The Ship’s Galley Burger

Burger from The Ship’s Galley, Fitzrovia

I don’t know if you’ve ever entered ‘best London’ into a Google search to see what the next word will be.  Of course, it is ‘restaurants’. Duh.

I know that it’s a huge cliché, but one of the things I love about this city is that there are always new places to eat.  I have spoken already about my love for the survival of London’s old establishments, but I cannot dismiss the excitement of the new.  In our social media-led age, it is not difficult to find out about new openings; they pay people to use every platform available to make us aware of them.  The hungrier we become for a certain food trend, the bigger the maelstrom of publicity that surrounds a new restaurant, and the more impatient we become to get down there, Instagram everything in sight and tweet about just how great it is.

In contrast to this, some new places open so quietly that it is only when you literally stumble across them that you become aware of their existence.  This happened to me yesterday.  With the back to work blues following my holiday, I took to the streets of Fitzrovia to seek solace in some lunch.  Turning off Foley Street to answer my phone, I almost walked straight into a couple of guys cooking on a hot plate outside of a cafe.  I was intrigued.

The cafe in question is The Ship’s Galley on Hanson Street, a tiny little coffee shop that has been in the owner’s family for 23 years.  Having recently been taken over by the two young sons of the family, they have branched out into a kind of outdoor BBQ, hoping to attract hungry office workers.  This new venture operates three days a week: burgers on Wednesdays, burritos on Thursdays and steak sandwiches on Fridays.  All priced at around the £5 mark.

I was a little sad to see the patty cooked well-done, as I am a fan of a pink middle, but was cheered up when they split the patty through the middle and filled it with cheese and the red onions that had been cooking on the hot plate next to the burger.  The bun was a standard seeded bun, but was fresh and held together well.  I was offered a choice of various toppings but opted only for pickles, lettuce, mustard and ketchup – which prompted a debate about tomatoes in burgers (my bete noire).  The thing about this burger is that it breaks the rules of what we think to be a good burger at the moment: no brioche bun, no medium rare, no ‘dirty’ sauce or ‘filthy’ sauce, but it tastes good.  The bread is fresh, the patty moist, despite being cooked right through, and well seasoned, and the toppings basic but right for the job.  It is a good honest burger which, with some of the gargantuan offerings about at the moment, is quite refreshing.

The Ship’s Galley, 1 Hanson Street, London W1W 6TA.

Korrito’s Pork and Kimchi Fried Rice Korean Burrito

Pork and kimchi-fried rice Korean burrito from Korrito

If you’re pulling a face right now at the idea of a Korean burrito then you’re looking at this all wrong.  Forget any ideas you have about the traditional burrito:  forget spiced meat, black beans, rice, guacamole and salsa.  Think instead of a burrito as a method rather than an item.  Now start thinking of all of the good parts of Korean food:  barbecued meats, spicy rice, kimchi and chilli.  Wrap these up in the way that you would a burrito…. Now you have the idea.

One of the beautiful things about street food is the freedom to create an innovative menu or product without the financial risk involved in setting up a restaurant.  This means that some of London’s most creative food offerings are to be found in its street markets.  Fusion is a huge part of this, and it can either work really well, or it can fail miserably.

Thankfully, there’s a bit of a precedent for the Korean burrito.  The Kogi BBQ truck in Los Angeles has been experimenting with this kind of Korean-Mexican fusion for years, drawing influence from the city’s biggest immigrant populations.  Korrito, London’s first example of this kind of fusion, was started by two Korean siblings.  Every time I see this stall set up, usually behind the Royal Festival Hall on the south bank, there is always a long queue, showing that Londoners are also on board.

The operation is fairly straightforward:  you choose a meat (pork belly, beef or chicken), a type of rice (steamed or kimchi-fried) and then whether you want this made into a burrito, rice box or salad box.  Each combination costs no more than £6.50.  They make everything in a kind of production line.  First the rice (KIMCHI-FRIED PLEASE), then the meat (PORK PLEASE) and then the additions (YES TO CORIANDER, CHILLI AND CHEESE PLEASE).  It’s wrapped up, you pay, that’s it.

It does indeed look like a burrito, but the flavour inside is pure Seoul.  The belly pork is both sweet and spicy with the usual strips of crispy meat and fat, and there is plenty of it.  The rice is also spicy, with a subtle pungency from the kimchi.  The cheese, that I thought would clash with the other ingredients, added no more than a very subtle creaminess against the other flavours.  The heat from the pork and the rice, combined with the sprinkle of red chilli added at the end made for a very spicy wrap indeed.  For a milder burrito, I would switch out the kimchi-fried rice for the plain rice and leave out the extra chilli.

Chappers’ Top Tips for a Great BBQ Burger

One great burger

The abundance of great burgers in London makes it all the more difficult to impress with a homemade burger.  It seems we’re taking BBQ far more seriously lately, and gone are the days where a cheap sausage, a supermarket bun and a bit of ketchup will cut it – we want good food and we want lots of it.  My sister-from-another-mister Claire, also known as Chappers, puts on an eagerly awaited BBQ each year in her Forest Hill garden and is fast becoming the undisputed Queen of the Grill (south east London division).  The centerpiece of this BBQ is a rather excellent burger, so well thought through and designed that it could rival those found in restaurants across the city.  A brioche bun, a medium-rare patty, house pickles and an outrageous amount of cheese.  And somehow the weather even manages to hold up long enough to enjoy it.

Here are her top tips for a really good home-made BBQ burger:

Preparation:  This is key as you don’t want to delay serving your burgers because nothing else is ready.  All toppings should be prepped well in advance of the start of the BBQ.  If you have the space, create a production line of prepared baps, ready for the patties when they come off the grill.  Load the baps with the toppings and create a separate space for those who have specific requirements (no bacon, no mustard etc.)

Toppings:  This is really up to you, but I always add the following:  shredded iceberg lettuce, gherkins, red onions that have been soaked in a little red wine vinegar, candied bacon (more on this in a minute), burger cheese, ketchup and yellow American mustard.

Candied Bacon:  If you have the time to make this, it changes a good burger into a flipping great burger.  Place slices of bacon on a baking tray and top with brown sugar, white granulated sugar, pepper and a little smoked paprika and bake in the oven until crisp.  Allow to cool before serving.

Bread:  For me, the only bun is brioche.  You can make your own using this recipe, or you can buy a packet of four from Aldi for just 99p.  Use smaller buns where possible; it doesn’t matter if your burger hangs out of the edges a little, but there is nothing worse than taking a bite of just bread.  Toast them lightly on the grill first – spray with Fry Light to stop them sticking.

Patty:  This is the important part.  The higher the fat content in the beef, the juicier the burger, so cheap mince often works really well.  I tend to stick to the same recipe, and have recently taken to adding mozzarella to the middle of the burgers for extra cheesy goodness.  The key is to keep the patties fairly fat so the inside stays rare whilst the outside crisps up.

The candied bacon production line

Claire’s Burger Recipe
Makes eight patties

500g beef mince
1 large egg
10 crackers, crushed
Plenty of salt and pepper
Garlic powder
1 large onion, grated
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Olive oil
Jalapenos, finely chopped, to taste
Half a ball of mozzarella

Combine all of the ingredients together in a large bowl using your hands.  Divide the mixture into 8 equal pieces.  Divide the mozzarella into eight equal pieces also.

For each patty, divide the pieces in half and flatten one with your hands. Place a piece of mozzarella on top. Place the other half of the meat on top and use your hands to mould it around the mozzarella, shaping the whole thing into a patty.  Pinch the edges together and ensure there are no gaps through which the mozzarella could escape.

As well as being the queen of the BBQ, Claire is also an avid fan of London burger restaurants.  Her top three burgers are:

Patty & Bun, Marylebone – The Ari Gold
Mother Flipper, various locations – The Double Candy Bacon Flipper
MEATLiquor, Marylebone – The Dead Hippie