Yardbird, Liverpool

Yardbird opened earlier this year in the seemingly forever derelict site on the corner of Berry and Duke Street, most famous for its rat graffiti art by the infamous Banksy. The menu is dedicated to chicken, in the guise of various wings, fried and burger forms along with a few donut offerings. It follows the no reservations route of other burger joints, and frankly who the hell reserves a table for a burger anyway. There are only waits at peak times in the evenings at weekends but the venue is not one to loiter in its more of a scoff and go place, during my visit there were only two other tables being occupied.

The ordering system works like Nandos with orders having to be placed at the bar before being delivered to the table when ready. The interior consists of uncomfortable wooden benches. The first thing to arrive were our oreo milkshakes. However I’m not sure how these are classed as milkshakes as they contained a huge amount of ice and a mountain of squirty cream with two oreos on top, hugely disappointing and not a patch on the milkshakes at Byron Burgers.

In an ever increasing beef burger market place it was refreshing to be offered a poultry alternative and we ordered a couple from the burger section. The Yard burger with swiss cheese, salad and pink sauce and the Rooster Coburn with bacon onion ring and swiss cheese. The chicken burgers are essentially fried chicken pieces rather than whole chicken burgers all served in the now standard brioche bun. The burgers were average and the chicken closer to dry rather than being succulent. Maybe I just prefer beef but fried chicken does tend to be boring with interest being quickly lost due to its blandness.

The cayenne pepper sauce chicken wings were a miss, they appeared to have been fried earlier in the day and the skin was quite soggy and limp. We finished with peanut butter and chocolate glazed donuts which were basically plain donuts topped with peanut butter and chocolate spread.  Simple but the glazed description was misleading.

Yardbird seems to attract rave reviews from wannabe hipsters and youngsters, I can understand why as it tries to appear to be cool and the place to be seen. The ‘chef’ during our visit appeared to be about 16 and even the staff were giggling when calling him chef, I’m not sure if he was deputising but the food was lacking and is average at best.

Flat Iron (Denmark St), London

Flat Iron is one of my favourite cheap eats in the food mecca that is Soho. I became an instant fan when I visited the original Baek Street branch last year. Where else can you get a sublime flat iron steak for a tenner? I’m not surprised at the success and Flat Iron recently expanded with its second outpost on Denmark Street in Covent Garden.

I was intrigued with the Yorkshire wagyu burger special with truffle hollandaise. The restaurant frequently tweets enormous cuts of meat of which they butcher in house. The burger was recommended rare by staff and that was perfectly fine by me. A huge stoking burger was presented on the same boards on which they serve the steak. The outside of the burger had a nice charred crust and the truffle hollandaise oozed out the side, simple presentation but very tempting and inviting.

The outside of the burger carried a dark char and I wondered about the meat inside, but I needn’t have worried as it was perfectly pink and rare inside. It takes some skill to do this as my attempts at home tend to completely overcook the meat in the middle. The burger was moist yet without leaking juice all over the bun. The truffle hollandaise was light without overpowering the delicate beef which obviously was the star, simple great, fatty, beefy goodness. My burger of the year so far, well worth the £15 asking price for the quality.

Mrs Nom was a Flat Iron virgin before the visit and she went for the signature steak. After amusing herself with the mini meat cleaver knife she was amazed by the well-seasoned, rare flat iron steak presented to her. She couldn’t believe how much she enjoyed it as she’s not usually a steak kind of girl. To balance the protein we had a nectarine and fennel salad with dill vinaigrette.

A little except on the bottom of the menu kindly asks customers to not pinch the novelty knives as the business expends a great deal to source quality meat and providing it at low prices which would be not be possible if they incurred avoidable costs. At £10 for a quality flat iron steak, it must be one of the best meat cheap eats in central London.

Honest Burgers (Oxford Circus), London

My burger of the year for 2013 had to be from the Soho branch of Honest Burgers and I have been desperate to return for my burger fix. It seems that the brand has really taken off in the past year blooming into a mini chain including new branches in Oxford Circus and Kings Cross. The compact Oxford Circus restaurant is based on Market Place just off the hustle and bustle of Oxford Street.

With a regularly changing special which collaborations this year with BrewDog and The Rib Man, Honest keep things fresh and give reasons for diners to return. I was gutted to miss the collaborations and had to settle with the special burger this time with the signature Ginger Pig dry aged beef reared in North Yorkshire, comte cheese, Alsace bacon, red onion relish, sauce gribiche and baby leaf.

Burgers come pink as standard and my burger was certainly perfectly pink. However I would of liked the outside of the burger to be grilled more to form a harder crust as the whole consistency of the burger was soft like the inside. The comte cheese was quite mild and the bacon overpowered it. A good burger but not as impressive as the honest burger. This was echoed by a colleague who had the honest burger with red onion relish, smoked bacon, mature cheddar, pickled cucumber and lettuce proclaiming it to be amazing.

Another colleague who visited the Soho branch with me last year choose the Tribute burger with bacon, American cheese, burger sauce, frenchs mustard, pickles, onion and lettuce. He also thought the burger needed to be grilled more on the outside and that the Honest burger was still top.

Consistency is key when it comes to expanding brands and given time I’m sure this will be rectified but it just gives me more reason to return and try the other branches.

Kua Aina, London

There’s definately no shortage of burger joints in London.  Wanting to try something off the beaten track we found ourselves by Carnaby Street one day after work and decided to try Hawaiian inspired brand Kua Aina. All of the staff are kitted out with Hawaiian accessories as expected and the interior has a beach club feel.

We ordered a half pound hamburger each, two bacon & cheese and one avocado & bacon topped with cheddar and Monterey jack cheese. The hamburgers are grilled and served open in a basket with lettuce, tomato and onions. When fully compiled the burgers looked too big to eat but we managed in the end. The grass fed beef is sourced from farms in the West Country and were meaty and juicy despite asking for them all to be cooked medium.

To go with the burgers we ordered large skin-on and sweet potato fries. Both the varieties of fries were nice and crisp. To wash it all down we couldn’t look past the Kona Brewing Co. craft beers, we each ordered a different one including Longboard Lager, Firerock Pale Ale and Big Wave Golden Ale.

The burgers were perfectly fine but just lacked a little something to make it standout from the likes of Honest Burger, Meat Liquor, Patty & Bun at the same price point of around £15 per head including a drink. Probably a little too plain compared to the rest but still enjoyable.

MEATmarket, London

The Meat Liquor burger brand has been on my London to do list for quite a while. I finally got the chance to visit MEATmarket, the covent garden branch a few weeks ago and as an added bonus it was their second birthday which meant half price food all day. Only for those who saw the tweet and wished them a happy birthday though, I nearly forgot and was sternly reminded by a colleague! Visiting straight from work in our suits was probably not the best idea as we watched the messiness of others devouring their burgers whilst we waited for our order. 

I opted for the Dead Hippie with beef patties, dead hippie sauce, lettuce, pickles and minced onion. As I unwrapped the burger the cheese was glistening and bun was sliding off both at the top and bottom, I thought about the impending dry cleaning bill for a split second before diving in. My first thoughts were that it was a nicer version of a Big Mac, especially the dead hippie sauce. The patties were cooked just short of medium and met the beefiness test which I like, there's nothing more disappointing than eating a beef patty which is bland. It was satisfying enough but I was expecting more given the hype.

My colleague chose the red chili cheeseburger with beef patties, cheese, beef chilli, onions, mustard and jalapenos, this was devoured with gusto and was met with a seal of approval.

We ordered sides of bingo wings in hot sauce with a blue cheese dip and chili cheese fries topped with a mountain of cheese an inch thick, beef chili, jalapenos. This was certainly a once in a while splurge given the amount of cheese and I soon hit the food wall.

The place was rammed during our visit, probably due to the half price offer, but queues are normal at the flagship Meat Liquor I am told. For fast food this is as sinful and convenient as it gets.

Meat And Liquor, Liverpool

When Meat and Liquor were announced on the Lark Lane dining scene there was uproar in the capital over the perceived plagiarism of one of its favourite sons, Meat Liquor. It humoured me that the Twitterati were out in force calling the restaurant all sorts of names that you would only bestow to your worst enemies.

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery or is it just outright infringement? To be fair I don’t give a damn what a restaurants called or how it looks as long as its clean and serves up good food. If someone opened up in Liverpool called Fat Ducks or The Frenchie with identical logos and décor as the more illustrious inspired originals I would be along in a flash if the food was up to scratch without batting an eyelid.

Meat and Liquor only have a Twitter presence it seems with no website but they seem to have built up a loyal following with a constant stream of punters during our visit. No doubt aided by its name at first but to be fair they could probably ditch it now and still continue as they are. The menu is the expected typical American fare. Judging by the tables with logos of unmistakeable American companies such as Harley Davidson and Coca Cola along with a huge Brooklyn Brewery sign on one of the walls.

There are a small range of burgers, fries, hot dogs and specials along with an equally compact drinks menu. The retweets from the restaurant seem to contain endless mentions for its duck fries from the specials board so they were a must and sounded the most appealing to be fair among naked and bacon fries. Topped with duck meat fried, cucumber and spring onions they were simply a joy. The fries were just average but with the toppings it just worked, like duck pancakes but with fries instead of the pancakes, winner winner!!!

From the burger menu I couldn’t look past the Brooklyn Big Ass which was packed with bacon, jack cheese, pulled pork, onion strings, slaw and house sauce. The burger was made from minced rump and cooked through, this gave it good beef flavour rather than trying to serve pink and being bland which I found at Free State Kitchen. Served on a brioche bun which could of been slightly toasted, the burger overall was enjoyable but not did not wow as theres so much choice on the market these days.

Mrs Nom, being anti beef on this day plumped for the Louisiana chicken. Fried chicken in a bun being a pretty accurate description, the chicken was moist and did its job I was told.

All washed down with a Brooklyn beer this was ideal for a quick bite. The Lark Lane area appears pretty run down since my last visit but Meat And Liquor fits right in with the vibe in the area.

Tommi's Burger Joint, London

In a lost London post of sorts I visited the Marylebone branch of Tommi’s Burger Joint some time back. It has a growing following and has recently opened a second branch on Kings Road. On the way we walked past Patty and Bun, another cult burger joint, with a sizeable queue outside in the punishing cold swarms of Winter.

Thankfully there was no queue at Tommi’s but there were plenty of people waiting inside, half for tables and half for takeaways. The open kitchen gives full view of the burgers being cooked on the grill as well as letting the meatiness waft through the venue.

The menu is a simple affair with a few burgers on offer and limited extras. We opted for the ‘Offer of the Century’ consisting of a cheeseburger, fries and can of pop for £10.50. Having paid we waited about ten minutes before pouncing on the vacated window bar seats.

The food was served soon after and we were quite underwhelmed at first. The burger arrived wrapped fast food style with similar fries to the golden arches. Advertised as cooked medium with lettuce, tomato and red onion the patty was big and juicy once unwrapped. However the lack of veg apart from lettuce and the kraft like cheese raised some eyebrows. The patty however was well cooked and perfectly pink, although it could have done with more seasoning to enhance the flavour of the meat which struggled to come through.

The fries were pretty standard and the billed ‘Offer of the Century’ didn’t quite live up to the hype. I preferred the crinkle cut chips of Shake Shack and the flavour of the burger from Honest, who also do a mean homemade lemonade with the whole package coming in at a similar price to Tommi’s. Maybe the steak burger offered delivers more punch but at a higher price point but based on what we had Tommi’s is acceptable but not the leading light in the London burger offerings.

Almost Famous Great Northern, Manchester

Our first ever blog post was on the original Northern Quarter Almost Famous.  Infact it even provided the inspiration for the blog title as I watched Mrs Nom destroying her Triple Nom burger. Since the original site burnt down the franchise has expanded into Liverpool and are back with a much larger site in the Great Northern by All Star Lanes and Lucha Libre.

With queues the norm at the old smaller site, we didn't have to wait at the new larger restaurant. However first impressions were that the cult vibe had been somewhat diluted with the glitzy neon lights, large posters and just general modern chicness completely the opposite of its more humble beginnings. However we would let the food make up our minds.

After an lengthy wait of around half an hour our food arrived. We opted for burgers we had never seen before, the butter blood and bleu burger - a double Cheeseburger, rare flatiron steak, chorizo, chillies, peppercorn sauce, mustard mayo and bleu cheese sauce and a 

Baddaboom - a double cheeseburger, garlic butter brioche, bacon, chorizo, onions, marinara, famous sauce, parmesan and chilli. Both certainly looked the part, downright messy burgers, an Almost Famous trademark.

The burgers hit the spot and if anything the flat iron meat pieces were too chewy to bite through when trying to eat the butter blood & bleu burger. We ordered the classic bacon bacon fries and the new pig n waffle fries as sides. The waffle fries were interesting and topped with pulled pork different to the usual fries.

To help wash down the filling food we had the boozy milkshake which was the Ron Burgundy for that week, filled to the brim with scotch and a bitch juice cocktail. With a large bar area it is a good place for after work drinks and a quick feed. A welcome return to the Manchester dining scene.