The Burger at Marks & Spencer

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
And cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings."

Excerpt from The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll

And indeed pigs do have wings as far as the burger at Marks is concerned. This brief write-up could be a distraction or a stirring-of-the-proverbial consequence of the preceding post.

I first took heed of Marks’ offering here. Now before one jumps to conclusion, this post isn’t about how to construct a burger from scratch and from the raw ingredients purchased at M&S but more to do with the hot-food-to-go ‘pull’ at one of the in-store cafés with a kitchen attached (unfortunately, few and far between). It was at the Pantheon branch that I found a burger worthy of praise.

There’s only one word to describe Marks' own gourmet burger- tasty. Regardless of whether prime beef was used or the grilling over charcoal was omitted; the following combination of a ‘pain rustique’ type bun, well-seasoned patty (well done but thankfully not grilled to death!), lettuce, tomatoes, a cheddar cheese slice and two rashers of real back bacon provided the right recipe for a delicious burger at an affordable price!

The cheeseburger and bacon on its own costs £3.95. I suggest that you go for the Burger Meal Deal at £4.95 to include chips and a soft drink or milkshake.

The chunky chips, like the burger, were meritoriously delectable but the own brand cola was woeful.

Aside from everlasting underwear, frumpy women's clothing, XXXXXXL berets, the best Bombay Mix snack, brill Scotch Eggs made with Lincolnshire sausage meat and great plonk- Marks also offer a burger worthy of a swarm. Bravo!




Pantheon
173 Oxford Street
London W1D 2JR

Location

#MEATEASY

''Crap blog and worse review. They don't understand burgers. Hache better than #MEATEASY? That's funny.''

12:22 PM Feb 4th via Twitter

Now there are certain posts like this, this and this; that are responsible for the blog loosing 40 or so followers. This latest post will undoubtedly maintain (and, by now) the predictable nature (mettlesome to my food-blogging contemporaries but honest-to-goodness in my eyes) of my findings. Now, allow yours if you may-

Much has been written about #MEATEASY, so I shan’t bore you about the tedious rigmarole. For sure-fire references, please refer to here, here (great photos and excellent blog!) and HER.

I came here because I was wound up by the immense ‘networked’ hype surrounding the be-all-and-end-all burger in London.

Came here early at 17.30ish (not the first mind you, as there were already 10 others hovering at the cocktail bar).

But I was however the first with the order.

There you have it- cheeseburger, dog, fries and a couple of cocktails (latterwise, tenner for two).

THE criterion à la Meatwagon.

What’s the fuss? I could hardly taste the beef that’s been supposedly aged for nearly a month. The patty albeit cooked well and excellently medium rare, was under-seasoned and pedestrian-like. I know that I’ve badgered on about umami elsewhere, but this burger was certainly devoid of it. I hereby apologise to no one in stating that this so-deemed ‘hallowed’ burger was in no way as good as the following- ouch!, ouch, ouch! and ouchus maximus! In addition the sharp-tasting gherks and the synthetic cheese slice gave some kind of salvation to the burger but the 3-quid-bowl of fries was served lukewarm (a few minutes later I began to utter endlessly- ‘do I not like cold and limp chips!’). Taking the mick out of Macs is unnecessary at this point in time.

Chilli Hot Dog-

Never in my life have I encountered such a messworthy dish (and that includes Singapore Chilli Crabs). Wash your hands, wear a bib and unlock your jaw. The wiener itself was astoundingly good…where did they get that frankfurter? Mild chilli aside, it was a great dog; recommended.

The Chicken Burger.

An additional order because of what The Chinaman said. And he was indeed right- crispy, tender and a standout at MEATEASY. But me inner inhibitions suggested it was all too pricey at 7 quid.

The above was spotted about 200 yards from #MEATEASY at a local chicken shop on Clifton Rise, let’s just say that the local businesses of a similar ilk would be all too immune to #MEATEASY’s pop-up existence.

#MEATEASY is ok but not worth the epic journey to and from where I live. I’d rather stick to my local sighburger. The Contarian Rebel (moi, labelled as such) has said enough.



The Goldsmiths Tavern
316 New Cross Road
London SE14 6AF



www.themeatwagon.co.uk