Fuck - it's been over a year and a half since we first visited the black spray-painted modified Vauxhall van that can.
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And we were properly shitfaced. Suffice it to say, our recollection of what we ate was... hazy.
Several visitations have occurred since that night in Old Street, so we deem it appropriate to have another Bleecker debrief. And what better time than while they sit in residency on London's delightful river promenade, just gagging to be ordered from.
Credit where it's due, Bleecker has one of the simplest combinations of ingredients and yet one of the most authentically original tastes in the London burger market.
The quality of the cow is ace, the primary flavour of the burger is never lost. The meat is cooked adeptly fast, leaving the centre a warm pink while the outside always has a good seasoned crust, liberally splashed with salt to pack a brackish wallop. The decent fat content renders into the meat when grilling to create a very moist patty, glossy with visible juice.
The same springy sesame bun resides, edges neatly blackened by the toaster, the ideal size to hold the ingredients. The American cheese adds a slightly creamy edge, and the custom sauce (which we stole the first time we checked these guys out) brings subtle sweetness and pickle notes. The raw onion that separates the double provides a texturally-varied crisp crunch which slices through the meatiness.
There are slight niggles. The cheese could have been melted a little more and we would have preferred more sauce, but we are contrary wankers. Every experience is always immensely satisfying from Bleecker and, while we don't do ratings, you can guarantee that anyone who says they haven't been yet gets a swift redress.
Little has changed from the straightforward regular menu (if it ain't broke, etc), but they have added a couple of extra bits and bobs: you can choose thin, crispy shards of streaky Oscar Mayer-style bacon into your burger and there is also an alternative blue cheese option, although being purists we have no idea why you would want to do that.
But the angry fries are a must. As if the golden skin-on spud fingers weren't good enough on their own, add a buffalo sauce with a sweet heat and mild blue cheese sauce as a counterpart and you've got a bloody great sandwich accompaniment.
Go check them out by the skate park on the South Bank for the next month or so, and chow down while ogling some kick flips.
- Rob.