An Update on the Burger Wars

The English are still behind in the Burger Wars. Try as they might, there’s still nothing quite like a juicy, grilled American hamburger with all the fixings.

But it’s closer than you think.

Tonight I had an “American burger” at a little-known London joint called the Greedy Cow. The American burger was a pretty standard bacon cheeseburger, only with white cheddar. Oh, yeah, and half an avocado. Literally: they’d put little slices through it for ease of eating, but it was still very much half an avocado. The burger came out to about four inches tall – respectable even in the States.

Indeed, it’s the best burger I’ve had since leaving the USA in September. It was an absolute mess to eat, with the bun falling apart and juice/mustard running everywhere. Eventually I had to go wash my hands. That’s how you can tell serious quality.

That said, there’s still catching up to be done on other fronts. The fries were boring, unseasoned, and the cookies-and-cream milkshake was good but didn’t come with the metal canister of “bonus” shake. And the price was definitely not right: the side of fries alone (it’s not included) was $5! The total for meal and shake, after conversion, came out to about $23. Sorry, but that’s just not cool. The best burgers in America cost half that.

I suppose it was worth it just to rejoice in a gigantic, messy, stomach-punching hamburger again. It felt like home. And if you can buy a trip home for $23, that’s not such a bad deal.

Note: this didn’t feel particularly blog-post-worthy, but a couple people have been asking for an update–the last one was two weeks ago–and I figured I had to start with something!