Food: Red Iron Burgers

Well before Stax, Loaded and even the famously disappointing Meat and Shake there was Red Iron Burgers. This was, at least for me, the place where the whole halal gourmet burger fad started - something which I feel gives it a pretty decent status in the now well saturated market of the stuff.

Its location of Uxbridge did mean that I wasn't really given much of a chance to visit Red Iron, and so it's a little ironic that I finally have; and that after already sampling most of what London has to offer. The cynical side of me couldn't believe that it could have lasted as long as it had - particularly when the newest and closest to me is also my current favourite. It almost seemed an exercise in futility to even bother.

But! It turns out that with age does indeed come experience and prestige; Red Iron turned out to be actually rather good, and that in all the places it counts. The service was great considering how busy the place was, the cost was decent (a healthy £15 per head for a burger and fries each, and shared wings and milkshakes) and most importantly of course the food was pretty amazing.

So yes, it seems that the original can be the (or at least, one of the) best. Red Iron easily gets a recommendation from me, it's just a shame it's so far... but then again, that's just another exercise in trying to figure out excuses to visit.