Hi burger boyz and girlz,
This week we ventured eastwards to Shoreditch for another Battle of the Burgers. There are so many exciting burgers and we found it difficult to just narrow it down to two. It will be a battle between a rapidly expanding chain, Dirty Burger, against the up and coming Black Bear Burger.
Location: Shoreditch, London
Dirty Burger: The decoration makes you feel like you’re in a corrugated iron hut. Looking through the window you can see the other competitor
Black Bear Burger: Located in Boxpark. The decoration is very black bear themed.
So today’s battle is:
Dirty Burger’s Cheese Burger vs. Black Bear Burger’s Brisket Burger
So, let’s get into it. Let the battle begin – ding ding ding 🔔🔔🔔:
Black Bear Burger
Started in 2016 by Liz and Stew Down (wife and husband), Black Bear Burger aims to use simple, high-quality ingredients to make super tasty burgers. Stew grew up on a beef farm with delicious home-grown and home-cooked food and now wants to make it accessible to all the Londoners.
With every bite you experience the immediate pepperiness, crusty texture of the bun, contrasted by the creamy sauces. This is all rounded off with the unique flavouring of the brisket and a hint of sweetness from the onions. After all this, you can fully enjoy the texture of the brisket.
The Patty
The medium patty has strong visuals: it is evenly browned and has a nice char to lock in the juices. There is an immediate kick of pepper – which is great if you like pepper, and slightly overwhelming if you don’t. The patty melts in your mouth, is juicy and has a crunchy crust for a great bite.
On the first bite you can taste the 12-hour braised beef brisket (
OMG!!). Let’s talk about that for a second: Having been cooked in beer for 12 hours, the pulled brisket is so soft and delicate. The caramelized malts of the beer paired with the sweetness of the onions enhance the natural piquancy of the brisket. The tender texture adds another dimension to the burger.
The Sauce
The American-style cheese doesn’t add a lot of flavour, but melts everything together into a creamy sauce. With every bite you take, a symphony of flavours comes through. There are sweet pickled red onions, garlic mayo with a slight punch and the heavenly beer marinade.
The Bun
Bun is toasted and crispy and cradles the meat. There are a lot of ingredients and the bun holds it all together for maximum eatability. The bread is a little more on the sweet side, so it could be a brioche bun. When eating the burger the bun isn’t really noticeable – it just gets the job done.
Overall tastiness
Johannes: This burger made me so happy and I actually had a dream about it. What else do I have to say. This is a must-try burger in Shoreditch. 🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔
Yvonne: Every layer of that burger blended together so well to create a contrast of flavours and textures. The brisket took the burger to another dimension, with it’s sweet marinade creating pockets of juice as the meat slowly melted. I’d choose a brisket burger over a bacon burger anyday! Given that I have never heard of Black Bear Burger until today, it’s a must try. I rate this burger: 🍔🍔🍔🍔🍔
Dirty Burger
Dirty Burger started in 2012 in Kentish Town and has since expanded to 8 sites across London (and 1 in Chicago and 1 in Barcelona). The creator Nick Jones wants Dirty Burger to be something “utterly delicious, but really naughty. A totally bad boy burger.” While the burgers are dirty the menu is simple. There is a cheese burger, a bacon burger, a vegetarian burger and a monthly special.” Rumor has it that it’s JJ Abrams favourite burger and he frequently had it while making the new Star Wars trilogy. May the sauce be with you.
The Patty
The Oxford dictionary defines a dirty burger as “a messy, naughty meat feast with mind-boggling looks, deliberately ignoring eatability concerns“. Looking at the burger it is surprisingly clean with bright colours: red tomato, green lettuce, brown patty. Not sure if that really meets our definition of a dirty burger.
The medium patty has a primal, rich beef flavour and tastes like it’s has been dry aged. It is brown on the outside, but doesn’t have a crispy crust. The mince is supposedly made from a rather lean cut because the burger lacks signature juices. The patty has a soft texture, but it won’t melt on your tongue. The patty is well peppered and cooked in mustard on the griddle, giving it a tasty mustard note.
The Sauce
At Dirty Burger they leave the sauces to the customer to add to taste. However, the patty has a mustard flavour and strongly infuses tangy notes into the burger. This is immediately noticeable on the first bite as the mustard comes through the burger.
On top of the mustard, the crunchy slices of pickles bring an additional punch of tanginess. The onions are very focused on one side of the burger, which sometimes comes as an onion-y surprise bite. It also contains crispy lettuce adding a fresh crunch.
Overall, the mustard and garden toppings play quite a strong role in this burger, but are not connecting to the flavours of the patty. The final element to mention is the cheese, which is draping over the patty, absorbing some of the juices. As it is American-style it doesn’t really add any special flavours.
The Bun
This bun is a soft roll which is squishy and absorbs a lot of burger juice, allowing the signature meat flavour to fill your mouth. Even though it is soft, it holds the burger surprisingly well. Shouldn’t a dirty burger always be on the verge of falling apart though😕. A little bit of toasting would improve the texture and eatability, because most of the chewing effort goes into the bun.
Overall Tastiness
Johannes: I’m generally not really a fan of garden salad on burgers, but this is a tasty burger! I enjoyed the mustard note, and the patty was pretty good, too. It’s a pity it didn’t come with any signature sauces. Anyways: 🍔🍔🍔🍔
Yvonne: This is a simple delicious classic burger, which is exactly what the owner intended. However, it lacked some individuality and didn’t have a wow factor when battling out against Black Bear Burger. It was up against a tough competitor, but I still think it’s a great burger. Therefore I would give this burger: 🍔🍔🍔🍔
This battle had a clear winner from the first bite. The winner of this battle of the burgers is
🎉Black Bear Burger 🎉
This means that Dirty Burger is knocked out and we will see Black Bear Burger again in the next stage!
Was this review too harsh? Should we give Dirty Burger another chance? Tell us what you think in the comment section below!
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Battle of the Burgers 