As some of you may have noticed from my previous post, I’ve had a very bad case of the Bruce Blues for the last ten days. I won’t say I can’t eat, because that never happens to me, but I can say I have felt a bit ‘meh’ about everything I have eaten. Nothing has got me particularly excited.
Realising I was heading down a dark and dangerous path, I decided I needed to snap out of it, and fast. Saturday night felt like no better time to do this, I needed a big distraction from the fact that the previous Saturday I had been doing the pointy arm (Badlands) dance to Springsteen at Hyde Park. I needed a burger, and it needed to be good.
I’d heard about Rivington Grill in Shoreditch on the burger grapevine a while back, but for some reason I’ve never got round to going. MORE FOOL ME!! I can say without question that this burger now holds the title as my best burger in London – this burger is SO good I wish I was with you to shake you into understanding.
Rivington Grill is a restaurant not a pub. Reservations are recommended, and I think this is a good thing – queuing for burgers, in a restaurant situation, is old news. It’s got a bit of a cool bachelor vibe – white walls and dark furniture.
As you can see, the burger arrives on a wooden board, with ice gem lettuce, sliced beef tomato, sliced gherkins and rings of red onion on the side. I like the way you can opt in or opt out of putting the salad in your burger. The sauce you see is a mix of French’s mustard and Heinz ketchup, ketchup is also brought to the table. I decided to go for the Luxury Burger which I definitely recommend doing. This means you get bacon, cheese and egg with your burger, and the combination is – forgive the Americanism – AWESOME.
Many chefs advocate a pure meat patty. However, the patty at Rivington Grill is all about the extra flavours – the chuck meat is mixed with finely chopped onion, parsley, garlic, finely chopped chilli, mustard and an egg to bind it all together. I am finding it tricky to put into words how good this patty is – it is the juiciest most flavoursome patty I have ever tasted in all my burger eating. The chilli gives the patty a hint of spice, but it doesn’t take over at all. The garlic is so moorish my eyes nearly popped out of my head at the table.
The bun (lightly toasted) is the softest I have come across, with a hint of sweetness that goes well with the salty bacon and beef. The delicious patty is topped with bacon and Montgomerry Cheddar which adds a twang but isn’t too strong. I think the egg is a must on this burger, as it adds another texture element and despite being fried it did not have that greasy fried taste at all.
I admit, I did get a bit messy eating the Luxury Burger, but this wasn’t due to any element such as the bun or patty falling apart, but more due to its sheer size. The patty was so thick it was almost a meatball.
Not only have you got this amazing burger to battle with, but it also comes with a bucket full of chips. If I really had to nit pick I would say the chips were really good, crispy, but they didn’t wow me like the burger. I do think this due to me being so overwhelmed by the brilliance of the burger and not because the chips were bad.
I’d say this is one of the best-priced lux burger packages in London, at £12.75. For this you get all of the extra ingredients, the chips, and the portion is huge! The setting is great, the service is good and they come round topping your glass up with tap water which I love – burgers can make you so parched.
Like Bruce Springsteen’s concerts, I didn’t want this burger to end… I urge everyone, suffering from the Bruce Blues or otherwise, to go and try one!
Rivington Shoreditch, 28-30 Rivington Street, London EC2A 3DZ
