Dude food. It’s an epidemic. Ever since Adam Richman first hit our screens with Man v Food a few years ago, it seems every restaurant and upmarket pub in the land is clamouring to offer burgers, ribs and pulled pork sandwiches, all served up with a healthy dose of home made ‘slaw’. The latest to join the growing list of these fancy altars of meat on the Clifton Triangle is Byron, a trendy joint which first sprang up in Kensington in 2007, and has been spreading itself across the UK from the capital since then.
I was invited along to sample the menu at Byron for myself (I took Tom with me because he is somewhat of a meat connoisseur), to see whether it lived up to its excellent reputation. I’ll admit, I had only heard faint whisperings of some mighty burger mecca which went by the name in the capital, and on hearing of its impending arrival to Bristol, I assumed it would be much the same as the competitors, churning out their themed burgers with a heap of over-salted fries. It turns out that they do things very, very differently at Byron.
The concept of the Byron burger is simple – it’s just high quality meat, served in a proper soft bun, with whatever you fancy on top, and a pickle on the side. That’s it. I already liked this place – usually when eating at a posh burger restaurant they all have weird names, and come with something that you’re not so keen on. I ordered blue cheese and bacon, and Tom had their chilli burger, which comes with green chilli, american cheese, shredded iceberg and chipotle mayonnaise. The burgers come as they are, with sides ordered separately, so we decided against chips and went for onion rings and courgette fries because they sounded interesting. Our waiter recommended we try it with the ranch dressing, so we got some of that plus some aioli too.
These were, hands down, the best onion rings I have ever had. Ever. They were so crunchy, not too greasy, and had some kind of delicious special seasoning in the batter, plus they had the benefit of being absolutely huge. The courgette fries weren’t bad either, coated in a crunchy crumb, and especially nice with the ranch dressing, and we had the world’s biggest bowlful of them! To be honest, we could have had one side between two, but we were being greedy and I wanted to try as much stuff as possible. I was a bit miffed to find the aioli not as garlicky as I would have hoped (now if that’s not the world’s most pretentious sentence, then I don’t know what is!), but so far our meal was off to a very good start.
The main event certainly did not disappoint, either. Tom ordered his burger medium rare (we were told we couldn’t have it rare, I guess a rare burger would just be mince plopped into a bun) and it was nice to see that they had actually taken this into account when cooking our burgers. We were also both pleasantly surprised to find that when they say chilli, they really do mean chilli – it had a good kick to it, and wasn’t this watered down ‘spicy’ food like a lot of other high street chain restaurants offer but fail to deliver, this was definitely hot.
My bacon and blue cheese burger was quite simply heaven in a bun. There was a huge heap of cheese (the key to my heart), and the bacon was thinly cut and perfectly crisp. I’m not a massive fan of lettuce, and usually pick all the salad out when ordering a burger, because it’s usually a massive soggy wedge of tomato and a giant heap of lettuce which does nothing for me except make the bun damp. The salad in this burger was so delicately sliced you wouldn’t have even noticed it, and didn’t detract from the main event at all. Two thumbs up!
I guess you can’t have trendy dude food without having craft beer, and Byron is no exception. They do all sorts of Hackney-brewed ales, and we sampled the Beavertown Smoked Porter, which despite its hefty price tag was a very delicious brew indeed. I’m a fan of ale, but not entirely sure which side of the fence I sit on with this weird hipster tradition of selling it in tiny cans, although apparently it’s better for the beer as well as being better for the environment. Who would have thought, eh?
Despite being completely stuffed we decided to try a dessert each too, of which Tom opted for something chocolatey, as he always does. I had a pretty hard time deciding. One of the main points of Byron is to keep the menu simple, which I like. However I didn’t really think there was much choice on the pudding front, as it all seemed to be the same old brownie/sundae/cheesecake option, but in the end I went for a knickerbocker glory. That was the correct choice. Somehow they even managed to make ice cream, hot fudge, strawberries and cream taste completely amazing. Plus I got a big long spoon!
In short, Byron is a simple place, dedicating its heart and soul to one thing only – making bloody amazing hamburgers. This was honestly some of the best food we have had (and we’ve eaten a lot of burgers!) and well worth its London price tag. I love the whole aesthetic of the brand as well, its really well executed and the restaurant looks very smart tucked away in the fancy side of town. If you’re visiting Bristol and are in the mood for a burger after a spot of shopping on Park St, I’d say Byron is definitely worth a trip up the hill.
