If you’re chained to your desk dreaming of a hunger-busting lunch, you’re in luck, because we’ve put together a guide to the very best burgers in London. It’s just a little food porn to tide you over until you can actually get your chops around a high quality burger!
We challenge you to make it through this post without dribbling over these banging burgers and London burger restaurants – but if you do succeed, you’re no friend of ours I’m afraid… Anyway, here’s our rundown of the best burgers in London:
1. The ‘Ari Gold’ Cheeseburger, Patty & Bun
One delectable beef patty with all the toppings, plus some finger-licking smokey mayo, all huddled together in a beautiful brioche bun. Simple burger perfection – Patty and Bun does exactly what it says on the tin, and since they’re all over London, you’re never too far from a cracking burger.
Find your nearest branch here.
2. The Mac Daddy, Dirty Bones
Make a list of everything you crave on a hungover Sunday and we’re pretty sure you’ll mentally create this burger. Carbs, cheese, carbs and meat. Nailed it. The Mac Daddy is a badass combo of brisket and dry aged steak topped with pulled beef short rib, mac & cheese and an espresso-spiked BBQ sauce. Fault it, we dare you.
Find Dirty Bones in Soho and Canraby- locations here.
3. The Crazy Lamb Jalfrezi Burger, Baba G’s
Beef may be the everyman’s choice for a burger, but Baba G’s hero lamb in a wonderful way. Their Indian-inspired, high quality burgers are all great (there’s cracking veggie options on tap here too – go for the paneer tikka cheeseburger), but the Crazy Lamb Jalfrezi Burger features spiced patties, onion bhaji, mango pulp, and mint cumin raita. Pair that with a side of their poppadom nachos – ‘Pachos’ – and you’ll be grinning from ear to ear.
Find your nearest location on their website.
4. The Tribute, Honest Burgers
To be honest, all of Honest’s burgers are pretty epic, but the Tribute is a very good choice – think Honest beef, bacon, American cheese, burger sauce, French mustard, pickles, onion and lettuce. Have we made you salivate yet?! They often also do special guest burgers too, and they’re different according to which restaurant you’re in. Besides the burger, the chips alone are a reason to visit Honest Burgers. They’re covered in rosemary salt and they’re honestly banging. 🎵 This is not the greatest burger in the worldddd, this is just a Tribute 🎵
Find them all over London (literally everywhere) – locations are here.
5. The Dalston Dip, Nanny Bills
Nanny Bill’s deal in both burgers and croquettes and the indulgent option is quite clearly the fan-favourite Dalston Dip. Smothered in mustard glaze, caramelised onions and burger sauce, it’s the pot of gravy that comes alongside (the ‘dip’ part of name) it that makes burger lovers weak at the kneesPair it up with a mac n cheese croquette and some buttermilk chicken strips and you’ve bagged yourself a full-on dipping feast.
You’ll find Nanny Bills in all London Boxparks, Vinegar Yard, and NQ64 Shoredtich.
6. The Bacon Double Cheeseburger, Bleecker Burger
We’d all love to be Bleecker founder Zan Kaufman (check out our chat with her here!), who traded in a high-flying career as a lawyer for a life of burger-slinging. Sadly, we can’t all do that – but we can eat what she’s serving, and it is goooood. When the burgers are this good, you may as well double up and whack on a side of angry fries, in what we’re dubbing ‘The Full Bleecker’. Plus, on National Burger Day (August 22) you can get a sweet 20% this beauty and all the burgers at Bleeker. Be rude not to, innit.
Find them across London – locations here.
7. The Dexter Cheeseburger, Four Legs at The Plimsoll
Bursting onto the food scene with a tsunami of hype was Four Legs, a pop-up foodie that arrived at the old Compton Arms in Islington with a secret weapon: The Dexter Cheeseburger – with melted cheese of course – was immediately crowned as one of the best burgers in London. Classic and simple, it’s supposed to evoke memories of childhood trips to McDonalds – and by all accounts, they’ve nailed it. The team then restored it and have reopened The Auld Triangle pub in Finsbury Park as The Plimsoll – and they continue to sling it out alongside their hearty menu of further briliance. Get involved!
Find it at The Plimsoll, 52 St Thomas’s Road, Finsbury Park, N4 2QW.
8. The Double Pastrami, Salt Shed
The sheer genius of doubling the meat content by adding a chonky slice of pastrami. Just breathtaking. Salt Shed’s mighty meaty creation is heaven in a bun, with Montreal pastrami brisket and beef patties slathered with burger sauce, cheese, fresh slaw, and the all-important pickles. Dee-lish. (They also boss the steaks if you’d like to break up the burger monopoly, just FYI.)
Find out your nearest location here.
9. Kimcheese smashburger, temper burger
temper is known for its fire-grilled meat, but their latest venture is a beefin’ burger joint in White City. They deal in all things smashed at this spot, and the pick of the bunch is the Kimcheese offering – because we can only applaud the genius at play to get kimchi into a burger and making it work. Smoked raclette cheesel. Chipotle sour cream. Kimchi onions. BBQ sauce. All of that, please.
Find temper burger at 101 Wood Lane, Wood Crescent, W12 7FW
10. Seoul Destroyer, Chick ‘N’ Sours
These guys are known for their special chicken burgers with seasonal changes (just look at their Christmassy raclette indulgence above), but you can always find a beautiful offering at Chick ‘N’ Sours all year round. It’s about time we plumped for some chicken burgers here, and you’d be hard-pressed to look beyond the Seoul Destroyer with Korean Gochujang Glaze, Smokey Cheese Sauce, Sriracha Sour Cream & Kimchi. Gobble that up now.
Find your nearest Chick ‘N’ Sours here.
11. Big S’Mac, Bun & Sum
YOU WANT MORE DIPPAGE, DO YOU? HERE IS SOME MORE DELIGHTFUL DIPPING ACTION. The excitement is warranted for this one because who doesn’t want to just dunk a chunky slab of meat and bread into a pot of beef chilli sauce or yellowy cheese. Sometimes you gotta live a little, and Bun & Sum know how to provide you with that fun and messy way of eating. We’ve gone for the Big S’Mac because… it has S’Mac sauce… but any will go with those delightful pots of SAUUUCEEEE.
Find your nearest Bun & Sum here.
12. The Bacon Butter Burger, Burger & Beyond
These guys go above and beyond, but we guess that’s kinda the point, given their name. It was a complete toss-up between this and The BFC (a beautiful chicken burger with buffalo sauce, ranch, blue cheese, ranch, and crinkle pickles) but c’mon, how can we turn down bacon and butter? That’s pancetta bacon and burnt butter mayo FYI, and it’s a winning combo.
Find your nearest location here.
13. Wagyu Cheese SMSH BN, SMASH BN
One of the newest entries on this list comes from SMASH BN, who sit in a nice and central location on Charing Cross Road (you can’t miss the colourful exterior) and serve up delightfully meaty wagyu smash burgers. As we’re talking drool-worthy, we have to point you towards the one slathered in cheese and special sauce that pairs rich meat with a light bun.
14. The Truffle Burger, Truffle Burger
No that’s not a typo. The namesake burger at Truffle Burger is truly something out of a dream – think beef and smoked bacon patty, truffle and parmesan glaze, fig jam, crispy onions and truffle mayonnaise. This is a bougie burger if you ever saw it and we are obsessed.
Find Truffle Burger at one of their four locations in Soho, Liverpool Street, Stoke Newington, and West Hampstead.
15. Smash burger, Manna
In the swanky new Arcade food hall in Battersea Power Station and Arcade’s first location on Tottenham Court Road you’ll find Manna, a burger joint serving up US-style smash burgers inspired by diner culture and fast food joints from across the pond. Their smash burger is perfectly juicy with all the classic fillings like American cheese, mustard, ketchup, mayo, pickles, and diced onions for an all-American burger.
Find Manna at both Arcade food halls in Centre Point and Battersea Powerstation.
So there you have it – the Secret London lowdown of some of the best burgers in London Town. Time to loosen that waistband and tuck in!