Burger& Lobster's Mayfair opening in January 2012 was one of the hottest tickets
in town and three more branches quickly followed; Soho, Farringdon and the
City. The City branch just happens to be within spitting distance of my office,
so when we arranged to meet friends earlier this week, it was this outpost we
decided to try.
Like
Ronseal, it does exactly as it says on the tin. For £20 you can choose half a
lobster, or a burger or a lobster roll and they all come with a side salad and
a portion of chips. There is also a choice of larger lobsters (for an extra
charge) chalked up on a specials board. I chose a grilled lobster with lemon
butter sauce. You could also have your lobster steamed and served with a garlic
sauce.
Before
our food came out, those of us having lobster, were brought plastic bibs and
lobster forks. It added to the fun atmosphere and I thought that this was going
to get really messy. The food was brought out not long after that on big metal
trays lined with grease-proof paper and it all looked great. The half lobster
was a decent size and it came with both claws. I thought this was really good
value! It was cooked very well and I really enjoyed the slight charr from the
grill. The lemon garlic butter sauce I
had was creamy and rich and not overpowered by garlic.
Others in the party chose the lobster roll and the burger. I thought that for £20 the lobster roll was a pretty measly portion. I also
think that you can get far better burgers for less than £20 at any one of the
burger joints that have popped up in recent months. The chips were a generous
serving though and the salad, dressed with Parmesan cheese, was a refreshing
side dish.
The
waitress taking our dinner order was friendly without being over-familiar,
although cleared some plates before others had finished. A pet peeve of mine!
We also had a bit of a shock when we received the bill and saw the price of the
bottle of wine we ordered at the bar before sitting down. We probably should've
been specific, but when ordering "a bottle of rosé", we assumed we
were getting the house wine, so imagine the shock when the bill came for £48! I
think we should've been made aware, but hindsight is a wonderful thing!
The
total bill for 3 grilled lobsters, a lobster roll, a burger, 5 beers, 2 glasses
of red wine and 1 bottle of rosé came to £210.09, including service.
All
in all, I found the whole experience pretty underwhelming. Parts of it were
good, but for all the hype, I really think there is better food to be had out
there.
Until
we eat again!
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