We’ve eaten Burgers for a year
A little over a year and 63 reviews down makes you reflect on the journey that is Cheeseburgerme. Our first review was done in preparation for the launch of the site in the shape of the Nanny Bills Hot Box Burger DIY using our unique scoring system. Although there has been no need of changing our scoring system our understanding of the scoring has certainly evolved through the last 13 months. Perhaps some of our scores in the initial stages were too harsh some, perhaps, too generous. We are at a stage now where we look forward to getting back on the road and trying some of these burgers again, re-scoring and re-evaluating through more accustomed mouths.
The Rise and Fall of the DIY Kit
The coronavirus outbreak in the early months of 2020 cast a shadow of doubt on the futures of so many businesses. At a time of global natural disaster comparable with so many before it the coronavirus decimated businesses in the UK. Huge companies like Byron Burger having to axe 31 stores causing 650 job losses were just one of the sad stories of 2020/21. Companies like Plateaway, Greatfood2u and, Restaurantkits helped to create a space in which foodies like us were still able to eat restaurant-style banquets from the safety of our homes. The DIY Kit was for us, was one of the more enjoyable aspects of being at home. Through DIY Kits, ingredients from restaurants like Shakeshack, Burger and Beyond, and Black Bear Burger were in our own homes and enabled us to share the experiences with our families and friends. At Cheeseburgerme we managed to review 36 restaurants in our DIY section and, perhaps more importantly, help to keep these restaurants alive with the rest of our foodie audience! Although the DIY offerings seem to be reducing in number, we will certainly look back with warm memories as we step foot into restaurants again more frequently. I know I, for one, can remember my children looking at me with unimpressed eyes when I offered them a Paneer Saag Burger!
What have we learned?
Critiquing others’ food, whether positively or negatively, comes with a certain amount of responsibility. One of my core learns from working at Cheeseburgerme has been how to articulate my opinions in a constructive way, detailing my likes and dislikes. The scoring system has set parameters and enabled us to be objective in our approach and work within set parameters. Aside from the obvious learning in etiquette, through the DIY experiences, there have been revelations in our own home cooking of burgers!
- Butter your buns and steam them! It was Burger and Beyond that introduced us to this masterpiece of bun preparation and it has now become the standard in my own home.
- The patty cooking time – Cooking patties at home, whether on the BBQ on in the pan is always a stressful time. We have had instructions for a 60s cook time per side to a 7 minute cook time per side and the outcomes vary. Paying attention to what meat you have bought, the grind of the meat, the fat content, and the size of the patty is something I personally learned from reading DIY Kit cooking instructions.
- Condiment Selections – We have tried some amazing condiments, although Ketchup, Mustard, and Mayo are still among some of our favourite condiments as you will see on the Five Guys review. For me, Burger and Beyond’s Burnt Butter Mayo and Cheeky Burger’s unbelievable Homemade Ketchup have been two of my stars of condiment selections. It is amazing how flavour profiles in the sauce are able to compliment the natural flavours of beef and I have been a willing student in understanding how they are created and why.
I am sure there are more learns that come out during the weekly review but probably one of the most important teachings that were taken from DIY Kit cooking:
4) I am not the Boss – When it comes to cooking a burger I fancy myself the maestro in the kitchen with fat splattered all over the place, a “Dad’s Cooking” pinny, beer to the side of the stove, and No Woman no Cry blaring from my speaker. I realised that my organisational skills required a sous chef so my wife began to help me as I was always overcooking or undercooking DIY’s then having to utilise the others in the pack to conduct a fair review. It was not long into reviewing DIY Kits that I realised it was I, in fact, that was the sous chef being ordered around by my ‘Ramsey-like’ wife, and the relationship definitely yielded better-cooked results!
Stars of Last Year
We have had some amazing burgers, we really have. Our HIT LIST will outline for you the current leaderboard but I wanted to bring attention to some of the ‘Off Menu’ items that we have reviewed.
First up:
Poor Boys is located in Kingston Upon Thames and has a variety of different dishes, renditions of New Orleans-style cooking. The Cochon Po’Boy is one of the most incredible, burger-like, dishes that I have come across the last 13 months, and finding Poor Boys only came from scouring the internet for the next burger review. They have a brilliant Mac and Cheese and their Beef Brisket would be another strong contender for being one of the Stars of Last Year.
Passyunk Avenue – Philly Cheesesteak
Passyunk Avenue delivered us the Cheesesteak DIY last year. For us, was one of the best ‘off menu’ dishes we could have tried. The meat was phenomenal, the bun was, perfect and the cheese was off the charts! A special inauguration meal for the family this DIY stole the show for a good few weeks. Had we not had burgers to review I think this could have been in our family household for around 4 weeks straight! We look forward to going and trying Passyunk on their home turf and throwing some batting swings in their batting cages too.
Back to Burgers
It seems wrong to have a shout out for the Stars of Last Year without commending the brilliance of our Top 3.
2nd Position: Honest Tribute Burger
3rd position: Burger and Beyond Bacon Butter Burger
Five Guys is an anomaly, a brilliant self-service style burger that is hard to get wrong. Virtually every Five Guys I have gone to has been identical in taste and the only time I have had a burger that I wasn’t totally happy with, is when I put something outside of my usual ingredient list in the stack. Five Guys has taken top place and will be hard to beat given the ability to pretty much style your own burger at the joint. The fries are delicious and you rarely walk out of Five Guys feeling hungry.
The Tribute Burger at Honest was incredible. I remember that day like it was yesterday sitting in Tooting High Street where they had no air conditioning. If that burger wasn’t great I would have had something to say about the steaming hot restaurant, amidst the coronavirus fall out but, at that very moment, you could have struck me with lightning and I would have clung to that burger. Masterpiece.
I always knew from the 1st time I tried Burger and Beyond that, I had eaten something special. I have done the DIY and I have eaten at their Shoreditch branch and the Bacon Butter Burger is in a realm of creativity of its own. Their unique cooking techniques, short cook, and perfectly stacked burger keep a heap of moisture and deliver on that ‘Instagrammable Burger Porn’ look and taste.
Where we go Next:
Seeing restaurants open again, people attending and the social media profiles promoting new burgers is a breath of fresh air. Through a difficult time, restaurants managed to provide us with options to taste their burgers, being good or bad, and for that, we hope we have been able to showcase them with their deserved critique. There have been others that have not made this article such as Black Bear Burger and Shakeshack but their reviews are online and you will find them high up the rankings on the Hit List. Keep a lookout for new scorings coming because guys, we are coming back at ya!
