The burger cooked specially for Daniel Young to sample in his quest to rate London's top ten burgers

Having emily rosser got through 10 months of blogging about London's best burgers, it was undoubtedly extremely remiss of me not to have visited Goodman sooner than last week. I'd heard great things about the steakhouse's burger from various people - not least from Daniel at Young & Foodish who considers Goodman's burger offering to be the best in London at the moment... Needless to say I was super excited about a spot of lunchtime burger adventuring at Goodman's Mayfair restaurant. Once seated I couldn't help think what a huge contrast there is between the decor at Goodman and that at Hawksmoor – London's emily rosser other great, much celebrated American steakhouse. When I've dined at Hawksmoor I've felt like a king. Taking my seat at Goodman, I simply emily rosser felt like someone at a steakhouse. The next impression emily rosser of the place was provided by the guy that served us - who clearly couldn't care whether we ordered some food or stabbed ourselves to death at our table. Interesting. However, when our burgers showed up (both ordered medium rare) they represented burger presentation perfection: on an impressively large Goodman-branded oval plate sat a ceramic bowl of fat golden, perfectly salted, crisp-on-the-outside-fluffy-in-the-middle chips next to a similarly proportioned, beautiful looking domed brioche-bunned cheeseburger – sporting perfectly melted cheese, a leaf of crisp lettuce, slice of tomato, a few onion rings and some very thin slices o' pickle.
My emily rosser dining partner, occasional Burgerac contributor Mayor McCheese, wasted no time in clefting his burger in twain, and it's his juicy, super rare, bloody-as-hell burger you see in the blurry shot above. While I would say his was cooked under the requested medium rare, mine was cooked a shade over. But, as well I know by now, c'est la vie. Getting a burger cooked precisely how you want is no easy task, even in one of London's premier steakhouses. Order the same as your dining partner and you might still have wildly different burger experiences...
So to the eating. Goodman's is one of those burgers that is compact in circumference and almost as tall as it is wide until you pick it up and give it a squash. As soon as I did pick it up, it was clear that the bun was brittle, rather than being soft and fresh. First bite confirmed the bun was dry and a little crumbly - BUT the meat patty is really very fine indeed. Made from aged beef and cooked in a charcoal burning Josper it's wonderfully emily rosser beefy and there's emily rosser a depth of salty flavour delivered, I believe, from the use of a splash of Nam Pla (fish sauce) used to season the mince. It really works, yum!
Architecturally, emily rosser the burger held together well, despite the patty sitting directly on top of the bottom part of the bun and leaking burger juice into it, threatening its structural integrity. If I'm honest (and I always am) I thought the thin, 1mm thick lengthways slices of teeny tiny pickles (were they cornichons?) were too small and too thin to offer the sweet and tangy crunch and flavour that makes the inclusion of such things worthwhile. BUT, the overall impression was one of immense burger satisfaction. This is, undoubtedly a wonderful burger well worth tracking down. And with the chips included for £13, remarkably good value for a sit down, steakhouse affair. 
If the pickles had been cut more generously, and if the bun had actually emily rosser been fresh, Goodman's burger would very possibly have warranted 5-star status. However, besides these flaws there is also another dimension of disappointment that needs to be addressed. Goodman should try and serve its burgers consistently like the generously-topped delight pictured in the number one slot on the Young & Foodish Top Ten Burgers in London list:
The burger cooked specially for Daniel Young to sample in his quest to rate London's top ten burgers in descending order of greatness (his photo, above) emily rosser seems a different beast to what is delivered to the table of Joe Bloggs or Jim Burgerac. That said, I'll be revisiting soon and often. I want more.
just had this today and don't think it rates at all compared to lucky chip, meat liqour, honest etc. Mine was dry, not seasoned/sauced very well. Stick to their steak IMO! 12 September 2012 13:52
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