Editor’s Picks

My mate Andy claims that nobody outside of American knows how to cook a decent burger. He is American, so maybe he has a point. Then again, in all my many, many visits to the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave, I have only ever had one truly outstanding, memorable meal. The same number as I’ve had in Copenhagen. And several fewer than in Bray. So maybe Americans just don’t know how to cook.

There is always a queue outside Meatliquour, so we decided to brave it and find out why. Well it’s not the location, stuck as it is in the bowels of a concrete monstrosity of a sixties car park (land cleared thanks to the Luftwaffe) next to a strip club. Nor the décor, which is Berlin Bunker chic circa Glasnost by way of Camden market. Nor the service, which is relaxed to the point of incompetency.

It is the burgers: say what you like about any other aspect of the operation (and believe me, I shall), the burgers are quite spectacularly good. Forget GBK or any of the other pretenders to the crown of Best Burger in Britain, these are hands down winners. Just the right size to be grabbed with both hands, the meat the absolutely spot on texture, the perfect pickle, the juices (meatliquor maybe?) flowing down your arm, onion rings the size of donuts. Yes, this is burger heaven. Set in hell.

Of course I realise that I am getting old, but is it too much to ask for sufficient light to read the menu by? Maybe put some torches on the table? We had just about enough natural light seeping through to read the no-nonsense menu, which has succinct descriptions like: “bacon cheeseburger: bacon, cheese, meat, bread” and “chilli burger: nuff said”.

There are many other affectations, such as a set of bizarre (amusing?) rules, pinned to the bar (which include “no wanking, no dickheads, no freeloading, no shirtlocking and no gerbils”, although “guinea pigs are welcome”). Then there are the bar staff who all shout out “liquor” when a round is ready to be served. There is no cutlery, no plates, kitchen rolls serve as napkins and there is no salt set at the table. Shades of Nico Ladenis at the height of his fame: like Nico, the chef knows that what comes out is perfectly seasoned.

The clientele too is a bizarre range, from oldies like us, through tourists seeking escape from the hordes battling the Oxford Street sales and families with young kids, who can’t seem to work out why they decided on this as the right place to bring young children. It is perfectly fine for them, so long as they don’t look too closely at the graphics on the walls, some of which are really quite graphic.

Drinks are some fine cocktails, beers and the odd bottle of wine. Not all of the cocktails really work mind you: the Full English Martini comes with a pickled quail’s egg dusted in powdered bacon. Yes, it is as silly as it sounds.

And then the service: again, I felt like shouting out “money” in mimicry of the bar staff considering how long it took to get the bill. This was nothing as to how long it took to get change; we sat there so long a parade of waitresses kept asking us if everything was ok, as we had no food or drinks left, yet refused to budge. A tip: proffer exact money only.

But as we left, had anyone in the long, long queue stopped to ask me if it was worth the wait, I should undoubtedly have said yes: forget everything other than the burgers. Enjoy them to the full, as you are unlikely ever to try a better one. Even in America.

A great restaurant, sure to be a hit in this buzzing part of town. Great food and a fantastic bar, the decor is on trend, natural yet industrial at the same time. Cocktails are excellent, particularly dillusion, very fresh. The food is original, the tasting menu was fresh and original. Will return very soon.

I went to Burger & Lobster last night with my boyfriend. He had been there before with a colleague and was raving about it. I'm happy to say I wasn't dissapointed. Neither one of us were. You can't make reservations so if you go, be prepared to wait. But the very smart thing they do is they take everyones mobile numbers and call you when your tables ready. Our wait was close to 2hrs but there are loads of bars in the area to kill some time. We decided to go for drinks in Shepards Market. The good thing about the no reservations policy is that you don't get families with small kids. It's just a cool crowd that doesn't mind having a few drinks before dinner

The idea is fantastic. Menu is simple, burger, lobster and lobster roll. The lobsters are huge and very meaty. If you want value for money, definitely go for the lobster or lobster roll. My recommendation is to have the lobster grilled as it just tasts fantastic. The lobster roll is amazing. Full of lobster meat. Very generous.

The decor is simple but cool. There is nothing pretentious about the place. Staff is very friendly and atmosphere is very buzzy. It's very busy so once you order your food you need to wait a bit but it is definitely worth it.

Overall a fantastic experience. One of my new favourite restaurants in London.

I ate at Wild Honey last night and really enjoyed it. Soft poached egg with wild mushrooms and turnip tops was remarkably tasty for relatively few ingredients and the pear clafoutis I had for pudding was possibly the most delicious pudding I've ever had – crisp outer shell and soft, squidgy, warm sponge. I had cod and octopus in red wine for my main which was good but had less sauce than I would've liked and wasn't that hot – i think it just cooled down quickly as there wasn't much sauce and it was spaced out on the plate. We tried a bottle of white Rioja which was very crisp and fresh, and seemed good value. The total bill was a bit less than expected which was a welcome surprise. The only stand-out odd thing was the lighting – it's so bright! The waiter said that he feels it should be dimmed a bit too but the chef wants it bright so that we can see the food. I'm sure we could see the food in a more ambient light! The odd candle wouldn't go amiss but perhaps that wouldn't suit its quite masculine feel. Overall it was very enjoyable and delicious, interesting food.

We were greeted with a friendly “have you been here before?” (much like the Harvester ads used to show: “have you been to a Harvester before?”). Well no, but how hard can it be: this is a restaurant, you serve food and I am guessing something to wash it down with?

Yes, seems to be the answer, but the question is posed as there are only three things on the menu: whole lobster, burger or lobster roll (made from young lobster, or chick, meat). The lobster comes either boiled or grilled and the burger with or without bacon and cheese. And that is about the limit of your choice when it comes to food, as all dishes come with chips and salad. A sort of up market Relais de Venise.

The crowd on a Saturday afternoon was an eclectic bunch, the place packed with families, an Elvis lookalike, some Essex facelifts (complete with scouse brows and sale bags from most of the shops along Bond Street) and a couple of gym bunnies, comparing pec’s. The place doesn’t take reservations (although our terribly nice but ditzy waitress thought that this might be changing, once they got the reservations system working), so you line up and take your chances.

We sat at the bar for a while, cocktail in hand, waiting our turn. And there is no messing around here; not that you are rushed, but once you are out, the table is prepared in seconds, so that the next group can be seated. Rather than eat at the bar, we decided to take a table, and were given a banquette at the back, with a perfect view of the room, not to mention the kitchen door, so that we could see the bucket loads of lobster being transported from the holding tank in the basement to the warm bath that awaits them.

In the interests of completeness, we opted for a lobster and a burger. Both are transported to the table on enormous platters, laden down with the main article, a big bowl of chips and a pretty pointless side salad. The lobster, grilled with lemon and garlic butter, was fantastic: a big, juicy bug, cut in half, the claws cracked open, with that smoky charred taste highlighting the sweet meat. The burger was perfectly ok too; a fine example of the burger-maker’s art, coming with melted cheese and some really good, crispy bacon, as well as some way too sweet dill pickles. But twenty notes for a burger? No, if it were even possible to justify spending that amount on a beef patty and a bun, it would have to be significantly better than this one to consider having the burger over the bug.

There are some annoyances: service is friendly but slow and the tables are close together and just too small for two enormous platters of food, the drinks glasses and the condiments. The worst, however, is the paper that covers the platters; what is the point? If you cut the meat you end up with a cut through the paper and the danger of ingesting paper along with the food. Either do away with the paper entirely or replace the platters with proper plates. These are but niggles, however, for what is likely to become a regular haunt.

You would hardly think that a restaurant serving lobster in the heart of Mayfair could even be in the running for best cheap and cheerful restaurant of the year but, if you shared a lobster between two (and they are easily big enough to do so) then, together with a couple of glasses of wine, you have a wonderful lunch and no more than a score per person (the value for money score above is based solely on the lobster). Having been somewhat let down by Koya, which is touted as the best cheap eats in the centre of town, I would come here for the lobster any day.

What I don’t understand is why they don’t have lobster bisque on the menu: they must get left with a hundred-weight of lobster carcasses every day. What better why to recycle them than to make bisque; surely they can’t ditch them all? I notice that Goodman, which is under the same ownership, does indeed serve lobster bisque: maybe they ship the carcasses out to them instead. I do hope so, although, if not, then I might next time take a doggy bag of exoskeletons home with me.