Food: Burger and Lobster

I'll be the first to admit that I got sucked in by the almost constant mentions this place has gotten both in the media and amongst friends. It's pretty much exploded on the scene over the past few months, even with people who never talk about food. But despite these constant attention I never really knew what it was - until this week I thought it was called Lobster Burger, a place where you could buy, well, a lobster burger.

But no, it's actually called Burger and Lobster - a name that must come first in the "does what it says on the tin" category of restaurants. You see the premise here is very simple: you sit down, order one of three options on a verbal menu (a burger, a lobster and a lobster roll), and pay a fixed cost per meal of £20 (plus the now standard 12.5% service). All three meals come with some (very awesome) chips and a salad. Drinks are separate, and your server may tell you if there's any dessert available, but other than that this is it. Oh and the burgers are beef, by the way.

Gimmicky as it sounds, I have to say that it works. Due to the nature of our party, beef burgers were not an option, but the lobster was pretty good in spite and perhaps even because of the hard work you need getting into it, and while the cold lobster roll was a nice easy option, it tasted good enough.

Food aside, the place was decent and clean, with good service (I can only imagine the efficiency of a kitchen that only serves three dishes). And adding it all up, I would say that 20 quid is a decent price to pay for the lobster, if slightly too much for the roll.

A final note on trying out the place though - apparently the place gets very busy, leaving waiting lists of up to two hours at peak times. They also generally don't take reservations, although the Soho branch does for groups larger than six. In that sense we were quite lucky today as we got in with zero wait at around 1:30pm, so fortunately I'm unable to comment on whether it would be worth the wait or not. Other than that, the place is recommended.