BOOM Burger: Signature Boom Burger, 9.75/10

• Gourmet British-made burgers with one seriously vibrant, sizzling Caribbean twist! If fruity, tangy, spiced flavour explosions are your thing, BOOM Burger is ready to give your tastebuds an addictive, meaty bite of Jamaica from it's cosy urban corner of Ladbroke Grove, tucked into the concrete of Westway flyover. It's a refreshing experience, no airs and graces, just good ol' soul food, tropical cocktails, bright colours, loud music and fun times!

• The Boom Burger is the house speciality, and it is stunning: a tender beef patty smothered in rich, velvety cheese, topped with thick, punchy BACON JAM, fresh, crunchy red onion, lettuce and tomato dressed in creamy, zingy jerk mayo, with the perfect brioche bun. Faultless combination of ingredients, beautiful execution:

• The plantain fries are a JOY - sweet, chewy, crispy, these are the ultimate companion for any mouth-watering main you choose:

• For great food and a great vibe it doesn't get better than BOOM - sunshine in a burger!

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!

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.

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!

Bread Street Kitchen, Short Rib Beef Burger: 8/10

• The patty, which is made up of short rib, chuck and beef fat in a 50:30:20 ratio.

• Solid performing burger from a Gordon Ramsey establishment, though don't expect your mind to be blown.

• Non-patty elements are perfectly fine (brioche bun, Monterey Jack cheese, crunchy mayo dressed veg), but the overall package delivers robust quality, rather than an eating sensation.

• Even if your burger doesn't impress however, the outstanding chips probably will!

Check out these proud potato beauties, triple-cooked to perfection

Honest Burgers, Federation Burger: 9/10

• You'll need to order the Federation off-menu, but this 'secret' double-patty version of the house Honest burger is a classic, gastronomic British meat bun.

• The beloved rosemary fries *are* exceptional, almost as much a reason to go as the burger - reliably crispy, sublimely seasoned time-after-time, Honest chips are probably the best in London!

Homemade lemonade in mason jars (what else!)

Patty&Bun, 'ARI GOLD' Cheeseburger: 9/10

• London's trusty, go-to sloppy burger which never fails to deliver that messily satisfying savoury hit.

• Smokey house mayo and pickled onions added to quality base components differentiate the ARI GOLD from a classic cheeseburger.

• Skin-on rosemary salt chips are pleasant, but not mind-blowing (bit too limp for my liking).

• The smoked confit chicken wings, on the other hand, may give your burger a run for it's money.

Bottom burger =  the Special

Top-Left burger = Portobello 'Dig It' Mushroom 

Dip & Flip, Dip and Flip Cheeseburger: 9/10

• Cheeseburger meets French Dip! This patty is topped with thinly sliced roast beef or lamb which has been 'dipped' in gravy, and your burger served 'au jus' i.e. a side bowl of extra gravy.

• A glorious bundle dripping with meat juices: West Country beef patty, succulent cut of beef topside, American cheese, cabbage slaw, pickles, French mustard, in a brioche bun.

• This is the burger equivalent of a British gastropub dinner; hearty, lashings of gravy, and comforting.

• Note however, whilst successful in flavour, this is a bone-broth cooking liquor jus, not a rich, dense pouring gravy - I would have preferred a thicker consistency for a dipping sauce.

• For a Canadian twist to your meal there is poutine available, with the added option of bacon and green chillies (!)

Elliot's Café, Elliot's Cheesebuger: 9/10

• This well-known Borough Market café offers a 'Modern British' burger, with a memorable oozy garlic butter-soaked bun, enhanced by melted Comté dribbling over a rich, meaty patty.
• Accompaniment of fried Maris Piper potato slices as chip alternative.

Mother Flipper, The Candy Bacon Special: 9/10

• Perfect candied bacon umami (as expected!), complemented by oozing cheesy goodness.

• Innovative shoestring fry topping, deliciously crunchy and salty.

Goodman Restaurant, Goodman Burger: 8/10

• The luxury end of the burger market with prices to match (!), you can expect exceptional patty quality in a fine dining environment.
• Traditional yet classy burger, free of
  gimmicks or modern twists.
• Splash out on the lobster mac and cheese, or the truffle and parmesan version.