Bleecker Burger (Preferred) - Cheeseburgers
It’s no secret that cheeseburgers are my favourite food, by a good stretch.
As such, I’ve made it my personal mission to find the very best halal cheeseburgers in London, and Bleecker Burger currently wears the crown.
Their burgers are ludicrously simple: bun, sauce, onion, patty, cheese. They do each element incredibly well, and the care and attention comes together in a remarkable burger that leaves you thinking “mhmmm that’s the best burger I’ve had in London” every time.
They’ve also been quite proactive in offering halal options too, which is very welcoming.
It’s rare to find a burger that so reliably gives you that satisfying feeling, and Bleecker does an incredible job at it.
My go to order is a Double Cheeseburger with a side of Angry Fries. I couldn’t recommend them more strongly.
Burger and Beyond (Approved) - Cheeseburgers
For a very long time, Burger and Beyond held the Preferred burger crown. They introduced me to the “mhmm that’s the best burger I’ve ever had” feeling when I first started visiting them in 2022. Their burgers were fabulous, and brought me immense joy.
I went there with friends at all hours of the day, including after a 0900 viewing of Oppenheimer at the BFI one weekday morning in August 2023 after having moved to part-time work. Colleagues will remember (and perhaps lament) how often I raved about Burger and Beyond, and proclaimed it the best burger in London, and it truly was.
This changed in 2024, when they revamped their menu to introduce steak. The new focus on steak has, I’m afraid, been at the cost of the burgers. I went very shortly after they switched the menu, and the burger was still pretty good, but had lost its je ne sais quoi.
I went back a few more times in quick succession, distraught that I’d lost the best burger in London, and then after a bit of a break to little avail.
More recently, service has struggled in ways it didn’t before. This seems to be isolated to lunchtime at their Boxhall site, where the queues are horrendous and they got my order wrong, which was particularly disappointing as I’d already made it back to the office before realising. A real disappointment, and actually the lowest ranking place in our work lunch club tracker (although admittedly out of a pretty strong selection).
The burger is still very good. It’s respectable. You won’t be disappointed.
But what it is not, is the best burger in London. And for that, it can only be approved.
Five Guys (Preferred) - Chips
Five Guys chips are phenomenal. The extra scoop is incredible marketing and makes you feel like you’re getting an incredible deal, even when you’re paying £5 for a bag of chips. The cajun seasoning is fabulous and leaves you wanting more, even when you’re incredibly full and feel a little sick from having eaten too much.
My favourite Five Guys story is from a trip to Hereford a friend and I went on earlier this year. On the way, we had to change at Birmingham New Street around lunchtime, and decided to pick up some lunch before our next train. My friend got a burger from somewhere in Grand Central. I got a large portion of Five Guys chips, and as much mayo as I could reasonably carry before racing onto the train.
We unpacked our feast on the train and spent much of the rest of the journey making our way through the pile we had accumulated. It took much of the journey and ultimately defeated us. Despite our failure though, we felt like kings. Where else in 2025 can you spend £8 and get in return such an extraordinary amount of food. Perhaps that’s a comment on our consumerist society, but it’s a particularly happy memory of mine.
I typically get a small portion of cajun chips, with a healthy supply of Five Guys mayonnaise on the side. I couldn’t recommend them more strongly.