I mentioned a while back about a craving for a ‘filthy’ burger – not cooked pink, plenty of grease, covered in plastic cheese. I’ve also probably mentioned I’ve been desperate to try Five Guys since forever.
As desperate as I was, there was no way in hell I was queuing as I’d seen people queue at their branch near Leicester Square. Then the New Designers exhibition called W’s name, and with Five Guys’ Islington branch being practically next door it would have been rude not to, right? So the two of us rolled up hoping for a bit of junk food heaven.
After staring a bit confusedly as the menu, a rather helpful server told us ‘little’ burgers are single, standard are double. Guys, this is probably the first time I’ve ever heard W order a ‘little’ something! We both went for a Bacon Cheeseburger, W adding a slice of tomato, myself adding mustard (I <3 mustard!), sharing a portion of ‘small’ fries (not the spicy ones). Two drinks saw us at just under the £20.
It was then time to navigate the drinks machine. All I can say here is that Five Guys have made a diabetic boy very happy – we’ve been unable to find Diet/Zero Vanilla Coke here so he promptly filled up on that. I went down the route of half-filling in the attempt to try as much as possible. Still Peach Fanta is deliciously refreshing, but I LOVED the Grape Sprite. Yum.
I watched our burgers being made, the system at Five Guys is definitely efficient especially in such a small space. What was slightly disappointing was out burgers were made up and wrapped, then there was a five minute wait for the fries to be added – this did make for every so slightly soggy buns, and my cheese was a little colder than I would have liked…
However overall the burgers were pretty delicious.
The patty was thin and well-done, but juicy and extremely flavoursome. It LOOKS a little like something you’d find in McDonalds but tastes infinitely better. The cheese…well it’s not exactly good quality cheese, but it is yummy and adds the stickiness, creamy, slightly cheesy badness a burger like this needs. The bacon was perhaps a bit of a let down – mine was slightly burnt and some areas tasted a little over smokey – but I’ll forgive that. The mustard was definitely a welcome addition, adding a kick and slight sweetness. I only wish I’d added some onion too – maybe next time I’ll go mad with the toppings.
Fries were good. It made a welcome change to actually taste
potato in fries. The Five Guys Style ones are very simple, though we felt a little more salt was necessary, but they were well cooked with fluffy insides, and crispy bits dotted about. The portion size was also extremely generous. At first W looked a little forlorn at the small pot on the table, until we opened the bag and found another pot’s worth in the bottom. A small was definitely big enough to share for lunch, along with some free peanuts!
Yep, free peanuts are in massive sacks everywhere. Definitely not a place for someone with a nut allergy!
So, the conclusion of my review of Five Guys? It’s a simple restaurant – just burgers and fries, but what they do, they do well. It’s not a gourmet burger, it’s fast food, and as such it is a little overpriced for what it is. I wouldn’t hurry to go back (mainly due to the price point – I could have a Byron or Wahaca for roughly the same cost!), but I would heard here over a McDonalds when a craving hits. Either me for a burger, or W for some vanilla coke…
Have you been to Five Guys? What did you think of it? Can you recommend me any burger places to visit – I’m feeling a summer burger challenge!
