The quest to find the best burgers in London

A very tall order some might say, but not Pippa. A great fan of burgers and a great foodie alike, we set about to find the BEST (yeah strong word, but true) burgers in London.


I opened a card on my birthday to see one of of the best 22nd birthday presents a girl could ask for. No it wasn't a Chanel bag, it was a simple promise that she'd treat me to lunch and it be one of the best burgers in town. Our plan was genius, it was not only an excuse to meet up in the summer but a chance to enjoy our shared passion of good food and fine restaurants.

And we certainly found it, and so easily too.

This post is all about the places I've already eaten, and rate, and the long list of ones I've yet to try, yikes.

Best Overall Burger

Patty and Bun, James Street, W1

A nostalgic feel about the place, shunted into a small unit on a happening street in Marylebone is where you'' find this rough diamond. Fiercely popular, the burger joint opens at midday but has people queuing up for a table from 11am onwards. If you get there after it opens, you have to check in and go on the waiting list, but boy is it worth it. Why else do you think people trudge there from all over London to this tiny, packed in, urban burger place. The staff are incredible at what they do. They always manage to get you in, and on a table, within a short wait. A touch of good crowd control and a resilience to the constant busyness and they got it covered. These guys work hard for you, the customer, to be able to enjoy the chef's piece de resistance. 

The experience is already modest, rustic and all about the good food, and we haven't even got to to the food yet.
Both times I've been my phone has died, so I haven't been able to get pictures myself but it's inexplicably good. Easily one of the best burgers I've had.
Once I'd popped my Patty and Bun burg-inity I was hooked. A couple of months later I was back, dragging my boyfriend with me this time. He wasn't exactly kicking and screaming or under duress or anything like that but I was like YOU JUST HAVE TO TRY IT. And that was it for him, too. Two mouthfuls in and all conversation had stopped. We just munched through our burgers without even breathing or uttering a single syllable. It was as if we inhaled it, I mean it was that good. I didn't stop to wipe the (good type) flavourful grease that was oozing from my Smokey P&B mayo. Like I said it's not all about appearances and fancy decor, this place was all about the FOOD. My kinda place. The beef they use in their burgers is so good too, you can taste the quality. They ask you how you like yours done and I go for medium, and it always cooked to perfection. I can't stop raving enough how good this place is.
You can also find it in East London too! Liverpool Street hosts the venue for their other side of the river action.
Oh silly me, I haven't even mentioned the deal closer have I? It does take-away! I know, they are God. That is all.

Photo credit: londonist.com

Best Pulled Pork Burger

Haché, Fulham Road, Chelsea, SW10

Don't be fooled by it's meek and milk, almost princess-like appearance. This place has teamed up great food, mean burgers and great customer service to give the ultimate experience, for a very reasonable price, in the heart of Chelsea. One of the most expensive areas in London this postcode sees the likes of Harrods, Maison Blonc, Burberry and other designer shops and fine dining. Yet a few doors down from the Sainsbury's and MB, you have Haché. I've been coming here for years because it's home to the best, sweetest, biggest pulled pork burger. For only £9.95 your burger comes with a gorgeous home slaw as well. I'd say that's pretty darn good going for Chelsea, wouldn't you? Food for under a tenner!

I'd sometimes go two nights in a row if we couldn't be bothered to cook and it's never once disappointed in all those years. The recipe is always spot on and the sweet barbecue taste goes so perfectly with a brioche bun. This has been my ultimate weakness for so long, I'd go like once a week if I could and you wouldn't expect it to be a chain. It feels individual and homely as if it was a private family run restaurant. But the Hache family is growing with new spots popping up all over, Balham, Shoreditch and Clapham. They have five stars from TimeOut and the Evening Standard among others.
They don't just stop at burgers either. Their deserts are to die for. The banoffee pie is a personal favourite of mine.

Here's a section of my own photos:

 In the summer it's gorgeous because the huge windows open up so half the front of the restaurant is open with fresh air flooding the rest of it. The Fulham Road is such a beautiful main road as well as far as busy roads go and it's so nice to sit outside or in the window watching the world go by.

The salad is this picture is also incredible FYI.

Here are some photos of me from different times I've been recently. Yes, I do cock my head to the side a lot.



Places on my list yet to try:


Five Guys

Shake Shack

MeatMarket

Meat Liqour



Blog posts on these coming very soon!

Confessions of a blogaholic | Early years edition

Thank you to my wonderful best friend Charlotte and twentysomethingxo.com for the nomination.

I'm not entirely sure how well this is going to go down, but here goes...


Charlotte texted me late Friday night with a great idea of hers, we were going to team up and doing a funny blog about all the weird and silly (somewhat questionable as well) antics we got up to when we were little. I must say, I had a lot to live up to after reading hers. So if you haven't already checked it out, do!


1. I called my priest, DADDY!

I'm Catholic and grew up in West London attending Our Lady's church in St. John's Wood regularly. My mum used to volunteer to help clean the church and one day when I was little and mum couldn't get child care for me I went with her...only to cause havoc. Not knowing what I was doing and surrounded by Nuns might I add, I screamed "DADDY" and ran towards the Priest that Christened me with my arms up for an embrace. My mum was horrified and the local nuns were mortified. They thought the Priest had been secretly having it off with my mum - golden!


2. I swore I saw Father Christmas

I have a very vivid memory from when I was younger of seeing Father Christmas, one Christmas Eve putting presents under my tree. I remember waking up from a noise, and scooting down to the bottom of my bed to see what was going on. I must have been around 4. My door was open and you could see straight down the hallway to my living room where the tree was. That's when I saw him! I remember his huge bum and tum and he was wearing a red suit! I don't remember after that I guess I woke up or "went back to sleep" but that's the time I saw Santa.

3. I named my first hamster Boy Sarah

My first hamster was amazing, I was in awe. I never been able to play with such a thing and my love for Hamsters since then has only grown. I named Sarah after my sister as the vet told us she was a girl but it wasn't until a way down the line we notice she had rather large balls and so we had to call her boy Sarah instead. To this day my poor hammy is referred to as Boy Sarah. Kinda memorable don't ya think?

4. My mum once left me in Sainsbury's

I'm naughty at the best of times but when I was younger I was a little angel. The perfect daughter. Anyway, one normal day out shopping in my pram with my mum when she paid for her shopping and left, WITHOUT ME. I was distraught and mum was none the wiser, until she came back nearly half an hour later realising she had forgotten something, ME. Clearly I have forgettable face, cry cry.

5. Ear piercing disaster

When I was about 5 years old, my mum took me to have my ears pierced. What a mistake that turned out to be, I screamed the whole of the first floor of Selfridges down. I was inconsolable with only one done so mum took me upstairs and bribed me with lots of designer clothes. Happy I skipped downstairs ready to have the other one done. As soon as she touched my ear the whole of the floor radiated with shrill screams and I refused to let me touch the other one. In the end she had to take the first one out and I left with one very sore ear and no pierced ears. I finally had them done in a very modest H. M. Samuel in Kilburn, when I was eight with my mum's friend Lena, my mum and Chanel and Ben, Lena's children. I promise you I wasn't a diva with only designers on my mind *ahem.

6. What's sex mummy?

Six years of age is when I first asked about sex. Everyone has one of these stories don't they? Well, I was watching a program like Casualty with mum when it cropped up. I asked my mum what is sex? And she replied "I'm still waiting to find out Kate". What a bloody liar hey? I pretty sure she's not Virgin Mary and I wasn't an immaculate conception. Just saying mum.

7. I say goodnight to my grandparents in the sky

This is not a funny one, it's more a sentimental one. A few people I've spoken to, do it too. When I was little (a bit like in the Lion King) my mum raised me telling me the stars in the night sky, were our loved ones who had passed, looking down on us. I never met either sets of my grandparents and that's something that's always made me a little bit sad so every night I used to say; good night Grandpa Marko, good night Grandma Kate and so on. And then I have to go through again and say Rest In Peace Grandpa Marko etc.


8. Henley Regatta, don't you know

Henley Regatta, a grand annual event in the rowing world is a positively tremendous event in anyone's formal event calendar, darling. My mum used to take me to all sorts of grown up events because I was an excellently behaved child and I was her best friend, she loved taking me as her date to things. One year my mum also took a bank manager, don't ask me why she just did. Two young handsome men came up to our table to chat up my mum and her bank manager up. They asked if my mum's bank manager was my baby sitter and I curtly said "don't be silly! She's my mummy's bank manager". I was a smart cookie.

9. Mummy is Mr. McDonald pregnant?

My head teacher in Primary School was rather large like pretty much had the biggest belly I've ever seen, I'm sorry but it was outrageous. It used to confuse me so much I disliked it, I didn't think it was normal. I genuinely, hand on heart used to think and ask my mum on a regular basis if my head teacher Mr. McDonald was pregnant regardless of the fact he was a man. It pure and simple stumped me.
Anyone from St. Joseph's RC Primary School in Maida Vale, W9, in the 90s will know!


That's enough of me for one day, I'm quite a lot to handle. That was really fun to think about and to write so thank you Char! I nominate my fellow classmate Pippa Moyle over on pippasays.com.

Look forward to hearing what cheeky nonsense you got up to girl!

*Insert cliche title here*

Happy Sunday afternoon folks!


Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year. Sorry I've been a little loco and MYA recently, I cleverly dropped my phone down the toilet at Christmas which brought some amusement to my friends. Nevertheless, within the next two weeks IF my insurance company stop getting things wrong, I should be reunited with a phone and back on the bloggersphere. Wahoo!

Moving on...let's kick start our new year by setting some goals eh? Why not! Let's be frivolous, and treat ourselves a bit.

They're a bit like New Years Resolutions but not. Goals for the year are so much better and not so 2000-and-late. No ones sticks to New Years Resolutions so why make them anyway? I don't. So I'm doing goals instead as they last longer, and when 2015's candle is nearly blow out, I can look back and hopefully see I've achieved my goals I set out to do.


Lose weight

A lot changed for me in 2014 and it was quite a hard year, despite being the best one to date. SO I'm making 2015 a better, more positive year (hopefully, but this is me after all) starting with my physical and mental attitude.

Late 2014 saw me join the gym with my best friend. We were both recovering from surgeries and out of shape to say the least. I decided to join, now that I had finally recovered from emergency surgery I had back in May (just before my birthday) and I wasn't getting anywhere with Doctors. I realised if I was going to get back to my old self, it was going to be thanks to me and me alone.
So the healthy eating regime started (no thanks to a dietician I was referred to by my clinic might I add) and exercising three times a week.

Because I've put on such a large amount of weight it's going to take most of this year to even get close to the size 8-10 I was before I fell ill with my condition. I'm so excited to look back and see the difference, to really see the affect all MY hard work and determination got me.
I'm hoping by my birthday, at the end of May, I'll be able to see a noticeable difference.

So 2015 goal number one summary: LOSE WEIGHT. Carry on with my diet of 1500 calories a day and gaming it 3 times a week to build back my fitness and stamina I lost being so ill and unable to get out of bed most days. I already have a favourite class - Boxercise. It really boosts my confidence when I'm told I have a mean right hook and I can already feel my biceps coming back within a matter of weeks. So, so far, so good.

This is quite a touchy subject for me. I struggle talking about it with strangers as they don't know what I went through and sometimes I feel like they judge me or think they know more than the doctors and try to tell me that I'm doing things wrong. A nerve-wracking, gut-clenching subject to talk about on my blog but FACE YOUR FEARS. 2015 could be the year you embrace things that scare you but you take on board and turn them into positives. Openly expressing how I feel about myself is a form of self-help and a step closer to coming to terms with facing my fears of being diagnosed with a chronic condition for the rest of your life. If I'm honest, once my weight is back to normal I will be a completely difference person again and I think I would forget it even exists apart from when I take my medication at night. That is the dream. We'll see though...


Swear Less


I'm a foul mouthed, potty mouthed, whatever you want to call me, Princess. Not all the time, and not in work places but around my friends or at home I do drop the f bomb quite a lot. I got a gorgeous white iridescent Bulldog ornament for Christmas from my mum that doubles up as a money jar. I'm in love with him! I've named him Ralph, and Ralph is now going to be my swear jar. Hopefully by the end of 2015 I'll have stopped swearing as much and I'll have saved up loads without even realising.


Travel more


There are so many places I want to go see and experience in 2015, and I'm going to share them all with you in this blog.

2014 saw me go to Barcelona for the second time, Dubai for the first time and Dublin, also for the first time. But this is simply not enough, I have the travel bug. I always have done, in 2013 when I turned 21, my brothers and sister got me a £300 gift card for STA travel. One of the best presents. Everrrrr.

Take a look at what I already have my eyes set on for this year...


Thailand

This picture is of Krabi beach in Thailand apparently.

My friends are going travelling all over soon but they're final stop is Thailand in July and they said there's an open invitation to join them. I'm really tempted...
I'd get to be within the comfort of a group and they've been travelling before to Thailand so I'd also be safer with someone who knows their stuff a bit better than I would.
I'm a complete back packer novice so that would be an experience and I'm young which is not something that lasts very long so I should go while I can.
I don't know much about Thailand or where to go, but they do!

New York in Winter

I've already been to New York for my 18th birthday. I'm a may baby and so it was practically Summer there - a very different experience to New York around Christmas time. I loved the big apple! Boy oh boy, NY not disappoint. From such a young age I can remember being obsessed with America and living there thinking England just had nothing on the states. And I was right, I mean it may have had something to do with the fact that I was stopped by tourists and asked if I was a movie star but ha, a girl can dream right.

I went with my mum for a week just us two but my boyfriend has never been to New York so I'd love to go with him. One of the main things I wanted to do when I went to New York was to walk the Brooklyn Bridge, but I never got to do it. My mum suffers from Vertigo so we walked 100 metres before mum broke down sobbing. So there's still that dream to achieve! They say you can't beat anywhere but New York before Christmas so why not spend it wrapped up warm with your loved one holding hands in one of the best cities in the world? Who knows, it might even snow!


Italy

I've never really had a burning desire to visit Italy despite it being beyond beautiful. I've been to a fair few European countries and cities and now I've pretty much exhausted all the ones I wanted to visit. However now I'd quite to go. Not Venice, I don't know why, I'm sure I'd adore it if I ever went, but for the time being I'd like to go to Rome or Milan.

Doesn't the above picture look incredible? That's the Temple of Saturn at the Roman Forum and on a sunny day it looks breath-taking. I love looking at beautiful architecture, old stone buildings and this will probably top my list when I do see it in person.

The picture below is the roof of the Il Duomo in Milan another incredibly detailed and extravagant cathedral. Stunning. I'm shit scared of heights but how cool does this look? The views would be astonishing and it would be just amazing to be like "yeah I walked on it's roof, no biggie".

Montenegro

Budva, a Montenegrin town that I've wanted to go to for a couple of years now and never made it happen. A friend of mine went and it looks insane. A beautiful Yugoslavian coast just like the ones Croatia boasts.

It's home to this bloody cool place called Stevi Stefan which looks almost like an island but its connected to mainland Budva by a little bit of land which acts a road to connect the two.

Budva has a lively night life and mountains to climb if you fancy adventure rather than relaxation.

Not far from Budva is Tivat where the spectacular Porto Montenegro is. I've never been to Monte Carlo but i'd say this marina is beautiful enough to be on par.

This photo doesn't even do it justice. 

There is a hotel right on the marina that I'd like to spend my days lazing by the pool at. You'll see why...

Pretty swish huh? Yeah, you go Montenegro.

I'm sure there will be a long list of places I want to add to this, perhaps I'll return to Dubai...who knows what the future holds.

2015 I welcome you.