Burger&Lobster

I always read the restaurant reviews, but very rarely even consider going - they tend to be rather out of my price range.  My girlfriend and I were really excited by the Hollow Legs review of Burger&Lobster though, and determined to go.  We don't very often go up the smoke, so it would be a day out.

If you haven't already heard of Burger&Lobster, it's a new restaurant in Mayfair, open for just eight weeks now.  The menu is simple: a burger, a lobster roll, or a whole steamed lobster, each served with chips and salad.  Each costs £20, which is perfectly reasonable for a main course in Mayfair - especially one involving lobster!

The place was crammed when we got there, but the very efficient waitress took our mobile phone number and promised to call back in half an hour.  We spent the time at a pub round the corner, and the phone rang bang on time.

Back at the restaurant they weren't quite ready, so we spent the time at the bar soaking up the atmosphere and sucking up cocktails.  The drinks menu is fantastic, with a huge range of beers, wines, spirits and cocktails, and it was fun watching the cocktails being made and listening to the buzz and chatter all around.

The burgers looked and smelled fantastic, but of course we both went for lobster, finished under the grill and with the optional lemon and garlic butter.

I absolutely love this sort of cooking - really good ingredients, cooked simply but with care.  There's no fuss and faffing here, just a really appealing plateful of food, a really fresh salad and perfectly cooked chips.  They took a lot more care over cooking it than I did with my photography - I just wanted to get stuck in.

 

The dessert menu was as simple as the mains, with a choice of coffee mocha mousse or lime mousse.  We were too full to have dessert, but they seemed well-judged - a light mousse would be just the thing after such a generous main.

The site is just as democratic as the menu, trendy but not so much as to make an old fart like me feel uncomfortable, with a mix of city types and tourists like us.  Waiting staff were extremely efficient - they had to be, with it so busy - but still found the time to be friendly and helpful.

It's not often we'd be able to afford to go to an exciting new restaurant in Mayfair, and we did end up spending £58 plus a generous tip, but that was mostly down to the drinks - nobody's forcing you to have cocktails!  I love the concept of such a democratic place where everyone can feel comfortable, and I love the simple menu.  The very best catering vans do just one or two things really, really well and I predict that restaurants will follow the same trend in 2012.

Until now, the trend has been to offer customers too much choice - I really hate places like Starbucks which offer hundreds of combinations when all you want is a coffee.  Later in the day, we walked through Chinatown with its billboard-sized illuminated menus - how do you begin to choose from a menu that's got a couple of hundred items on it?  And how can the chef cook them all well?  Give me a choice of burger or lobster any day, thanks.

Burger & Lobster

29 Clarges Street

Mayfair

London W1J 7EF