Honest Burgers (Gluten-Free), London, UK

Hello, my little gluten-freebies!

Wow, okay, no. That's terrible. I was trying it out, but I now regret it. Let's just try to forget that ever happened. Okay? Okay, cool.

Hey guys! I know it's been yet another while since I've posted, but there are 3 posts coming in this batch thanks to my latest UK trip. 

So in September, I made a trek over to Her Majesty's stronghold for a good friend's wedding - Congratulations again, Keni and Char! Having only 4 nights in Birmingham and 2 nights in London, I was determined to make the most of it food-wise.

Now some of you may know that I have gone gluten-free about a year and a half ago. Why, you ask? Well, for love of course (HA). Okay, only half jesting. My boyfriend is gluten-intolerant, and about half a year into us dating, I decided to start weening off gluten from my diet, then - before I knew it - my delicious little wheaty friends stopped sitting well with me. So here I am, almost 18 months into gluten-intolerance.

Now, living in Taiwan, I have plenty of GF (gluten-free, for you plebs) options such as rice, rice noodles, mung bean noodles, tapioca flour... etc. However, it's not the easiest to find gluten-substitute food items such as GF bread, GF pasta, GF pizza at all, let alone a good one. Yes, I know. That's terrible. No, I don't want to talk about it. Needless to say, I miss a few things.

So this time around, I did my typical Vicky-style sleuthing and excel sheet planning (you think I'm joking, I'm not) to maximize gluten-free food enjoying potential. One of the items that was high on my radar was a GF burger. Good burgers are hard enough to come by in Taiwan, but finding one that has a gluten-free bun (let alone a good one) is actually impossible. That led me to Honest Burgers.

(It's currently past midnight here, and here I am YET AGAIN, starving and writing a food blogpost. Why do I always do this to myself. WHY?)

Now they boast a few options. (Also a few storefronts. Did I mention they were a franchise? Heck YEAH muhfuggah.)

Not only do they have chicken, beef, and veggie burgers, they also apparently serve up some pretty impressive brunch sandwiches/breads/toasties. I opted for their signature Honest Burger, which was appealing to me not only because a.) Red onion relish? Bacon? Mature Cheddar? PICKLES?!, but also b.) it was a burger with a GF bun, and c.) they only use Scottish grass-fed beef. Sold, sold, and sold. 

But hmmm... I can't have a burger without a beverage. 

Now, I'm not going to lie. I did consider going for an alcoholic beverage, but it was noon. But mostly also because I could hear my boyfriend judging me in my head all the way from back home, so I went for a Gingerella Ginger Ale.

Cool thing: Gingerella Ginger Ale is one of the beverages from this amazing company called Karma Cola. It's a Fairtrade foundation that works with cola farmers in different areas of the world to help fund their communities in various ways such as education, healthcare, infrastructure, environmental sustainability, and entrepreneur programs. 

Another incredible thing is that Karma Cola uses no artificial ingredients or preservatives in their products, but instead pumps it full of flavors with organic, natural ingredients and spices. What goes into a Karma Cola Gingerella, you ask? (This one's for you, Kate.)

• Ginger (DUH)
• Cane Sugar
• Lemon
• Vanilla
• Cassia
• Capsicum
• Clove Oil
• Grapefruit

Verdict? Delicious. Absolutely delicious. Refreshing as heck, and very spicy in the best way.

As far as I can tell from their website, they have campaigns and partnerships with communities in Sri Lanka and Sierra Leone, and I'm truly hoping this is one of those companies that's actually trying to do good, because the world needs a-changin'.

Oh, Honest Burgers also serves the drink with a paper straw. Aw yiss.

Now. Onto the burger:

The burger. The Honest Burger.

All burgers come with a side of freshly fried chips ("fries" if you will) that's dressed with salt, pepper, and rosemary. On your table, you will find accompanying condiments of ketchup and mayonnaise. If you haven't tried it yet, dip your fries in mayonnaise instead of ketchup. I'm a huge fan. It's the European way.

If you don't like mayonnaise, get the hell out of here.

Oh, how were the fries? Honestly, I don't really remember. I had nibbled on one or two before I dug into the burger, and I definitely remember enjoying the freshness and the flavor, but the burger truly eclipsed everything else in a second.

SO yeah. The burger.

I don't even know what to say, really. It was a good friggin' burger. Full stop.

I mean, look at that. The red onion relish, the thinly sliced smoked bacon, the perfect melted sheen of mature cheddar.

(God I'm getting SO hungry writing this ffs)

For you gluten-freebies (nope, still don't like it) that are wondering how the GF bun is: it's incredible. If I had to compare it to something, it would be a Portuguese sweet potato roll. I honestly couldn't even tell it was a GF bun. It's sweet, light, fluffy, but also dense and very flavorful. It held its own incredibly well against the burger and all its juices, with no excessive crumbling or flaking.

The burger was cooked to a perfect medium, and seasoned to a beautifully balanced standstill. The sweetness of the relish pushed up against the meatiness of the beef, which was offset by the tartness of the pickles, and it is all rounded in with the beautiful earthy finish of the smoked bacon.

Now I usually prefer my ground meats to be a fat-to-lean ratio of 80:20, and I'm guessing that's right around where Honest Burgers' grind is. The patty was wonderful juicy and tender, but also hefty, which probably indicates a coarser rather than finer grind.

So okay with it. So, so okay with it.

In fact, I was so okay with it, I didn't mind paying £15.25 (around US$20) for burger, fries, and a drink. Mind you, I didn't even finish the fries.

But I DID demolish that burger. Very thoroughly.

The restaurant was also blaring out some Tower of Power on their speaker system, so I'm sure everyone was very entertained by the solitary Asian girl stuffing her face with a burger while dancing in her seat. No, I'm not even exaggerating. If you've eaten with me, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

My one regret? I only saw their seasonal special as I was leaving. Oh well. I guess I'll have to go back again some time.

Until the next reckoning, Honest Burgers. Thanks SO much.

Honest Burgers 
Website || Menu
(Again, this is a franchise, but I went to the Warren St. shop)
Address: 117 Tottenham Court Rd, Bloomsbury, London W1T 5AL, UK

Sunday: 11:30am – 10:00pm 

Mon - Sat: 11:30am – 11:00pm