What Our Ratings Mean

Unrated: This is a restaurant we want to re-visit before rating, or it’s a coffee shop, bar, or dessert shop. We only rate spots where you can eat a full meal.

Aleksandra Boruch

Ronald McDonald would approve of Bun & Sum’s smashburger take on the Big Mac. The pickles are thick and ridged, the cheese is perfectly melted, the patty is thin, and the all-important sauce is creamy, tangy, and slightly sweet. The industrial-looking kitchen is tucked away under one of the railway arches near Mile End, with a few oak wine barrels that double as makeshift tables to stand around and eat excellent smashburgers in three satisfying bites. There’s also a sit-down location in Hackney, and outposts in Camden and Whitechapel.

Aleksandra Boruch

Before we get all nerdy over some pickles, you should know that Bake Street, near Clapton, only does their smashburger on the weekend. It’s also a cafe and closes at 4pm, but the burger is so good we’d have no problem starting our day with it. The memory foam-esque brioche bun holds the unbelievably soft and buttery meat. Plus the pickles are perfectly tangy and the fried shallots add an extremely welcome crunch. It’s a perfectly done job, the kind that deserves a promotion.

Aleksandra Boruch

Manna is from the people behind Bake Street, so it’s little surprise its American-inspired menu and burgers are spot on. The Nashville fried chicken is excellent, but when you’re looking for a beefy smashburger in central, this Tottenham Court Road spot inside Arcade Food Hall is a go-to. The thin, flattened beef patty is topped with a melted square of american cheese, equal squeezes of ketchup and mayo, a light swipe of mustard, and a handful of salty, tangy pickles.

Aleksandra Boruch

The smashburger bun at Lagom is so buttery you have to wipe your hands after every single bite. This industrial, dimly lit barbecue restaurant, inside Hackney Church Brew Co. near Hackney Central, is part beer hall, part shrine to things cooked over fire. And eating their pink-in-the-middle, charred-all-over burger does feel like a spiritual experience. Napkins become a precious commodity and attention is torn between a disaster date story and the lacy crust of this smashburger. But it’s the smear of sharp vinegar slaw and super soft bun that really sets this apart.

Aleksandra Boruch

Jupiter Burger is from the people behind Dom’s Subs, and they continue to prove how good they are at putting meat (in this case Hill & Szrok beef) between bread (pillowy Martin’s potato rolls). The Netil Market stall is manned by an always-smiling team who shovel a few extra chips into your already stuffed bag as lacy-edged patties sizzle in the background. The cheeseburger is our favourite here. It’s just four elements—a buttery bun, a juicy, not-too-smashed patty, melting american cheese, and onions—and the ideal handheld size to wander around the market with.

Aleksandra Boruch

This BBQ spot in Leytonstone has an excellent menu of tender, charred lamb and mac and cheese that’ll put your Lactaid to the test. But the best thing here is the burger. Prep a pile of napkins and stretch your jaw to fit this double patty burger—not ideal when perfect strangers are squished together on small sharing tables. But just focus on your burger. Take in the melted american cheese, fried onions, and tender patties. And take it as a good sign that by the final bite, the bottom bun is all but disintegrated.

Buk

Buk’s special burger has a thin but substantial, flattened beef patty, a double portion of melted american cheese, plenty of creamy, chilli house sauce oozing over the patty, and sweet caramelised onion to top it all off. This burger laughs in the face of the Big Mac. And we laugh in the face of anyone who hasn’t been to this laid-back Camden burger spot and tried it.