Bleecker Street Burger / Spitalfields

Who are they?

Bleecker Street are a well-known sight in London's food markets, with their shiny can gracing many an inner city street market with their boisterous presence. I first ran into them at a market in the O2 / millennium dome and ever since have made a point to go back if I run into them again. Having made a song and a dance in the local press about finally planting some roots in their first market venue in trendy Spitalfields Market. At once hoping to entice the finance community away from Liverpool Street and the hipsters from Brick Lane, Bleecker Street are well placed to get their first booth off the ground properly so I thought it rude not to take a look.

Thoughts

For a Thursday afternoon in the sun and with the vintage market already closed up for the night, Bleecker Burger were not rammed for customers but equally were doing steady trade. Don't expect a full restaurant experience here - this is purely a booth in one of the corners of the market and complete with "first come, first served" access to the garden benches and table in the market.

Subsequently, ordering and service is both easy and prompt, with a menu that mirrors their famous offerings in the truck. I opted for the Bleecker cheeseburger and some dirty fries: a mixture of normal and sweet potatoes covered in a sinfully decadent mix of melted blue cheese and hot sauce (naturally Frank's Hot Sauce - after the success of Meat Liquor the cat is well and truly out of the bag there).

As you can see, for a tenner you do get what you pay for thought the dirty fries are more than a little generous in their portion sizes, which lead me to believe that I should have gone for a beer to soak it all up after all. The mixture of different potatoes is perfect on the palate to give some variety to each mouthful and the Frank's blue cheese did not disappoint my expectations, providing a hot and sloppy side dish that felt like a naughty indulgence.

Speaking of disappointment, those who eat with their eyes might be a little downhearted by the burger itself, though I am pleased to say that the burger is deceptive in its ability to fill you up. Straddling that line between too dry and too juicy, Bleecker gives you a lovely dense beef patty with only a modest accompaniment of lettuce and burger sauce in a well toasted sesame seed bun and by the time you are finished with it and the chips, you can see why the option of a second patty would have been a little too much.


While their offering is a much better burger than you will find from the average, aside from the messy and delicious dirty fries there is little to really distinguish the Bleecker burger from other specialist burger joints out there. I know this does seem harsh despite my score - what this perhaps means is that I will need to try one of their specialist burgers on a return trip and see what they are truly made of and at these prices I am certainly not going to worry about breaking the bank either.

Conclusion

With their market booth, Bleecker have successfully transplanted what makes their burger van so good into a stall, ensuring that burgerites will have a fixed place to make a pilgrimage to if they want to see what all the fuss is about. I will no doubt be back for more soon!

Score

7.5/10

Where can I find them?
http://bleeckerburger.co.uk/
Close to Liverpool Street (Central, Hammersmith, Circle and Metropolitan tubes)