Burger Joint, New York

I love burgers. America made me love them even more. The quality of USDA beef is second to none, and (as wonderful as it can be) our home grown beef doesn't seem to stand up to the American stuff - controversial, I'm sure. The only place that comes close over here is Almost Famous. Meat Liquor seems to hold the crown in London, but I thought it lacked the same meaty flavour. 

Burger Joint is another one of these increasingly cool, cloak and dagger, catch me if you can, find us if you're clever, sort of gaff. As soon as we came back from America last year, I dreamed of going to New York to visit the famously hidden Burger Joint in the Le Parker Meridien hotel. With the holiday booked, I was on countdown.

We saved our visit for the very last day of the holiday. We arrived in the hotel lobby around 12:30pm, to see a big fella in a black suit looking very serious indeed. He was stood next to a queue with roped barriers and red curtains.

After peeping round the corner and seeing the familiar neon logo, we joined the waiting crowd. It felt like I was queuing for some sort of peep show, when it was just the humble burger we were perving over.

It probably took about half an hour to get inside...

What lies around the corner is a tightly packed, dimly lit and generally scribbled upon dining room. I sent my husband to find us a seat whilst I ordered the food; a truly terrifying experience in itself. You basically build your own burger, but if you don't know exactly what you want by the time you get to the front of the line - you're off to the back! Luckily my 'slop' hating husband wanted his burger plain, so that made my order easier! I found myself rehearsing it whilst waiting...

God help you if you don't hear them shout your name when your order is ready! They are formidable ladies who are not adverse to swearing in front of customers. I came over all British and found myself appalled, despite my own terrible language at times!

The burgers themselves were decent, but quite frankly were nothing to write home about. The salad was fresh and the burger was pink, but paled into insignificance compared to the belting example of a burger we had sampled at Five Guys a few days earlier. We didn't have to wait half an hour there either... The Oreo milkshake was thick and creamy, but the vanilla one I had was well... pretty vanilla.

I have noting to complain about - it was good food at acceptable prices; heaven knows I have spent way more money on worse burgers in the past. I think I was just expecting something spectacular. I hoped the curtain was hiding something wondrous rather than a scruffy little gaff with bolshy servers.

If you're looking for a better burger, head to Five Guys.

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