Lucky 7

[Matthew Grant]

Popped in for a burger at Lucky 7 in Notting Hill on Friday. I like the decor which so much has been said of, however the burgers were merely OK. We both ate a green Chilli cheese burger after checking that we weren't going to get a burger with Chilli Con Carne on top of it - don't you just hate that?.

Burgers were OK, a little on the small side but cooked medium rare as requested, Green Chilli sauce appeared to have been freshly made with finely chopped green chillis. Fries were good, beer batter onion rings were average, in places the batter was too thick the thinner battered rings were very nice.

Can't complain too much, burgers were on £4.95, fries and Onion rings were £2.50. Much better burgers at GBK.

[Kikujiro]

I'm not a fan. I like the style (although 'cwoffee' on the menu is a bit overegging) but while it's basically not much better than your average American diner, when I visited it was bursting to the seams with models and other Beautiful People. All felt like a huge fuss over nothing. I'd rather go to Tom's.

[Vanessa]

Checking on the Internet (it's heavy going writing up construction board minutes of a Monday morning) I'm astonished to find there's a GBK a hop and a skip from my work on Putney Bridge Road. That sorts out my next fast food craving, bound to happen later this week. Great.

v

[Thomas Secor]

Had the best burger in London to date this past Saturday. Hate to admit it, because I dont like the staff, the clientele, the lack of bitters, etc, but it was at Sophie's Steakhouse. In fact, it was the only good burger I have had in London to date (at least from a restaurant, Bubbas' burgers are pretty damn fine over at Spitalfields). I dropped in on the way to the Chelsea/Tottenham game. Made me feel like a champion when I later saw all the other spectators buying that godawfulness from the burger vans.

The burger at Sophie's was appropriately thick, slightly too small from a diameter perspective, had just enough fat to leave puddles of juice around the plate, but not so greasy that the bun was flapping all over the place. The description of the burger made it appear heavily spiced, which is mild heresy, with unspecified herbs, garlic and some other stuff, which initially made me nervous. However, the end result was a very tasty burger that was mildly flavoured but not overwhelmed by the additional ingredients. It came medium rare as requested. I find that burgers are one of the few meats that I do not prefer rare, as that generally results in a burger that is simply raw in the middle and often cold, on the other hand, there is nothing worse one can do to a fine burger than cook it until there is no pink left, which generally means that you have lost the fatty juice along with its flavour. The chips that came with the burger were perfectly satisfactory but clearly a sideshow to the main attraction.

The downside? The burger cost a whopping ten pounds and Sophie's does not take reservations. Moreover it is located on the hell that is Fulham Road (although Fulham Road is certainly a lesser hell than its sibling, King's Road, whose only redeeming quality is Al Dhar II).

Still, I would recommend it enthusiastically. Did I mention the English bacon and the emmenthal cheese. That was a damn fine burger.

[Scottf]

I dropped in on the way to the Chelsea/Tottenham game.

Tom

Were you taken to the game or did you go on your own?

[Thomas Secor]

I was taken and had an excellent host. Perhaps someone you know (before the board goes crazy, I am not making any type of insinuations about the lovely SamanathaF).

[Scottf]

You must've been pretty much in line with Zola's free kick. I only get the crumbs, your West Ham's, Boro's and the like

[Thomas Secor]

It was a fantastic kick, but the seats were way up in the stratosphere.

Did I mention that Chelsea fans are some of the scariest looking dudes I have ever seen congregated in one place? It wasnt just the tattoos, the earrings, the bald heads, the non-smiling faces, the yellowed and potentially sharpened teeth. Nor was it the fact that young children were being weaned on a diet of words colourfully and graphically descriptive of the orafice from whence they escaped their mother's womb (I am tempted to string them out here, but am never too clear on the board's policy). It was the fact that the three men behind me were so visibly agitated that they were literally spitting and frothing at the mouth, veins bulging from their foreheads as their eyes protruded farther and farther from their sockets. Ahhh, thats football. I had a great time.

Somehow I have a feeling that most of the Chelsea fans dont live in Chelsea.