Tuesday 19 April 2011

Hawksmoor Seven Dials

27/08/11





Best burger update!

Just when you thought that we’ve all had enough of those bleeding (no bun intended) burger reviews this post unashamedly upholds the tedium. Quite simply, I hereby concedeth (and as Lord Noods suggested- ‘…you're in danger of losing your 'contrarian' tag!’) that the burger I had at Hawksmoor Seven Dials was the absolute the mutt's nuts.

Came here with my daughter. She wanted what any teen would be entirely amenable to- pizza, Nando’s or burgers. The Covent Garden branch of Hawksmoor was chosen for a couple of reasons-

Firstly I needed to find out if a burger redemption was possible after my not-so-good experience at the original restaurant in Spitalfields.

Secondly Byron was no longer an option as they have as many branches in the vicinity as McD’s and astonishingly two more than KFC! Byron’s made me uncomfortably wary of its rapidly burgeoning motives.

Upon entering Hawksmoor and perusing the menu, daughter became suspicious of my choice for our weekly lunch date.

‘Dad, this place is expensive! You didn’t bring me here to pester about Oxbridge…Dad?’

‘Well you’ve nothing to lose so give it a go!’

‘Dad, a steak or let alone a posh burger is hardly going to change my mind. I’m going to Edinburgh or UCL, that’s that!’

‘I’ve also decided that I’m in total agreement with your Mum re the Reading Festival...deferred till next year I’m afraid’

‘Sooo No-Thank-You! And come to think of it I was going to give you The Ramones’ Teenage Lobotomy LP (vinyl) on Father's Day’

‘I have a mint copy already, thank you anyway. I’m hungry, shall we order?’

‘Sooo undeserving, yes let’s’

The service at Hawksmoor Seven Dials was exemplary except for a couple of hiccups-

Balls-up 1- a bottle of salty tasting Kingsdown was plonked before we were given the chance to opt for Tap du Thames. My issue is generally with the high sodium content found in most mineral water that’s bottled in Blighty, this invariably affects the taste buds. Best stick to tap, and besides the bottle it’s served in looks the part (as usually the case at upmarket restos).

Balls-up 2- the excellent waitress did stress that ‘we serve our burger medium unless specified well done’. And as common sense prevailed, I ordered the burger with an explicit reminder about my paranoia of meat ending up grey and cooked to death. Alas, and with lamentations abound, the burger arrived way beyond well done. Rather un-amusingly on my daughter’s part, she had to endure a Tim Dowling moment. A replacement was insisted upon despite the presence of a much-embarrassed and by now, half-fed teen.

We started off with bone marrow and slow cooked onions.

The generous helping was suitably and deliciously unctuous but overwhelmed by the all too sweet onion topping. Not a patch on the roast bone marrow and parsley salad found at St. John.

The warm lobster roll.

One of the most expensive sarnies offered in Britain and I would like to quote a good chum-

‘Really really very nice indeed, but decadent and expensive’

The replacement Hawksmoor Hamburger.

Cooked so perfectly medium it deserved a second close-up.

100% Longhorn mince with bits of bone marrow and topped with lettuce, tomato, red onion, gherkin and Ogleshield cheese (Colston Bassett Stilton is an option but methinks blue cheese is too strong for a noble breed of beef cattle). Daughter declared it more memorable than the one here and I agreed. It was quite simply a perfect burger that leaves the rest standing and to save everyone from the pain of my lack of eloquence in describing this distinguished offering, I’d best leave it to Mr Dickens-

‘If I knew as little of life as that, I'd eat my hat and swallow the buckle whole.’

From the The Pickwick Papers

On settling the bill, I asked my daughter whether it would be enough to sway her if Hawksmoor were to open a branch in Oxford, she replied back tersely that UCL is conveniently close enough to Covent Garden. End of conversation.

The chef Stevie Parle tweeted the following earlier this month-

‘I am not interested in burgers. They are just burgers.’ Well all I can say is, a burger is indeed just a burger unless it’s a Hawksmoor Hamburger. Highly recommended.



Seven Dials
11 Langley Street,
London,
WC2H 9JG

www.thehawksmoor.co.uk

9 comments:

Jingan Young said...

You are killing me with the photos of the bone marrow. Oh my oh my! :)

Su-Lin said...

Were you there at lunch last Saturday? If so, we went at exactly the same time! My post coming up soon too - pretty much agrees with yours!

bellaphon said...

Campariandsoda- Hi, thanks for stopping by.

Su-Lin- No two weeks ago. Looking forward to your post.

Mrs S said...

Yes, but have you tried the Goodman Burger?

Johnny said...

Go for Edinburgh, it's a great city, and my current home.

The burger doesn't look too shabby either.

meemalee said...

Bellaphon! Are you a Twitter lurker??

Join us please :)

bellaphon said...

London Lady- I've just gone past my mid-40s and the memory is barely holding on for dear life...Goodman, King of Swing innit?

Johnny- and you have The Kitchin in Auld Reekie as well. Much envious and thank you for stopping.

I'm watching you, MiMi. Always watching. Always.

thora said...

Love the father-daughter dialogues. During our stay at Worcester last week, we visited the Malvern Hills Hotel and had a fantastic dinner there. I didn't take any photos as it was a business meeting, such a shame.

David said...

Don't get snooty about Byron just because it's expanding - it's still consistenly very good. And cheaper!