In the rather unhappening little nook of Bloomsbury, I have passed a couple of times, Burger & Shake, and made the decision it needed to be explored. With its retro aesthetic and menu consisting of amazing sounding burgers, chicken wings and alcoholic shakes, it seemed I was in for a good evening. The reviews I had read prior to venturing there, were pretty darn praiseworthy, with one fellow even exclaiming it was the best burger he had on his European tour… Big claim, buddy big claim.
With an annoying sting at the back of my nose that had been persisting all day (a result from my getting hardly any sleep as I was up all night watching the nail-biting Brexit referendum coverage) I had downed two ultra-strength cold and flu tablets just before arriving, and on my brief tube ride from Piccadilly Circus to Russell Square, my tummy was in absolute knots. Not a good combo, empty tummy and strong tablets. Food needed pronto!
I ordered the House Burger, which is 180g beef patty – the beef used here is from Ayrshire, Scotland – lettuce, tomato, pickle, American cheese, sweet cured bacon with mustard and horseradish ketchup. She looks a picture when she arrives. Despite my horrifically cramping stomach, I am excited! I bite into her. She is ok, but only ok. There is nothing offensive about her, but nothing remarkable either. I am reminded of my old dance teacher from NIDA, who would always tell us that there’s nothing worse than being mediocre.
Why is she only ok? There isn’t enough flavour. The beef is nice and pink inside, but the outside doesn’t have enough char on it. She is fairly smoke-free unfortunately, and hasn’t been seasoned enough. I can’t really discern any horseradish coming through and the bun is alright, but as my Partner in Crime puts it, hasn’t been steamed enough. He finds his cheeseburger equally unremarkable. The burgers are juicy, and you could definitely eat them again without being offended, but with so many tasty, tasty burgers around, why would you?
So, mediocre burgers aside, the thing that disappoints us most are the Buffalo Wings. Sour and s%*t is pretty much an accurate summation. I wolf a few down to try and settle this acrobatic tummy of mine, but they are yuck, and we leave some. We never leave food! Sigh. Their appearance doesn’t do them any favours, with the sauce stain on the side of the dish and a few limp sticks of old celery. The blue-cheese dressing tastes of nothing.
The fries, or chips really as fries in my opinion are thin and chips not so thin, are fine. My shake, (unfortunately I had to abandon the idea of a hard shake), is nice and thick (more appropriately if they called it a thickshake, not a milkshake) however is a bit light on the chocolate. Having had so many weak chocolate shakes in my time, I should really switch to vanilla as my default, as there is far less disappointment to be had.
I want to be the sort of person who loves to try new places, and I am, but every time I encounter a place of mediocrity, I just want to hold on to my hard-earned cash and stay home in my kitchen where the food is never mediocre.
