De Burg Singapore, The Warrior's Snack: 9.5/10

• Created by Singaporean Andrew Sim who returned to the island after living in New York wanting to satisfy his US-style burger cravings, De Burg has not only filled this gap, but completely SMASHED it!! This is a *world-class* product, and if you're local you need to get yourself to Kallang Bahru to experience this, pronto!
• The menu spoils you for choice, but the 600g triple-patty signature 'stacked' burger, The Warrior's Snack, is a stand-out option: a meaty monster with blackpepper sauce, portbello mushroom gravy, and cheese layered between each beautifully cooked almost-half-pounder, this showcase of prime Australian beef is an absolute knockout.
• Moreish french fries both come with your burger, and ARE UNLIMITED (we tried it) - talk about icing on the cake!
• De Burg is a carnivore's dream - you'd be hard pushed to find a much better burger anywhere in the world, so head out to this dive bar for an unforgettable meat hit.

Fatboy's The Burger Bar, Fat Basterd: 7.25/10

• As you'd expect, burgers are indeed popular around the world, and Singapore is no exception! The Fatboy's concept was born out of a desire by two brothers to fill a gap in the market for casual, authentic, old school comfort food. Judging by their success in rolling Fatboy's out across Singapore, Malaysia, China and Cambodia I'd say they've succeeded!

• Variety is the name of the menu game, amply catering to the range of carnivores and vegetarians who make up Singapore's multi-cultural diners: beef, lamb, pork, chicken, mushroom, the choice of patty is truly yours.

• My Fat Basterd burger was swiftly delivered, and MASSIVE! The only double-patty offering on the menu, I hadn't expected this towering feast:

Probably stands a good 5 inches high!!

• Moreover, this is quality AND quantity (if a little on the sweet side - easy on the ketchup!). The succulent texture and robust meatiness of my beef chuck patties layered with juicy ribbons of bacon, gloriously smothering blankets of melted cheddar cheese, and a fried, oozy-yolked egg partition was truly comfort food in a squishy sesame bun:

• At SGD19.80 for the flagship Fat Basterd, it was a relief that fries are included with all burgers, and even better to discover how good they are! Exactly the kind of slim, crispy french fries that perfectly accompanies a hearty burger:

• Fatboy's truly exceeded my expectations, successfully delivering an eating experience on-par with many top London burger joints, AND at an equivalently better price - what more could you ask for!

Chosen Bun, The Shoveman: 7.75/10

• A homegrown British venture, Chosen Bun launched their gourmet burger delivery service in 2013, an apparent world first. From their Fulham Broadway outpost, a fleet of branded mopeds serve a 2 mile catchment with inventive, gastronomic burgers, sides and milkshakes, ordered online. High-end takeaway for the lazy digital foodie!

• The tongue-in-cheek personalisation of the menu conveys a real authenticity and social provenance, rather than a corporate lab with teams of food scientists. For example, The Shoveman bacon cheeseburger is a portmanteau homage to the founders Andy Shovel and Pete Sharman, with similar stories littered across the menu.

• The end result is a range of thoughtfully crafted products, brimming with attention to detail, complete with customisation options (menu). You can get extras of anything on anything (individually priced), including additional patties - a gamut of choice!

• My burger, sides and milkshake were delivered to my door 25mins from ordering, arriving perfectly warm and cold as required. With fresh, tastefully chosen ingredients (no pun intended) the bacon cheeseburger was appetising, but ate like a sum of it's parts rather than a holistic sensory overload:

Beef patty, caramelised red onion and garlic chutney, lettuce, cheddar cheese, shoveman sauce, smoked streaky bacon and nicks pickles.

• Thankfully however, the fried mac and cheese bites are DIVINE!! With crunchy panko breadcrumb coating, rich and creamy sauce, fresh herbs and a light chew of pasta, Chosen Bun have *nailed* this:

Quite possibly the best side dish in London, I defy you NOT to love these!

• The triple-cooked chips paled in comparison given the exceptional competition, but objectively are highly edible - basically a roast potato in chip form:

• Good milkshakes too! All in all, a solid burger startup worthy of your money in a crowded market should you find yourself in West London!

Big Fernand, Le Bartholomé: 9.5/10

• Originating in Paris, the Big Fernand concept took traditional US-style burgers and gave them a big ol' French twist. Not content with continental success, the brand's expansion to London means we can now enjoy the Gallic interpretation of an American fast-food burger. A touch confusing, but forget it's provenance - this eats like a refined, European dirty burger, and it's GREAT!

• With five house burgers including chicken, lamb, veal and veggie options, as well as five cooking options from blue to well done, you're really spoilt for choice here (menu).

• Le Bartholomé, the bacon cheeseburger equivalent, is a glorious feast of rich, savoury flavours that meld together to create bite after bite of meaty gratification:

Dry-aged beef, Raclette cheese, smoked streaky bacon, carmelised onion,
chives and cocktail sauce = HEAVEN

• With an unusually flat and wide structure, each mouthful is noticeably soft and juicy, with bursts of tender beefiness, pungent cheese, sticky onion jam, salty bacon, tangy sauce and fresh herbs, sandwiched between a traditional white seeded bun (no brioche, surprisingly!):

• French chips are the only side offered ('La Salade' does not count in any country). Ironically neither French nor American in style, these are basically English chips with a heavy dousing of 'homemade' seasoning. Nothing to write home about, unless you similarly harbour a penchant for creamy dips - the house mayo is truly *unctuous*:

• If you want high-quality burger gastronomy but without super-fancy ambience or prices, Big Fernand is made for you!

Happy Customer!

Flat Iron, Béarnaise Burger: 9.85/10

• This previous pop-up steakhouse may be best known for it's flagship £10 flat iron steak & salad, but it regularly offers specials based on what fresh meat is in. The Béarnaise Burger special is SENSATIONAL, currently my top ranked gourmet burger in London!

• The meat: made from a beer-fed Dexter Cow, the single patty has a coarsely ground texture dotted with succulent pearls of fat. The is deep-friend in beef fat, producing a charred, crispy dark external crust, but leave the inside perfectly medium-rare, tender and juicy:

Ominously dark and foreboding at first

• The rest: simply accompanied by a glistening cascade of classic béarnaise sauce and diced shallots to showcase the outstanding meat. Ultra-creamy, lusciously rich and golden, the buttery texture, aromatic flecks of tarragon with subtle tang of vinegar makes the sauce sublime on it's own, and exceptional with the patty:

Sliced open to reveal the moist, pink meat morcels

• Only minor complaint: the St. John bakery bun is crusty and seeded with fresh brioche taste, if not perhaps a slight dry texture. Whilst sturdy, the volume of top bun is noticeably excessive - you may need to trim off break filling to achieve the optimum bun:patty ratio!

• Chips: dripping-cooked, acceptable but underwhelming. Disappointedly reminiscent of a poorer relation to McDonald french fries:

Meh

• If you like steak, béarnaise sauce and brioche then congratulations, you've just found your perfect burger!!

Burger Craft, The Juicy Bastard: 7.5/10

Happy Days :)

• A relatively new burger brand pop-up available in four permanent locations at time of writing, the Burger Craft proposition is cheeky pub grub to accompany beer & Sky Sports, but with a nod to the gourmet movement. So we're talking 28 day dry-aged Wiltshire beef, brioche buns, duck eggs, stilton and lamb lettuce, but completely free of edgy hipster pretentiousness.

• Their signature offering, the Juicy Bastard, with it's double pattied, double cheesed (that's FOUR slices), lettuced, tomatoed and smokey BBQ sauced composition, definitely qualifies as a dirty burger:

Sloppy enough for ya?!

• As someone who can't enjoy meat if it's not medium-rare, the default Burger Craft cooking of pink (medium) did, unfortunately, compromise my experience. The quality of ingredients however, and the sheer quantity of condiments did go some way to compensate. Do note though that the bottom bun *will* bail half-way through your meal from total sauce saturation!

• Special mention re. sides: your burger automatically comes with either fries or HASH BROWNS (London doesn't need any more rosemary chips):

Hallelujah!! A viable alternative to chips
& onion rings

• The hand-cut fries themselves are fairly non-descript, however these can be jazzed up to become 'Hot & Dirty fries', through choice additions of fiery chipotle, jalapeños, blue cheese, and even pulled pork flavoured with cider hot sauce.

• If you come across Burger Craft, give it a go - a range of thoughtfully designed eats for a satisfying feed down the pub.

Kua 'Aina, Avocado and Bacon Hamburger: 7/10

Originating in Hawaii's North Shore in 1975, this burger and sandwich joint promotes it's hot lava rock grills, a cooking method which produces a flavourful, clean meat. If there was a 'healthy' end of the burger scale, this would be it. The real differentiator however, is the strong retro branding, a summery, tropical surfer vibe which runs throughout the shack-themed menu and décor. Oh, and it's Obama's favourite restaurant when he's back in his native Hawaii - may or may not appeal! 

Good enough for the President

• Plumping for the larger half-pound patty vs 1/3lb cooked medium-rare topped with avocado and bacon, all Kua 'Aina burgers come with tomato, lettuce, grilled onion, mayo on a white-seeded burger bun: 

And a random carrot

• The hyped-up lava-grilled patty is a 100% premium cut grass-fed West Country beef burger. You can taste the quality, but it lacks the depth of flavour that you'd get from multi-day aged-beef (which features in several previous reviews - maybe Burgerite is just spoiled now!!). Moreover, the low-fat, low-smoke result that the lava-grill is known for certainly makes for a healthier burger, but feels somewhat self-defeating. After all, what is a burger without grease and charring?! 

• Good news on the sides, Kua 'Aina serve excellent sweet potato fries! Slim-cut, deliciously caramelised in flavour with the optimal crisp bite with a slight inner chew, these were delectably moreish.

• Don't go to Kua 'Aina for an indulgent burger treat; you will feel cheated. But check it out for its exotic island ambience, because you're curious about Obama's food tastes, or you're a burger fiend on a diet!!

Hawksmoor, Hawksmoor Hamburger: 7/10

• A well-regarded, up-market British steakhouse, Hawksmoor's flagship burger follows the same traditional, high-end ethos. If you prefer a tidy, refined meal in elegant decor, this famous hamburger and chip combo is right up your street.

Picturesque

• Another establishment where medium-rare is off the menu, the quality of my pink-cooked Longhorn beef patty was evident, but sadly masked due to it's quite dry, solid texture resulting from heavier-than-necessary cooking. A well-publicised and unique Hawksmoor addition, the bone marrow in the patty mix added both noticeable and distinct aroma and taste, delivering strong iron-y, liver-like elements - this ingredient is likely to polarise opinion, depending on your stance on offal!

• You can choose your fromage topping, between Ogleshield cheese or Colston Bassett Stilton. I went with the former, a sort of British melting raclette, which dutifully oozed whilst emitting waves of pungent wafts. Again, a polarising ingredient, given the alternative choice of Stilton doesn't leave much room for those who prefer a subtle cheese!

• The menu description makes no mention of these vegetable accompaniments, but the Hawksmoor Hamburger is topped by a thick tomato disc, sitting on sliced pickles, generous strips of red onion, and cradled by English lettuce. Fresh, but not worthy of further comment:

• Another customisation, there is a choice of sides: Triple Cooked Chips, Beef Dripping Fries, or an English lettuce & Herb Salad (pointless). I chose the fries, quickly regretting this on their arrived: pallid and uninteresting, these fries wholly failed to deliver the greasy, fatty carb-in-salt experience I was anticipating:

Booorriingg.....

• Overall, the Hawksmoor Hamburger is quintessentially British in it's proposition: use of high-quality ingredients, with simple composition, construction, and solid cooking methods. I ate without resistance, but for all it's reputation and hype, this burger was disappointing and truly underwhelmed - traditional doesn't have to mean plain!!

Haché, Haché Cheeseburger: 9.25/10

• Opened in 2004, Haché is a veritable old-timer on the local gourmet scene, established nearly a decade before burgers got trendy. Awarded the accolade of Time Out's 'Best Burger in London' way back in 2005, one might wonder how Haché was standing up to the mass of competition that has literally erupted over the past few years. And the answer is, very well, actually. The pseudo-International concept results in a distinctly unique but successful burger fusion, combining their signature ciabatta buns and steak haché patties made of Scotch beef with a wide range of toppings, from peanut butter, to grilled chorizo, to smoked Bavarian cheese, to guacamole (not altogether, thankfully!). If you want choice without having to sacrifice quality, Haché is it.

• Opting for the flagship cheeseburger cooked medium-rare and choosing an original ciabatta bun option rather than brioche (a later addition to the menu), the grilled 100% prime hachéd 6oz Scotch steak patty smothered with melted mature Cheddar also came with the standard toppings of rocket, tomato and red onion:

Lashings of mustard mayo on the bottom bun - epic

• For the patty snobs, yes it's not dry-aged beef, and yes you can tell it's not dry-aged beef. But the meat is succulent, juicy, with a mildly sweet umami flavour, and addictive in a way that many premium beef patties aren't - this is burger you WANT to be eating, not the burger you want to show-off to your friends that you're eating!

Light textured ciabatta with hint of sourdough complements the sweeter-tasting meat

• Delighted to discover the menu offers frites, sweet potato fries as well as wedges! I went purist, and my Haché Frites were spot-on: slim-cut, golden, with crispy bite and nicely seasoned. In the french fry category Haché definitely are best-in-class:

• Haché's burgers are a hybrid: less prissy than typical gourmet brands, not as dirty as the sloppy offerings, and way classier than US-style chains. Difficult to define, but totally works!

Lucky Chip, Kevin Bacon Burger: 9.5/10

• Originating in 2011 as a legendary street food van trading in a disused car park in East London, Lucky Chip now has permanent sites dotted in the NE of the city, serving up their novelty US-style burgers which still pay homage to Hollywood stars with quirky wordplay. Moreover, Lucky Chip has NAILED the dirty burger, and dirty fries for that matter too, combining gastronomy, wackiness, and red plastic diner baskets to epic effect.

• Kevin Bacon, the signature bacon-cheeseburger, hits every spot - richly juicy aged beef, a blanket of American cheese, Applewood smoked bacon, on a bed of shredded lettuce and pickles, sandwiched by a traditional squidgy-touch bun. On paper pretty standard with a cheap edge, but the eat is truly sensational, with every mouthful an indulgent, oozing carb/meat/grease fest of the highest order:

.

• Tempted by the loaded sides, the spicy mayo cheese fries similarly maxes out all health warnings - a spectacular pile of skin-on chips bonded by congealed cheese, smothered by copious amounts of thick cheese-flavoured sauce, and liberally topped with tangy, creamy mayo:

• So Lucky Chip does in fact live up to the hype - don't let the kooky branding fool you, these burgers are seriously impressive, and a real contender for best-in-show. Worth trekking across London for!

Le Bun, Foie Gras and Summer Truffles Cheeseburger: 9.75/10

• Pure, unadulterated carnivorous heaven. This is the epitomy of meat in a bun (with some more meat, meat sauce, and meat enhancing accompaniments).

• Perfectly aged patty, generous slab of foie gras, a bed of carmelised onion jam, truffled beef jus, coated with American cheese and finished with lashings of freshly grated summer truffle shavings.

• The ultimate heavy-weight burger with the sole purpose of smashing your craving into touch, there is no subtlety, no novelty add-on, and no vegetable garnishes - Le Bun, I salute you.

A Burger Powerhouse, not for the faint-hearted or those with a weak/vegetarian disposition

Shake Shack, Shake Stack Burger: 9/10

• An American fast food chain burger experience with a touch of finesse.

• More polished than it's imported rival Five Guys, Shake Shack delivers a fun, slightly cutesy casual dining range with some innovative twists.

• An excellent invention, the 'Shroom Burger is a crisp-fried portobello mushroom filled with melted cheese, and is offered as an add-on to the house cheeseburger to create the best item on the menu, the Shake Stack Burger.

• Unimaginative fries however, crinkle cut with or without cheese.

• Novel range of custard-based drinks and deserts to complete your All-American meal.