Taking a beefy break at the Burger Shack

by Kang L.

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Fast-food is slowly being redressed as proper food. Take burger joints for example. They have been ‘gourmet-ised’ and have been springing up all over the capital. Smollensky’s burger shack is one of them. I get peckish when I’m out and about, so I decided to drop a visit.

Burgering up

One of the many blogs I read is a hamburger today. I’m telling you, the number of ways burgers can be eaten today is startling. In this post, we have the one pound chateau louise burger which is an absolute beast.

People tend to give burgers alot of stick, yeah sure, sure its not healthy and all that, but think about it, let’s throw away the crappy mince and use some premium protein boosting meat. Really fresh tomatoes and leaves. Top up with fresh tomato chutney and some nicely toasted buns and sesame seeds… is it just me or does that sound like ingredients of a balanced diet all rolled into one?

Step inside the shack

Where all the magic happens. There are 2 branches, the flagship one is in leicester square.  I went to the other one on charing cross road, which is about a 10 minute walk from totenham court road tube station. I really want to talk about the decor because its all dark woods and brick walls, with lots of retro photographs of stars from the 30′s. It’s a relaxing space to sit down and just chill, read the paper, oh and eat some great burgers.

Grill me, lick me, eat me

If the burgers don’t work, burger shack doesn’t work. Thankfully its great. There’s alot of different varieties, you can get chicken, lamb, and all kinds of toppings in addition the classic beef. I went for the no-nonsense £5.50 classic beef burger. Affordable. All the basics are spot-on, the toasted bun is especially nice being flour-y enough to absorb all the juices. The highlight though is the grilled beef itself. It’s nicely chargrilled with lots of smokiness and the meat is just very juicy. Appetising, my only qualm is that the portion is a tad bit small… especially compared to places like gourmet burger kitchen. 

What say kang the London Eater?

Hey the taste of the beef is awesome. I like it and it’s cheap. Definitely worth a visit if you are hunting for a good burger. I think there’s great debate over the best burger joint in London. I would say for taste, definitely go for burger shack. But for sheer novelty, value for money then do gourmet burger kitchen. 

Both are great, which do you prefer? 

Basics
Burger shack
17 Irving Street, London WC2H 7AU | 020 7839 3737  or,
149 Charing Cross Road, London WC2H 0E | 020 7287 8728
How much: burgers start from just £5.50
http://www.burgershack.co.uk/
Posted in: Cool Eats, London Restaurant Reviews

10 FEEDBACKS

  1. emily says:

    mmm…one look at that burger closeup and my stomach is growling! I’ll tell ya, though, there’s only one place I’d spend $11 (roughly the equiv. of £5.50) on a burger, and that’s Kuma’s Corner in Chicago. Great post!

  2. Jessie says:

    Aaaaaah! What great pictures! Why is this place all the way across the ocean from me?

    +Jessie
    a.k.a. The Hungry Mouse

  3. Yep … now I’m hungry. I *love* burgers. That lovely burger closeup is killing me.

  4. Reeni says:

    That burger does look good, and lovely bread too!

  5. Kang L. says:

    Emily – Kuma’s corner? Mmmmmm… I need to head to chicago soon :D

    Jessie, lol, i’m going to follow up with a review of gourmet burger kitchen…. you’ll love that one!

    thehungryengineer, Reeni, its 8am as i write this…. and I wonder if its wrong to be craving burger at this early hour!

  6. Good lord that looks delicious. You really need to time these posts so I see them right *after* a meal… not at about elevensies where I’m just dying for a snack ;) .

    Definitely checking this place out!

  7. Kang L. says:

    Meaghan, lol I will keep that in mind from now on, alot of people have said that to me as well, they do tell me its torturous looking at pictures of food just before lunch :D

  8. [...] started the search for the London burger at burger shack, I think quality is great here, but they face stiff competition from GBK. Comparisons abound, what [...]

  9. [...] my visit to burger shack, I’ve decided to follow up on that review with a loose series of visits to some of the best [...]

  10. [...] which I’m running here at London Eater. You will noticed that I recently paid a visit to burger shack and also to hache burgers. This is still an open debate as to which one is the best burger bar in [...]

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