Ed’s Diner’s – Smokey Joe DIY

I miss Ed’s Easy Diner since they closed down their London shops.  When my kids were little and not the ravenous teenagers they are now it was a place we’d stop after walking around London.  My son loved the hot dogs, I liked the burgers and we all liked the shakes and ambience.  So when I saw they were offering DIY kits that delivered to my area I was excited to try.   

The Bun: 14/20

A good bun.  Incredibly soft on top, yet firm inside.  Nothing too exciting taste wise, and perhaps just a little too big for the patty, but no weird seeds or flavours at least.  The kit comes with some butter to use to fry the bun and that certainly gets the very most out of it.   

The Toppings: 8/10

Onions, pickles and bacon, what’s not to like? Pretty classic flavours.  The bacon was really good, a strong smoky flavour and two thick slices per burger.  Pickles were pretty good, maybe a touch sweet compared to burger joints in America but better than most on this side of the pond.  The kit comes with a whole onion.  My only suggestion is not to criss-cross the bacon the way the kit suggests as you end up with bacon sticking out the sides and few bites of burger that don’t get any.  If you cut the bacon in half across the middle, and use 3 of the half strips you get much better coverage for the burger and a delicious appetiser extra half slice

The Condiments: 6/10

The kit comes with a classic burger sauces and a sweet, smoky BBQ sauce.   The burger sauce looks and smells like Thousand Islands, but has a little spicy kick.    The BBQ sauce had just a little too much artificial smoke flavour for my liking, and in the final product that overwhelmed the burger for me.  We did make one without the BBQ sauce and with mustard added and we all thought that was really good.  

The Cheese: 17/20

Two nice slices of a decent American cheese.  Made for an excellent meat to cheese ratio and did stand out even through the smoky flavour of the bacon and BBQ sauce.   Like with the onions, pickles and bacon there may be nothing too creative here, but the classics work for a reason. 

The Patty: 12/20

The kit comes with pre-formed patties and recommends you press down to the thickness of a £1 coin!  We thought that meant a coin on edge as that is about how thick the patties are when they arrive, but given how much fat cooked out of these and how much they shrunk, we aren’t sure now.  The flavour is really good, a textbook American style diner patty and I like those.  I just wanted more beef.  The instruction card shows two thin patties bulging outside the bun on one side and a thick, medium-rare burger (bite out of it to show the red centre) that filled the bun on the other side.  But you can’t make either of those burgers with this kit.  I think an option for a double patty would be ideal, or at least one bigger one.  And be warned, these give off a lot of fat.  I was using a griddle and it started to overflow.  Everyone who tried loved the flavour and texture of the beef, as it was juicy and flavourful with no gamey aftertaste at all. We just needed more.  

The Taste: 13/20

A good burger, on the verge of being a great burger.  As I said above, we cut the BBQ sauce and added mustard on one and thought that was an excellent cheeseburger.   But if you like sweet and smoky, the BBQ sauce might be for you. 

Our Verdict: 70/100

A well-prepared kit, with easy instructions and decent ingredients.  Bonus point for including seasoning salt for the fries, and a QR code for a Spotify playlist…although the playlist was not the music I remember from Ed’s Easy Diner visits.  But I had to take a point off as I was still hungry after my burger.  Next time, I will cut the BBQ sauce down, and add a second patty and some mustard to get what I think would be a really excellent burger.  If you liked the look of this review then you should check out another American style we reviewed burger from TGI Fridays