Apple's Burger Blog
I love burgers. This is a record of my burger eats for posterity, for when I inevitably die of burger related disease and/or obesity. Enjoy Apple's burger reviews, enjoy burgers more (responsibly of course)
Let this be a tasty warning. Enjoy !
p.s. View on Chrome, Edge formatting is rubbish
Mother Flipper
Earlham St., London WC2H 9LX
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Purpose: Burger Assessment
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Good for: Taste
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Verdict: I've looked enviously at Mother Flipper for a while, but not only was it south of the river, but when I ventured to Brockley Market it was closed! Bad timing, story of my life. Happily opened an extension in the Seven Dials market, which is good for a visit even without. Glad I went, too. Burger had good textures, salty, good overall taste without much individual flavour although you get bits of beefiness when not obscured by cheese and sparse veg. Nice looking patty, medium medium rare, so a shame it's not more prevalent. Cheese also a good burger cheese taste, held by a bun that's at first a bit burger overwhelming but ends up with the right amount of squished. Skin on chips, neither crisp nor soggy and actually had a potato taste. Bar supplying the punters from all the offerings, usual good selection for this type of food market.
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Burger: Proper
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Cost: ££
Web: https://www.sevendialsmarket.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Mother_Flipper_SDM.pdf
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Stars: ****
Grime
7Spitalfields Estate, 65 Brushfield Street, London, E1 6AA
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Purpose: Burger Assessment
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Good for: Not needing teeth
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Verdict: Spitalfields has changed, not only from being a fruit and veg market to a craft and food space (the craft being mainly clothes, and still a market) where the food was a bunch of sit down restaurants plus some food trucks, to additional permanent (but changeable) kiosks even more kiosks where some food trucks used to be. Basically food is on the up. A new addition is Grime, selling 100% British wagyu patties - hope there isn't a trademark issue here - at not reasonable prices. There's no real downside, except the burger is unremittingly soft. The meat has a little char but no crust in a decently shaped, medium rare cooked patty, in another bun I thought was going to obscure the content but didn't. The cheese and veg looked good, and added to a nice overall burger taste, without being brilliant or (event the pickles) adding texture. Sauce was the same, decent but not outstanding. Chips on the other hand were great - no skin, crispy, big portion. No beer (boo), not even Japanese. Or British. There are plenty of pubs/bars around, so no problem.
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Burger: Soft
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Cost: £££
Web: https://www.spitalfields.co.uk/food-and-drink/the-grime-burger-wagyu/
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Stars: ***
Boom Bap
Leadenhall Market, London EC3V 1LR
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Purpose: Burger Assessment
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Good for: Enhancement by rock salt
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Verdict: Lager a bit of a lager/ale cross, but not unpleasant- great selection of drinks if you like cocktails and wine, and decent beer list. Burger patty is good and meaty and dominates the flavour, not charred, chunky and very medium, so it's a tad surprising. A little support from the lettuce strands and onion, nothing from the cheese and pickle. The bun does its job and the sauce isn't really identifiable. Too salty in places, tastes and feels like rock salt which was generously applied. Good fries, not skin on, and a good portion size.
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Burger: Solid
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Cost: ££££
Web: https://boombapburger.com/leadenhall-mkt/lm-burgers-b-sides/
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Stars: ****
Kill The Cat
14 Market St, Spitalfields Market, London E1 6DT
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Purpose: Post Work Drinks
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Good for: Beer porn
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Verdict: Burger quite greasy on the bun and in mouth feel, two thin smashed patties probably quite high in fat content, but mixed with the pickles and mustard (and small amount of onions) it's good. Nice char and texture. Really didn't need the bun part though, someone probably thought it added something, but it basically just makes your fingers greasy. Small portion of skin on fries were OK. Beer choices stratospheric, organised nicely, not hideously expensive. A decent wine also so drinks are well covered. All in all OK, so I hope it lasts in which is a bit of a graveyard for otherwise good ventures.
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Burger: Mandatory
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Cost: £££
Web: pass time _ kill the cat menu (shopify.com)
KILL THE CAT / FOR THE BEER CURIOUS – Kill The Cat
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Stars: ***
Patty Guy
The Dome, 21-22 Marine Parade, Worthing, BN11 3PT
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Purpose: Burger Assessment
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Good for: Nostalgia
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Verdict:
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Created by Masterchef 2018 winner Kenny Tutt, it's a nostalgia thing because I liked his restaurant Pitch which has unfortunately closed, and because it's got an 80's vibe... Bun was soggy bottom on arrival, which didn't help the eating process. The meat was OK, looked good but didn't pronounce also quite small thin patties so I was happy I went for the double smashed option - the mustard/onion/pickle garnish was overwhelming (not necessarily in a bad way) but would have made the single patty option pointless. There was ketchup but it couldn't compete, and neither could the cheese. Skin on chips were a bit ordinary, not fresh and for some reason a bit artificial tasting to me. Decent drinks selection, although it's approaching London prices which is a bit disappointing, but not unfortunately unusual in the provinces nowadays.
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Burger: Not fine dining
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Cost: £££
Web: https://www.pattyguy.co.uk/menu
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Stars: **
Bun & Sum
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Purpose: Burger Assessment
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Good for: Cost
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Verdict:
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I guess these are traditional smash burgers in the sense that the onions are smashed in, which is unusual nowadays and could have been a nice twist. The patties aren't greasy but the bun felt like it was on self destruct - as it happens it lasted to the end, but I'm a quick eater. No sauce on the classic Cheeseburger option, but a ketchup sachet accompanied, so effectively bun, patty, onion and cheese. Meat was OK, but not really flavourful, and I'm unconvinced by the stringy onions. Cheese was a background taste and it was well seasoned, but overall a bit dull. Fries undercooked and floppy, but I like the Fire dip.
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Burger: Just off.
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Cost: £
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Stars: **
Supernova
25 Peter Street, Soho, W1F 0AH
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Purpose: Burger Assessment
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Good for: Flatness
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Verdict:
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Well it's all about the smash here, two burgers - classic with mustard, ketchup and pickle or house with house sauce and pickle, both with cheese obviously. Smash was pronounced, patties can't have been more than 5mm thick by the time they were finished, good job there were two of them. Problem is, although the edges were nicely crispy and chewy there wasn't a lot of flavour left and certainly no char. Exacerbate that with a good dousing of cheese and a bun that compresses to the same width as the meat in the hand and it's not that great. Although it's nice to have so much cheesiness. It's probably a normal size really, but I felt like I needed another one. Fries were OK, generally crispy and hot. Drinks limited 0 Iced Tea, Coke/Sprite & Sundaes (someone said beer, I certainly didn't see any). Apparently it's very popular, I'm not seeing it.
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Burger: Brown dwarf rather than Super Nova
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Cost: £££
Web: https://www.supernovaburger.com/
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Stars: **
Burger And Sauce
229 Market St, Wolverhampton WV1 3AG
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Purpose: Burger Assessment
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Good for: Value
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Verdict:
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Difficult to anything really good, but harder to say anything bad. Bun wasn't toasted, don't really like that but it held together fine. Burger not juicy, but not dry, not tasty but as always improved to good by fresh salad - lettuce, tomato and onion. Pickle nice, cheese AWOL. Fries crispy, needed the signature sauce that came with them. Good value - 2 meals for £12, including bottled Pepsi and 500ml Robinsons Fruit frinks
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Burger: Good at half the price
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Cost: ££
Web: https://www.burgerandsauce.com/menu/
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Stars: ***
Smsh Bn
126 Charing Cross Road, London, W2CH 0LA
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Purpose: Burger Assessment
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Good for: Smash burgers
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Verdict:
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Let's start with the burger, everything that a smash burger should be - good bit of char, crispy edges, possibly too crispy and a good mouth feel of fat without being overly greasy. A slightly surprising but definitely not unpleasant bite from pickled jalapenos which come in a addition to good pickles, onions and cheese which adds creaminess and some cheesiness. I didn't get much from the onion, and advertised crispy onions were non-existent. Overall a very decent face filler. The fries were crispy, unseasoned, and a bit oily but OK, soft drinks only. So what's wrong? Well the burger is a Wagyu patty, and it's almost criminal to smash it like this - the mouth feel is the only thing that represents Wagyu, the taste has been squashed out of it. Might as well not bother and reduce the price. I'm sure others will love it.
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Burger: Divisive
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Cost: ££££
Web: SMSH BN | #1 Smash Burger in London (smsh-bn.com)
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Stars: ***
Maxwells
34 King St, Covent Garden, London, WC2E 8JD
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Purpose: Burger Assessment
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Good for: People watching
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Verdict:
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No actual Cheeseburger, so added American to the Old Timer, which was poetic as it was my birthday and I'm the wrong side of 50. Once cheesed up,, the result was alright - the patty was quite tasty, a good medium with a pink middle, possibly too much tomato with good amounts of lettuce and pickles. I had two gripes. One - that there wasn't enough sauce, although having said that there was a slight bitter aftertaste which I couldn't identify the cause of but may have been the sauce, so maybe not. Two - the bun, although toasted, was cold, which affected the overall burger experience quite negatively. On the plus side, the fries were crisp and there were a shedload of them. Beers, wines, spirits and cocktails for drinks, so no lack of choice there - which is nice given the previous blog visits were all alcohol free. And it was my birthday, so woo hoo!!!
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Burger: Just OK
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Cost: £££
Web: MAX+MENU+ALL+DAY+JUN+2024+WEB.pdf (squarespace.com)
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Stars: ***
Bread Meets Bread
65 St Vincent Street, Glasgow, G2 5TF
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Purpose: Burger Assessment
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Good for: Coughing at prices
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Verdict:
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At first glance it looks a bit pricey, even for a city centre (£11.40 for a single Cheeseburger without sides - chips for me obviously, but Tater Tots and Poutine are available, although Poutine is £10+ so not really a side. Chips are OK, the usual frozen skin on chips, but whilst not hot and crisp they were fine and a decent portion for a small (£3.50). Burger didn't look like it was going to set the world on fire, and didn't, but was nicely balanced. Patty was over but not dry, no char but in general a good bit of well seasoned meat. Less is obviously more, as the tangy pickles , caramelised sweet onions and cheese all came through and delivered surprisingly good taste. Bun decently held together, squished but OK. Extensive drinks menu, draught, bottles, wine and cocktails - also quite pricy, by which I mean London prices.
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Burger: Pricey
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Cost: ££££
Web: https://breadmeatsbread.com/glasgow-city-centre/
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Stars: ***