London’s burger scene is hotly contested, with plenty of fierce debate surrounding where the best can be found. After three years of experience on the pop up scene, it’s safe to say that Burger & Beyond has earned its right to a permanent home. The space certainly suits its Shoreditch surrounds, with the industrial-chic vibe created via exposed brick, a muted colour palette and metallic surfaces.
When it comes to the food, you can expect meaty, carb-laden crowd-pleasers. Our starter of perfectly tender lamb nuggets with a burnt onion dip kicked off proceedings nicely. We mopped up the burnt onion dip with the sourdough bread and bone marrow butter, as it was too tasty to waste.
Unsurprisingly, burgers are the only mains available. We opted for the Bougie Burg, a 60-day aged patty with cheese, marrow-naise, steak sauce and beef fat onions, and the Krispie Fried Chicken burger which is topped with miso maple butter. Both burgers were enjoyably greasy and hefty enough to satisfy any cravings. However, they were missing some much-needed acidity to cut through the meat and carbs – perhaps tomato or chutney.
Nonetheless, the fries in bone marrow gravy and cheese did prove that gravy and chips genuinely works. The puddings had a strong showing too, with a deep-fried blueberry pie being something close to an upmarket McDonald’s apple pie.
It’s a shame that the burgers weren’t particularly memorable, but the ‘beyond’ (tasty starters, puddings and sides) make this Shoreditch joint well worth a visit.