Dude. Amazing. Dude.
A rallying cry from the head chef of the Admiral Codrington in Chelsea, site of our favourite London burger of 2011:
Who would be interested in a new years eve burger night? All the burgers I’ve done this year available. Please RT
— Fred Smith (@FredSmith_) November 18, 2011
Knowing our reputation, we were all over it like Lindsay Lohan on a Playboy cover.
After a pre-game round or two of Champagne with PBR chasers, we zoomed over to The Cod to get our celebration on.
Fred served up a masterful array of top notch gastro fare. We nearly over-did the starter platter, the highlight of which is definitely the calamari and mini sausages.
The bacon cheeseburger was incredible. The perfectly formed 8oz patty was a appropriately sizable chunk of soft, tender beef with a neatly seared outside, with cheese melted beautifuly on top. The bacon was crispy, but sweet and flavourful. Indeed, Rob was already half cut, but we’re pretty sure his incessant ramblings about how “fucking amazing” the burger was were mostly due to the quality of what he was eating.
Probably.
The Double Stack was a beauty of a Big Mac tribute. A nicely toasted bun with two thinner patties, a bevy of pickles and plenty of house special sauce. This needs to be a permanent menu fixture. It’s such a classic sandwich in the hearts of us all, and Fred has made it look better than the McDonald’s food stylists could ever hope to in a laboratory.
If these two were amazing, then the Ox Cheek Chilli burgers that came out, compliments of the chef, were other worldly.
This is a historic sandwich. He’s pulled the Double Beef out the bag. The Ox cheek chilli brought a second wave of meatiness to the table, flavouring the burger with a deeply rich beef ‘n umami flavour. At the same time, the crunchy chilli slaw provided a constant pleasurably gentle heat to the whole affair.
It was brilliant. Inspired. Fucking brilliant. There are no more superlatives. If you get the opportunity to get one of these from Fred, then take it.
After the meal, Fred came over for our verdict. Cue intoxicated shouts of “Dude” and “Amazing” and a few more “Dude”s, and thanking him in the best way we could think possible: buying him a Jagerbomb.
Dude. Amazing. Dude.
He tells us the next release of the Admiral Codrington Cheeseburger v2.1 arrives towards the end of January, and everyone should try it.
Not many other London kitchens are capable of nailing the classics and bringing us such assured, confident innovations like the Ox Cheek.
A fitting start to 2012. As you were.
- Simon and Rob.