Honest Burgers

It’s 2016 and burgers are still everywhere. And the reason that burgers are still everywhere is because people love burgers, something that Honest Burgers know a lot about since they seem to be opening new branches of their shops every few months. The latest has landed in South Kensington, where aside from burgers, the offerings include brunch where – unlike McDonalds – you can even get a brunch burger before 11am, which is great for those who like to get at least one patty in before lunch-proper.

We’ve been to Honest Burgers before and we notice that despite South Kensington’s reputation for being home to almost an entire cast of Made in Chelsea children, offspring of assorted Scrooge McDuck’s, there isn’t even a nod to this wealth as the aesthetic sticks to the brand’s refined dark green, with those Honest blackboards, slabs of distressed wood and the odd sight of exposed brickwork poking out. And it’s nice, like a hip gastro burger joint version of the fading Gourmet Burger Kitchen franchise.

As for the burgers, well, they’re nothing on Lucky Chip, beat Byron hands down (possibly their prime competition these days), have nothing like the sloppiness of Bleecker Street Burger and make Hache seem like a quirky idea you might try once but never with regularity. What we’re saying is that they’re pretty great and the rosemary fries are pretty great too. Never straying too far from the classics, the bacon-heavy Honest Burger is the way to go, unless you can be swayed by the revolving specials that inject some variety into the solid standard menu.

A rising chain, we respect that the quality at Honest Burger remains strong and while the super-happy staff can become overbearing at times, service with an ear-to-ear grins is always better than surly and slow.