Last year Londonist discovered (and devoured) Bodeans on Poland Street. And, lo, our appetite for meat was placated.
We loved their ribs, their burgers, the coke refills, their chips, the little blob of pink sauce you got with the chips...we loved everything.
We even featured it as a Londonist Loves.... But then, inevitably, the backlash began.
Was it just us or were we seeing less chips for our money? Was the succulence of the meat deteriorating as time went by? Could it be that Bodeans was paying for its huge popularity by a slight drop in standards?
Maybe it was, or maybe we were just being picky. But the hunt was on for a new saviour for carnivores everywhere.
And we didn't have to hunt very far. Hamburger Union is located on Dean Street, just three roads down from Poland Street, and it may have stolen our fickle, meat-hungry hearts.
The 'original' Hamburger Union was opened on Garrick Street in Covent Garden but as Londonist rarely ventures into Covent Garden unless we really need to (and hardly ever to get lunch) we never discovered its delights. But when the second restaurant opened in Dean Street at the end of last year we were hastily converted
The idea is simple: take the Wagamama ethos of canteen-style service and combine it with the proven Bodeans crowd-pleaser of well made burgers and chips. We'll save a full Londonist review until after our next visit, when we'll be taking pictures and everything, but until then, to get your mouth watering we'll leave you with a snippet from a review in the Observer from last year:
"You take a numbered card when you order, display it in the holder on your table and the cheerful staff then deliver your food to you, ooh, within about 15 seconds of you sitting down. Chips are thick cut and crisp. A mixed salad, though mostly iceberg, is well dressed, and ice creams are of the child-friendly Day-Glo vanilla, chocolate, strawberry kind...Hamburger Union is that very special thing: proof that quick food does not have to be crap food."
