Honest, London

On Wednesday I braved both horrendous weather AND crippling tube strikes for a burger. But not just any burger - an Honest burger!

I first discovered Honest completely by accident about a year and a half ago. My friend Bekah and I had met up in London and were wandering around looking for somewhere to eat in Soho when we stumbled upon it; I wasn't as obsessed with burgers back then but absolutely loved it! Since my burger obsession has grown I have been wanting to go back to see if it was as good as I thought, and I finally got the opportunity the other day - my friend Felicity and I went to their newest branch at King's Cross (ease of tube access having everything to do with location choice - good old Hammersmith and City!).

The King's Cross restaurant is far bigger than the tiny Soho one; there are two floors, downstairs playing host to the kitchen and a wall of cool wooden booths, with more tables and the bar upstairs. Since I last went the menu has expanded slightly - onion rings were now on the menu and they also had a new burger, plus a special. You can see their website and menu here but the online menu hasn't yet been updated to reflect the changes.

Drinks wise I had the homemade lemonade, served in a jam jar style glass with a cool old fashioned stripy paper straw

Tangy and refreshing!

Food wise I decided to opt for the Tribute burger which was the one which wasn't on the menu last time I went. It's a beef burger with bacon, American cheese, burger sauce, French's mustard, pickles, onions and lettuce, and it comes served with their rosemary salted chips. Felicity went for the cheeseburger (with mature cheddar); Honest is really good in that it offers gluten free burger buns, so Felicity can enjoy the full burger experience - I did have to remind her she needed the gluten free version though!

The Tribute

The cheeseburger

For these burgers Honest definitely rockets into my top 5 burgers I have ever eaten. They were beautifully cooked - still pink in the middle, just the way I like them - so they were tender and juicy, and the meat was so well seasoned and tasty. The toppings on mine were delicious - the bacon was lovely and salty and the pickles and the mustard added a nice tang. There wasn't too much sauce either so the bun could hold its own against all the toppings, and incidentally, the bun was shiny, squidgy and soaked up all the lovely burger juices. It was a brilliant burger!
I often wonder what I would do if I was gluten intolerant (no pizza, no toast etc, what a killer..), but apparently the answer is go to Honest, as Felicity said that it was the best gluten free bread she had ever eaten! So she absolutely loved the burger too; we've been texting since and she said she's been telling everyone how good it was, and we are both craving another!

Yummy pink centres!

The chips with the rosemary salt are also very nice, although towards the bottom of the pile I did encounter a few too many chip shells for my personal liking, but the rosemary salt does add interesting depth of flavour, and considering the chips are included in the (relatively low) burger price you get a really generous portion.
I also had a side of onion rings

They were huge thick rings of red onion in a really soft and springy batter which sounds as if it might not be pleasant, but it actually made a nice change to really crispy batter, and they were more filling and stodgy this way! It wasn't until after I left that I found out that the onion rings are gluten free as well, which is probably what made the batter texture different to usual - I just felt bad because if I'd have known Felicity could have shared them! I think these are also among the best onion rings I've ever had, so Honest is definitely onto some winners. The one flaw is that they don't do pudding! To be honest though I'd probably just be tempted to get a second burger in the place of dessert next time...! If you're a burger fan Honest is definitely a must visit.