended up with all sorts of creations from burgers with truffle and foie gras to various combinations of unlikely cuts and bone marrow to make up “gourmet burgers”. That’s great. The thing is, 99% of the time, I would rather avoid ordering a burger in most places than end up with a thick piece of rubber between two halves of a loaf of bread with some oily cheese slapped on for good measure. The Byron Burger is a good burger albeit their bun and they come out amongst the best but it is far from perfect. Unfortunately the rest are in a sea of crimes to burgers that we have on offer in London and the UK, even Carl’s Junior would probably smash 90 percent of burgers in the UK by British pubs and restaurants. The British just find it hard to cook an amazing burger.
By rumour, Byron launches their 8oz premium burger on Thursday 14th January, 2010, developed in conjunction with O’Shea Butchers of Knightsbridge and a new Byron branch is due to open soon at Canary Wharf. And Shake Shack make the best burger I’ve eaten so far… here’s a photo.
Byron
222 Kensington High Street
London
W8 7RG
Tel 020 7361 1717
kensington@byronhamburgers.com
Bryon
75 Gloucester Road
London
SW7 4SS
Tel 020 7244 0700
gloucesterroad@byronhamburgers.com
Byron At The Intrepid Fox
97-99 Wardour Street
London
W1F 0UD
Tel 020 7297 9390
wardourstreet@byronhamburgers.com
http://www.byronhamburgers.com
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15 Responses to “Byron Burger: What is the perfect burger?”
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I like that Byron Soho has nodded to it’s former occupants, with the spidery chandelier and the graffiti in the toilets.
I agree with you about the bun. Love love love the patty, but give us the brioche! Or at least an option.
Bokeh-ism…. Mmm… I am jealous of Photo 6, that 3D effect is maddening.
Ah I do love Byron as well for its simple burgers. The Soho branch is fresh, new and very trendy – the staff are friendly, food’s great and hey they have A&W root beer floats so WIN!
I agree the water and the napkins are nice touches and the constant looping TV ads really bugged me. I do love the Byron burger though, I’ve been back a couple of times and they are consistently good. Really looking forward to the launch on Thursday!
Kicking myself for not having tried the Shake Shack burger when I was in New York, it was too cold to brave the lengthy queue!
I’m a big fan of the Hawksmoor burger (on Commercial Street, E1). Your review on Byron makes me want to try theirs, for comparison sake, of course!
I’ve been once and I do like Byron, but the americans do simply do it better than anywhere else. I’ve never had a bad burger in the US!
Mark! found you! you write about food? that’s no surprise really. I’ve emailed you, and we need to catch up.
I queued up at Shake Shack in that park too but it only took 30 minutes.
Keep up the good fight!
LOVE the photos!
In and Out make my fave burger. Have you tried them?
Hi mark, finally found your website. So this is how you spent Christmas?
nice work, burger schmurgers though… go vegan… 
x
Hi Mark,
Great post, and I agree with you a lot on what you say about your ideal burger. I too think the Byon burger is good, but not that much to write home about if you’ve had a lot of good burgers in the US. For my money, the best burger in London is Hache’s. Although it’s not perfect, and although I didn’t think the ciabatta bun would work (it strangely does for me), it’s pretty satisfying & I like the neighborhood vibe of the place (I go to the original Camden one). On the other hand, Byron’s malted Oreo milkshake was by far the best shake I’ve had in the UK…I’ve been dreaming about another one…and soon.
Hope all is well,
LF
Lizzie – I agree… Byron give us a sweet bun!
Kang – I didn’t take photo 6. Someone we both know did with my camera.
Catty – Root beer floats win win WIN!
Boo – Shake Shack… oh… drool, just thinking about their burger. It is the fact they do a smashed meat patty, like fast food chain style that i love it. Bring it on!
Donna D – we are also comparing burgers at different prices. but for the sake of the best burger in London… yes I am also very keen to throw down and have a munch of that Hawksmoor burger.
Tom K. – yep, the americans do it best.
Blaze – yes mate! emailed you back bruv.
Claire – I unfortunately have missed out on In N Out recently. Very limited time and the inability to drive means I have to convince others…
Ellie – saf is rubbish.
but it’s ok if you pay. I will just drink.
LF – I am not a big fan of Hache. I think their patty meat is too course and so it isn’t soft enough. I am so opposed to ciabatta that I’ve actully had their burgers “carb-free” on my last two visits. Plus the service there has been consistently awful for me and I’ve only been to the Camden Inverness St branch. I have never had a shake at Byron… sounds like I need to though. I am going to go to Byron Soho in the next couple of days to try out this new 8oz premium patty… oh yes!
This has made me exceptionally hungry! My NY resolution is to search for the perfect burger and it seems EVERYONE is raving about Byron – I’ve very excited to be going next week to the Gloucester Road one nom nom nom.
I too agree with your points about what makes the perfect burger.
But I have to disagree with Laissez Faire about the hache burger which left me distinctly unimpressed, not least because I hated the use of ciabatta. Didn’t work at all for me to the extent I eventually took the burger out of the bun, left the bun and reverted to using knife and fork. Grrr!
Recently had Hawksmoor burger for first time.
Byron next!
Happiness – There isn’t a great deal of choice in London when it comes to burgers i’m afraid. I highly doubt you will ever find the “perfect” burger here as well… that is highly subjective of course. I don’t think my perfect burger is a gourmet style burger anyway.
Kavey – Hache – Ciabatta… ugh no. No Ciabatta please.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Catherine Lee and Laissez Fare, London Eating. London Eating said: Excellent photo review of Byron (Soho) – http://bit.ly/62WUPP – (via @foodbymark) [...]