Byron is my least visited of the three big gourmet burger chains. Years ago I didn’t have a great experience with them but last year I had a great cheese burger from one of the Edinburgh branches. Having not experienced Byron in London I wanted to see if there is a huge difference

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How tasty is the Motherf*#$&r? – 7/10

Let me start by saying that this is a nicely tasting burger. But there are so many ingredients which overlap and have only a light neuance that I feel the core of the buger is lost.

The burger had:

  • Beef patty
  • Pulled BBQ beef brisket
  • Sauerkraut
  • pickles
  • Bacon & Onion crumb
  • American Mustart and Mayo
  • Beer Onions
  • Lettuce
  • Cheese Sauce
  • Brioche

As per usual we start with the centrepiece of the burger – the patty. The beef was of nice quality and was spiced appropriately to get the most flavour out of it. I think the meat is sourced locally so I shouldn’t be surprised that the Scottish branch had better quality meat but I guess the recipe is the same because it was a pretty nice burger. The beef brisket wasn’t anything exceptional but added that saucy feel to the burger the sweetness of it balanced well with the rest of the burger. It pushed the centrepiece of the burger to be between all the meatiness and the relish.

I think this form of a burger would have been better if it focused mainly on the relish and the meat. Both were pretty successful, the sauerkraut was not too strong and not dominating and it was blending well with the sweetness from the pickles. Those flavours were pushed even further with the mustard influence. And that’s all the burger should have been. This push on New York style with a cheesy sauce

The melted cheese you pour over is a nice effect and it spreads everywhere. It was difficult to get the flavour from it and I’m not sure if there were any other condiments but the taste was close to American cheese. I think a swiss style cheese would have been a better idea

One of the main reasons the burger has a lower grade are not the tastes but the bloody lettuce leaf. Please for the love of God, shred the lettuce so my sauces can get incorporated into the bite and not drip out of the burger. Cheese sauce, pickle juice, bbq sauce and mustard all those flavours go down the drain when you have a simple large leaf as a base to take it away from my bite.

One of the reasons I said the burger had too much is because at no moment could I feel any of the onions or bacon that were supposed to be in the burger. All the other flavours were masking them unless you took a bite which was dominated by them.

The brioche was toasted, fresh and tasty. It wasn’t soggy but I would have loved a bit more from the sauces with it (darn lettuce)

Burger joint venue and overall experience? – 6/10

It is a classic good burger joint. Large choice of burgers and sides and some nice beers. The fries weren’t as great. They weren’t bad but there wasn’t anything special about them like the rosmary style of honest burgers.

Quirkiness level of the experience? – 6/10

Pouring cheese sauce over your burger feels great and it is a nice twist to serving a burger.