London Burger Showdown: Five Guys v Shake Shack
I had a flying visit to London this week, which gave me a great chance to play a small part in the Burger Battle everyone's talking about:
What's the best new Burger in London, Five Guys or Shake Shack?
From the outside, Five Guys looks like a regular (if sparkly new) burger joint. But the inside had something different.
14 staff in the kitchen! At 11.30am on a Wednesday. These guys were taking their burger making seriously.
The menu looks fairly standard at first glance, but gave you the opportunity to fully customise your burger with a vast range of toppings. I had a Double Cheeseburger 'All The Way' - with Mayo, Lettuce, Pickles, Tomatoes, Grilled Onions, Grilled Mushrooms, Ketchup and Mustard.Â
All the burgers are cooked to order, so I grabbed a table for my short wait.Â
Fantastic! The burger was big, but not too big so you had to cut it before biting in. It was busy with the onions, mushrooms etc, but the flavours went together well. The bacon was perfect too: thinly sliced streaky bacon grilled just enough to have bite and texture. It looked and felt like a homemade burger, and was quite messy to eat. The only two things worth remarking on were the unremarkable bun, and the juicy, but well done patties. This meat was by no means dry, but I'd have preferred a bit more pink in the burger. Â
Overall, this was a very tasty burger.
The star of the show, however, were the tripe cooked fries.
Crispy on the outside, skin on and well seasoned, these were outstanding chips.
The best chips I've tasted in a burger shop. Period.Â
Six hours of meetings in a central London office without air conditioning, I needed some fresh air before my journey home. Where better to hang out than the most famous queue in burgerland, Shake Shack!Â
....and then 20 minutes later
A Shakeburger, Cheese Fries and a Peanut Butter Milkshake.Â
The fries were fine on their own, but were perfect for picking up the thick cheese sauce. But this was a Supporting Actor, and I was here for the Hollywood Star >
Boom! Food is about eating, but I has to be said that this is the best looking burger I have ever seen. It is put together like an art installation.Â
The salad was fresh, the tomatoes cut thinly enough to contribute sweet flavour without being difficult to eat. But on the the main event......
Pink, juicy and well seasoned. Perfectly complemented by the toppings and finished off with their excellent sauce. Served in a perfect, pillowy brioche bun.It didn't last long...
So - the verdict. Five Guys has the better fries of the two, and the restaurant has a better setup for dining out, while ShakeShack's setup of a counter in one building and the dining area in another is a bit odd.Â
But out of these two fantastic burgers, my favourite by far was the Shakeburger. It was beautiful to look at, the medium rare patty was cooked perfectly and the bun was outstanding in its own right.Â
You can't lose with one of these burger experiences, and was definitely worth the trip and the queuing. I'll be back.Â
