You can buy a burger from pretty much any high street you walk down in London.

And while they vary in size, price, taste, ingredients, accompaniments and condiment options, I thought burgers were burgers… how wrong I was.

I tried out Honest Burgers after rave reviews from friends and colleagues (and because one had conveniently opened up on my local high street.)

Founders Tom and Phil worked together at a restaurant in Brighton and came up with the idea of serving burgers at festivals and events from a small marquee.

Their first proper restaurant was in Brixton where they say they had trouble getting their meat delivered, as there was no market for high quality meat in Brixton at the time. How times have changed…

Taste 

The main difference between an honest burger an your average McDonald’s offering is the taste.

I always have my meat well done but the cheeseburger I had was still juicy, tender and full of flavour – it actually tasted like it had once been alive – sounds so creepy but you know what I mean.

Effectiveness 

If I leave a restaurant still feeling hungry then it definitely has not been an effective meal, but the portions at Honest Burgers portions are very generous.

The menu is extremely simple, which is good for people who hate flipping through long descriptive menus, but not so good for vegetarians.

Convenience 

Honest Burgers have sprung up in all London’s trendy (or soon to be trendy) areas: Oxford Circus, King’s Cross, Liverpool Street, Portobello, Camden, Soho, Clapham, Brixton, Clapham and Tooting.

They don’t take reservations at any of these locations, so it’s more of a show up and see kind of affair. You can also visit Honest Burgers for breakfast in Liverpool Street, Clapham and Tooting.

The burgers are reasonably priced (£7 – £11.50) and come with their signature triple cooked rosemary fries which are as delicious as they are herbacious.

Ingredients

Honest Burgers have a simple mantra: “We set out to do one thing well, a simple burger menu inspired by great British produce, with our homemade rosemary chips.”

You can definitely taste the quality of the ingredients (35-day aged beef in the beef burgers if you please) and the salty-sweet brioche buns are the perfect match.

‘R’ Factor 

Now I’ve seen the light and officially dabbled into the London bespoke burger scene, I would definitely recommend this place to anyone looking for American portion sizes made with quality British ingredients.

But don’t just take my word for it, here are some other Honest Burgers reviews:

• Grace Dent reviews Honest Burgers – Evening Standard
• Restaurant review: Brixton Village – Jay Rayner (the Guardian) 
• Honest Burgers – Time Out London