Meat & Shake

Name - Meat & Shake

Location - 47 Upper Tooting Road, London SW17 7TR

Cost - Modest range of main courses that range between £3.50 - £25.00 and sides that go between £2.10 - 5.90. There is also a kid's menu which is only £2.80 - £5.50 and you can choose to add a shake for the value of £4.60 - £6.50.

Star Appetizer - Chicken Wings

Star Main Course - Smoking Bandit

My Rating - 4/5

I guess it is fair to say that the whole “artisan” burger trend has really hit London in a big way over the past few years, with joints such as “Honest Burger”, “B.R.G.R” and “Patty & Bun” fighting each other for space in the market. These places are all at the top of my list of places to go for a good burger, but to be honest they have all started to melt into each other in terms of experience. So where does one go to find the latest joint with an x-factor? ENTER Meat & Shake!

Meat & Shake follow the normal interior rules that any popular burger joint seems to follow these days, i.e. they maintain an industrial contemporary look, to be followed by a modern funky looking website - http://meatandshake.com/. However, one on the things that makes this place different is that it is located outside your typical trendy burger zones such as Soho, Clapham, Brixton, Farringdon etc., and has instead opted to be located in the modest area of Tooting Bec. Another thing that makes this place different is that their burgers are cleverly made using brioche bread, which keeps the burger from feeling dry, whilst also sucking in all the lovely juices of the succulent beef. Let’s also not forget to mention the part of their name that makes up 50% of the experience – Their mind-blowing milkshakes. These bad boys will knock your socks off when it comes to flavour, and will leave you rubbing your tummy in a happy food coma by the end of the meal.

From the moment I walked into the restaurant I was welcomed by smiling faces and a laid-back attitude. The waitress was very lovely and she gave us some small suggestions on what to go for. The menu itself was very easy to understand, and it was clear that a lot of time had been spent coming up with alternative versions of what we have already seen from burger joints in London. Menu here - http://meatandshake.com/menu. The thing that sells a burger for me these days is originality, as well as great taste, and this menu was popping with things that intrigued me.

I decided to go for the Smoking Bandit burger, as the notion of turkey bacon was quite interesting to me, and the word smokey popped up about 3 times, so I was guessing there was something special about it. Sure enough, when it arrived at the table the burger was contained in a glass cover which showed smoke whirling around inside like someone had just fired a gun in a spaghetti western. Once the glass cover was removed the smoke vanished, to be replaced by an almighty looking stallion of a burger. God I was hoping it wouldn’t let me down in terms of taste. My girlfriend chose the Truffle Shuffle, as she is on some strange mission to include this ingredient in everything she eats these days (she is a bit of a freak. Love you dear… Just kidding, she never reads my blog anyway).

Smoking Bandit - Have you ever taken a bite out of a burger and suddenly felt like you were Julie Andrews in the opening sequence to the sound of music, waving your arms around and singing in joy? No? Well then get your butt over to Meat & Shake! Ok, so maybe that is a biiiitttt of an overstatement, but you get my point. The brioche was incredibly soft and easy to cut through, and added an extra flavour that is usually quite rare in a burger. The beef was packed with juice, which admittedly splattered everywhere, but it was also cooked perfectly and it tasted amazing in combination with the crispy turkey bacon.

Truffle Shuffle – When truffle is in the title it better well be stuffed with the stuff, and this big boy certainly was. Warning, I think it should go without saying that if you only like a little bit of truffle in your nosh, stay away from this order. Having said that, it really worked, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that although I usually dislike things that overuse such a strong ingredient I actually enjoyed the truffle party that was throwing shapes in my mouth. The Gruyère Cheese worked perfectly with the honey and onion truffle glaze, with the strong taste of each ingredient powering through. It also goes without saying that the beef was cooked to a great standard and the brioche managed to suck up the many powerful tastes of the dish. Again, the only problem was that the meat did have a lot of juice in it. I wish I could have just grabbed both these burgers by my hands and stuffed them in, but unfortunately the mess sort of forced me to settle down with a knife and fork like a good little boy.

mmmmm, now, if those onion rings don't make you want to run over there right now and try some of their sides then I'm not sure you're human. But on the brighter side that means we have finally discovered aliens on earth, so that's something. On a serious note though, they tasted as good as they looked, and they were fried to perfection.

Both the fried onion rings and the sweet potato fries were produced and delivered in an excellent style, but I will say that unless you have the regular eating habits of a cow with four stomachs you will probably not be able to complete this side order conquest. The burgers, along with the quite heavy milkshakes are basically enough on their own. I would recommend ordering one side order between two people if you really feel the need to have something along with these monsters. Here’s a quick run-through of the shakes that we had, take a guess at which one I ordered and which one my girlfriend ordered:

Peanut Butter, Banana & Brownie – whammmmm! Here’s a sugar rush and a half. Would it help if I said there was real banana in this? This shake is definitely unique in flavour, and is a great testament to the time that the owner of this lovely establishment has taken to design a strong menu. Each flavour playfully comes through at three different stages, and it’s certainly not something you would be able to drink up in a rush (unlike those terrible light shakes that disappear after one sip). The only criticism I would have is that the price for one shake is quite high (about 4.60-6.50 pounds) and it fills you up a lot. If the drinks were smaller they would be less costly and they would allow diners to feast on some more sides, rather than drinking themselves full on sugar.

Strawberry – This option was extremely fresh, and very flattering for the old taste buds. It was also nice to sip on the small bits of strawberries that were left to float around in this yummy American classic. Again, I would raise the same light point as I did with my other shake – pricey and too filling (easily solved by reducing the quantity).

I do think that it is a bit of a shame that Meat & Shake are located in such a rarely visited part of London, because their food is absolutely fantastic, and I didn’t really have anything to fault them on. These burgers could be equally as popular as any other huge Soho success story if they could just find their way into a more appropriate area. Their ingredients are unique enough to stand against the larger competitors, and the experience itself is very pleasing on a Thursday evening when you feel like getting your food coma on before you hit up a big Friday night.

Meat & Shake Checklist:

• Parking - Relatively easy.

• Host greeting - Very friendly, and extremelly accommodating.

• Decor - Old rustic industrial and quirky.

• Server - Made good recommendations and was lovely to speak to.

• Menu - Quite modest, but very unique.

• Taste - Great standard and high quality ingredients.

What is your opinion on this burger craze? Getting a bit tired of all the central London chains? Ready to venture out into SW? Leave your comments in the section below.

#restaurantreview #meatshake #old