- Weekend Brunch Flatbreads – Recipe - 22 January, 2016
- Winter sea salt brownies – Recipe - 19 November, 2015
- Grilled Aubergine Bruschetta - 19 August, 2013
Every once in a while I feel the urge to eat something that has been prepared by people who actually know what they are doing and ideally provide me with the kind of food I couldn’t get at home. Burger & Lobster would seems like the perfect fit for that kind of task. While I have made my own burgers before I am not generally in the habit of chucking live crustaceans into boiling water or stuffing them in the freezer, which is apparently the “humane” alternative, so eating out at this restaurant was something new for me. So off I went to Burger & Lobster (Farringdon branch) for some serious mid-week indulgence.
Essentially Burger& Lobster is like a hipster version of Nando’s specialising in crustacean based products. You get exactly three menu options: A whole lobster, a lobster roll, and normal burger. All three come with a salad and chips and cost £20. Strangely nobody in my group opted for the burger at that price… My lobster roll came dressed with Japanese mayo, whatever that actually is, and was stuffed in a marvellously crunchy and buttery piece of brioche. The chips were not much to write home about by themselves but together with the lobster roll it felt like getting a lovely shellfishy cuddle. I would love to tell you what the salad was like but quite frankly when given the choice between finishing my lobster or getting one of my five a day I opted for the lobster.
The service could best be described as brisk I would say. While a waiter immediately took pity on my friend who was desperately trying to remove the onions from her salad and immediately provided her with an onion free replacement, getting some tap water required flagging down three different members of staff and a 20 minute wait. However, when the staff did materialise near our table they were more than willing to give lobster shell cracking advice and encouragement to those of us less used to a dinner that requires breaking into.
The less said about dessert the better. Although reasonably cheap at £4.50 I did still expect something slightly more excited than an ice-cream sandwich served in its wrapper. The fact that it involved slightly stale cookies as the sandwich parts and minuscule bits of honeycomb did nothing to improve the overall expression of ‘something you just bought from Mr Whippy. I would suggest saving your money and getting a pint of Ben&Jerrys on the way home instead.
Overall the Nando’s comparison seems fairly apt. You don’t visit for the brilliant conversation skills displayed by the members of staff and their excellent range of desserts, but to eat enough spicy chicken to feed a small village. I would recommend Burger & Lobster to anyone who just has a serious lobster craving and fancies a quick dinner, but don’t expect any frills. You do however get a complimentary bib and all the branded wet-wipes you can stuff into your purse.
