I hate flying, well not so much the physical sensation of being in an airplane but rather the tedious rigmarole of travelling by plane. It used to be quite exciting but the queuing, the security delays, the checking and rechecking of tickets, the crowded airports, the selfish travellers. It all conspires to make me very adverse to travelling even when at the other end I have something great to look forward to like my oldest friend's wedding in Zurich. Emir and I go way back we both started school the same day and as he lived nearby we saw each other pretty much every day. In fact his family were responsible for my culinary awakening as his father Farouk had introduced me the delights of hamburgers when he took me to my first McDonalds. I remember it well, it was the branch on Edgware Road and I had a cheeseburger, my favourite bit was the sliced gherkin. So it seemed only right that ahead of our flight instead of getting an indifferent lunch at the airport we grab a burger locally. Normally such a meal would be all about the Electric Diner but I had noticed Honest burger had opened a couple of doors up from there so we decided to give that a go.
It's not a massive place but it's well configured so they have some booths facing the bar along the back wall, Seating at the bar and then tables out front. I think there is also seating downstairs. As you imagine the menu is all about the burger in its various forms however they eschew the weird and wonderful in favour of a chicken, veggie and some beef options. We started off with their special which was battered sausage and homemade curry sauce which was very nice if a little rich. We followed up with a couple of Honest Burgers and rosemary fries. Basically this has the works on it, bacon, cheese, lettuce, onion and was seriously good. It was the perfect size as well, great taste form the beef patty, nice texture to the bun. A very good burger. Rosemary chips were nice but I actually prefer mine plain with salt. We washed all this down with a couple of good American craft beers.
We went in early doors but it soon began to fill up with a mix of locals and tourists doing the Portobello thing. The service was very good from the young but sociable team. They seemed fortunately unaffected by the Notting Hill attitude that prevails at some of the places around here. The bill was reasonable with burgers just under a tenner, it's a cheaper meal but the quality was good for the price. We really enjoyed our lunch, though burgers are seen as a snack food this was a leisurely lunch and it did the trick of relaxing me ahead of Terminal 5 and some seriously crappy service on our BA flight. I would definitely return and I would actually say this place is well ahead of GBK and Byron and I also think it's a nicer dining experience than Meat Liquor. Well worth a try.
Tuesday, January 07, 2014
Overall rating
Food 9 | Service 9 | Atmosphere 8 | Value for money 8