Followers of my Instagram know I’m partial to a burger. Many a time have I visited Burger & Beyond’s Camden Market stall in the pissing rain just to eat their aged beef patties topped with American cheeses and smokey mayo.

Fabu news it was when I heard owners Tom and Craig, a handsome pair, were opening their first restaurant in Shoreditch, just opposite the Ace Hotel. Inside it’s a simple setup; an open bar with some stools, unadorned walls and hip hop playing at an unobtrusive level.

The burgers are spot on, as I knew they would be. The standard double cheeseburger (£12) is just lovely. A messier delight is the ‘Bougie Burg’ (£16.50) topped with cold smoked American cheese, steak sauce, marrownaise and beef fat onions. The whole thing is a wet, sloppy, joyous thing to eat.

But it’s the small plates that elevate B&B to more than just a burger shop. Lamb nuggets with burnt onion dip (£6) taste like all the good bits of a Sunday roast dinner.

Chicken skin and Cajun scratchings (£3 each) are super greasy but in a hangover-clearing kind of way. My fingers still smell of that spicy pork fat. Fine by me.

Mushrooms on toast (£5.50) are made more indulgent by lardo, that’s ribbons of soft, meltaway pig fat, and cured egg yolk. Tastes as good it sounds, FYI.

Best thing we eat is thin slices of rib cap (£6.50), served room temperature, dressed with anchovy butter. It’s an intense blend of aged beef and flavour-of-the-sea but it’s a total winner. It would be a standout dish on any high end restaurant menu.

Dessert is a play on a McDonald’s apple pie (£6.50). Here’s it’s filled with sharp blueberries to balance the pure sugar hit. It makes for the perfect end.

We wash it all down with a bottle of red. There aren’t many burger shops where such a thing is possible but here it feels normal. It’s a grown-up restaurant serving grown-up burgers. I like it very much indeed.

Would we go back? Yes

Burgerandbeyond.co.uk
We dined as guests of the restaurant