Shake Shack, London

Food commentators on Twitter, the London press and even some of my previously oblivious, nonchalant mates had remarked that London’s burger mania had peaked and become dull. Even my Mum is aware of the craze. But this week’s opening of US transplants Shake Shack and Five Guys surely marks the crescendo.

As the debates rage on the limits of queuing, on London’s colonisation by US chains and thirdly on whether the humble burger itself merits all of this attention, it can be difficult to maintain a stance. The ‘to each their own’ mantra so universally appropriate has to be the way forward here.

Personally I wouldn’t like to queue 2 hours for a burger, but if someone does, that’s fine. I wouldn’t sleep rough for a new iPhone either, but I did wait 45 minutes at Frank’s for a lukewarm, assembly line Negroni which I could have bettered for free in my suntrap garden around the corner. So I’m a mug too… or, we’ve all got our weaknesses.

Is London becoming the 51^st State in regards to openings? Well, perhaps. We have Balthazar now, and in retail, J Crew and Williams Sonoma are following Banana Republic, Abercrombie & Fitch and many more before them. Nothing new there though. 

I doubt anyone would rather the repulsive Quick of France, or Pans & Co of Spain, and we should be pleased about the employment and investment created. Frankly, heightened service levels might cross the pond too. I’d much rather a Japanese invasion of fashion and food, but that’s another story.

But the burger itself should surely be the main issue. Is it worthy enough of all this hype? Is it just meat within two slices of bread? Yes, of course. But therefore a steak is just grilled meat and sashimi is just sliced fish? Anything can be disseminated for ridicule. If somebody values something to queue for a certain period or pay £15, then that is its value. Simple.

 

But Shake Shack itself? From the preview: a bit disappointing. They’ve made a huge effort, the team are fantastic and I wish the venture well – but the Smoke Stack burger (with cheese, bacon, peppers and a cloying mayo-based sauce) lacked much depth in flavour. The Aberdeen Angus patties were greyish inside, underseasoned and underwhelming. 

Top marks for the cheesy crinkle cut fries, and the shakes themselves. Kernel beer is decent but I hope they end up collborating with a London brewery here, as with Brooklyn’s Shackmeister. 

Curiously, the Cumberland sausage hot dog was the stand-out dish for me. Rich, gamey flavours and the crispy shallots were a perfect accompaniment and substitution for the usual bog-standard onions. With more of that cheese sauce. Fantastic, and probably the one reason I’d return.

I’ve eaten in Shake Shack in New York, and enjoyed it. The branding is superb and the staff great, but the actual food isn’t memorable on its own merits. It’s not as good as Burger Joint at Le Parker Meridien. Or Fanelli’s. Or countless other more affordable burgers in New York.

Let’s be truthful here: that positive Shake Shack NY impression becomes amplified when back home and amalgamated into the joys and vibrancy of a New York visit overall. The superlatives come out, the power of nostalgia becomes inscrutable, the positive memories indelible. But we in London have been busy, and this isn’t a patch on Honest Burgers or Tommi’s.

West End Coffee Round Up

Brief one really, but I thought I'd highlight some of the new cafés and coffee joints which have been springing up recently - three of which are in W1. Curiously recession-defying, especially with West End rents, the London coffee movement does seem to be defiantly marching on against the ubiquity of the chains.

Parisian goodies at Cafe Gourmand

Two of the three are actually second ventures by established coffee heavies, but with different names, vibes and directions. This isn't empire building - Nude, Foxcroft, Tapped & Packed - much as I love you all, take heed.

Sensory Lab is a new place on Wigmore Street by the St Ali team. It's not a huge, brooding undertaking such as theirs resplendent with vertical garden and roastery, but more of a clean, fresh, small outlet with similar coffee provenance. Think Tapped & Packed, but a little smaller. It's at the bottom of Marylebone High St, which actually doesn't have any great coffee beyond Providores, so could clean up.

Speakeasy is sneakily located on one of the alleyways between Carnaby and Newburgh Streets, but the discreet location is belied by what at first appears quite a clinical set up - tall counters, a lot of concrete and white, with very bright lighting. The staff are however extremely sociable and fun, which makes it a more relaxing place. Great food selection as well.

This is from Leather Lane's Department of Coffee and Social Affairs but is a wholly different concept. The basement is a little cosier, but this is more of a take away venue than a wi-fi doss-house.

Café Gourmand is a rather grand looking place - also new and contemporary, but with a classical approach to cakes and fantastic vintage signage, it looks as if it could have been there for years. They specialise in teas also, and this is definitely more of a place to lounge than the other two. It has more of a continental feel to it, with quirky touches inside.

So three new venues all in the same postcode. Tapped & Packed's newish second place up near Warren Street makes four. Big postcode mind.

London's coffee offerings are going from strength to strength, and it's great that people are confident enough to expand and establish new venues - that the desire for meaningful, informed or just plain stylish coffee places has not yet been saturated. The scene is now long past aping and imitating a few Antipodean venues as imports, and only attracting said Antipodeans as customers, and is now proliferating into a London-wide discernment for better.

The girls in my office clutching their Square Mile flat whites have probably never been close to Melbourne or a food blog, and are not what one might call hipsters, but regular people who recognise that the 'coffee-flavoured milk drinks' from the high street are just not cutting it anymore.

Greetings from a London Pig

Hello,

So this is the food blog I've been threatening to start for ages.

I'm a bit of a pig you see, hence the trough-seeking. I'm London-based but love to travel so other places might feature if I'm fortunate to be jetsetting somewhere or other.

Needless to say, I also love pigs. Pork truly is the meat of the Gods, and criminally underrated too. But this blog won't be particularly geared towards pork, but rather general greed, combined with an at-times slavish pilgrimage to where's new and good. 

I've always found it a great shame that London has been rubbished from within and outside as a poor food city. This is simply not true - British cuisine may not be as respected or complex as other stalwarts, and we may not be able to cultivate the spiciest or spikiest fruits, but our good honest soil produces an amazing simplicity where ingredients can sing louder than spices.

And frankly, being arguably the most diverse place on Earth, we've probably got the best mix across the board - with New York as the obvious contender here (we're probably later to the foodie obsession). But would you expect to find the easy cool of Lantana in Paris, the niche udon obsession of Koya in Rome, or the buzzy, piggy delights of Brindisa in Tokyo? Maybe, but not definitely...

So that's a hint of what to expect - not dissimilar to the many other blogs I've been following for years! I'm more into the low-key and some uptown casual dining, but not really 'fine dining' although I'd dispute the term as many places have very fine service and very fine food without fuss.

I'm a big fan of the Antipodean coffee shops and cafes which are raising the coffee bar in London (Foxcroft and Ginger over Flat White for me) - and having spent some great times in Sydney, Melbourne and Wellington, I also love Asian food of all descriptions. Closer to home, tapas and pasta I could gorge myself on daily....and like any blogger these days, this pig loves a good burger. I love (almost obsessively) trying out new places, but also returning (also obsessively) to my favourites.

Quick caveats - I'm not the world's biggest seafood fan, but my equally piggy partner (now to be known as Piglet) will be no doubt coerced into ordering the fishiest things on the menu! And my camera work is a tad dodgy... And there's a danger I might enjoy the beer/wine/cocktails too much and forget the odd detail... but hopefully you'll enjoy - cheers!

TPT