This week two US burger restaurants open their first London branches. The appearance on these shores of Shake Shack and Five Guys (opening 4 and 5 July respectively in Covent Garden) has excited London's food writers and bloggers beyond all reason. It's not as if we don't already have some pretty decent burger-makers here: Meatliquor and its siblings, Patty & Bun and Lucky Chip are all masters of their craft. But these transatlantic newcomers will further inflame that tired debate: which is London's best burger?
Fortunately the blogger Melissa Foodie has designed a set of Top Trump cards to help settle the matter. Scoring each burger by key metrics including 'Rock n Rollness', 'Hipster dudeness' and 'Poshpoints', she's considered ten burgers, ranging from the low-end (Whopper and Big Mac) up to Bar Boulud's Yankee and Burger & Lobster's £20 effort.
The Chancellor, George Osborne will be pleased to learn that his favoured Byron is among the 10 cards, represented by the chili burger. Poshpoints on that one? 10, obviously.
Oh, and you don't really need to play the game to know what London's best burger is. It's the El Chapo at Lucky Chip. Case closed.
