Band of Burgers – Brick Lane, East London

The first time we visited them in April of last year, and later in October for some new menu items, we came away thoroughly impressed by both Band of Burgers theme and, more importantly, their food.

In fact, so impressed were we, that we unanimously agreed on their veggie burger, the Halloumi of Fame, being included as London’s top 3 Halal gourmet burgers.

We were, therefore, extremely excited at the prospect of trying their revamped menu at their newly opened branch in Brick Lane.

Aside from the memorable shop front sign, this second branch is quite different to the first. For one, it’s far larger with a capacity of 100-110.

While there’s convenient seating adjacent to a refreshment bar in the lobby, the dining area at the back is accessible through a corridor decorated with busy wall murials and bright neon globe lights up above directing your way.

What you’re confronted with in the dining room is a visual spectacle representing the iconography of the Anglo-American music scene of the 60’s and 70’s.

It really is something to behold, particularly the wall at the far end that’s entirely covered in a collage of images and portraits of stars and legends of said era.

There’s even a casual “chill” area that offers a hammock chair to hang out on and a comfortable leather sofa to kick back in.

The restaurant itself is a little dark given its black ceilings, but this just adds to the overall ambience BoB successfully captures and translates.

With trumpets for wall lights, large solid wooden tables offering leather stools with bicycle pedals for a foot-rest, rusty corrugated fences for walls, and a red “Rock your taste buds” neon sign above a counter with one of those old 1940’s cash registers, BoB part 2 is worth the price of admission if only to marvel at its gutsy, psychedelic interior.

Peanut Butter (left), Dolce Delice (right) – £4.90 each

The Dolce Delice shake is creamy with a good consistency to it. It offers a sweet undertone throughout which, truth be told, does get a little sickly sweet by the end.

The Peanut Butter on the other hand was far thicker, and thus more to our liking; and came through so strongly that it left a satisfyingly peanutty aftertaste. Delicious!

Strawberry Fields Forever (left), Passion Fruit Mojito (right) – £4.90 each

Sadly, the Strawberry Fields Forever lacked any real deapth of flavour with neither the fruit nor the lime and mint delivering as it ought to have.

As for the Passion Fruit Mojito, then the lime and mint ultimately overpowered the passion fruit. There was also the strange crunch of sugar, in the literal sense, added that didn’t make much sense.

Big Love Wagyu Burger with bone marrow £13.50

We received this wagyu burger medium well. In retrospect though, it would have been far better medium, particularly given the compact nature of the patty which, despite being texturally soft, didn’t quite have the depth of flavour we were anticipatingly hoping for.

Otherwise, the burger as a whole was well conceived and full of flavours and textures.

For instance, the marmalade and maple glaze topping married really well with the relative sweetness of the meat, while the bacon – smoky and beautifully crispy – provided that textural dimension.

But what really left us gobsmacked was the appropriate use of the rich, glutinous bone marrow which, when scooped out and added to the burger itself, adds a silky sweetness that lifts each mouthful towards a succulent and flavourful whole.

Our guess is that it was both impractical and possibly unworkable to add bone marrow directly to the burger itself. Hence it being offered on the side. Whatever the case, it’s certainly a unique and novel idea that works.

BBQ Beef Brisket Rilette Burger £9.00

“And the hits just keep on coming” as they say.

Here’s a solid interpretation of a brisket burger.

The sweet and smoky, delicately pulled, BBQ beef was soft, well lubricated, and just right in terms of its sticky nature.

The buns were just firm enough to hold up sufficiently, for both burgers in fact.

Texas Style 17oz Hereford Cowboy Steak £22.00

This cleanly presented 300g Hereford steak atop a black slate came with half a large Beef Tomato unusually topped with melted cheese, fresh crunchy lettuce, rocket leaves dressed in a lightly sweet vinegar, corn on a cob, and a mushroom sauce.

Cooked medium (as requested), the meat was fairly thick with a good springiness to it. But mild in taste, it certainly required the creamy mushroom sauce with large, satisfying chunks of mushroom, as compensation.

As a meal on the whole, it was a decent effort without setting the world on fire.

Italian Spoiler £6.50

The tube of goat’s cheese running across the middle and separating the dish into two wasn’t overpowering as some can be, and so married very well with the rich, tangy tomato and spinach base.

While the toasted, crunchy bread with melted cheese topping – a perfect accompaniment for scooping out all that soft and gooey goodness from out of the balti.

A stunningly tasty dish; unabashed in its rich decadence and full of flavour.

Honey & Garlic Wings £4.50

BoB has its chicken wings down to a tee.

The wings we had during our first visit wowed us like none we’ve had since. And here, not only were these Honey & Garlic wings just as large as its predecessors, but just as tasty in their own right.

The smell of the sesame seeds were strong and inviting; the first bite delivering a subtle hint of the garlic; the taste of honey proving an excellent foil.

Truffle & Parmesan Chips £4.00

These Truffle & Parmesan Chips were rustic in nature.

With the potato skin partially left in tact, they were crispy and crunchy in texture. That familiarly strong and heady smell and taste of parmesan was well tempered by the pungency of the truffle oil. Yes, they’re all strong tastes; but if you like that sort of stuff, as we do, then these are worth a try. We found them to be quite addictive actually.

Churro Ice Cream Burger, single: £5.50 double £7.00

Conceptually playful, but pretty well executed too, these Churro Ice Cream Burgers would have been far more playful had the pastries actually resembled burger buns.

In any case, there was no denying the quality of the ice cream (apart from the coconut that is).

We had the pleasure of sampling the following five flavours:

Coconut – insipid in taste and texturally too firm with too many ice crystals.

Rosemary – the initial hit is strong before mellowing out nicely. A very interesting one this.

Pistachio – subtle, which went well with the crunchy churros.

Peanut Butter – as with the aforementioned shake, this was again strong in taste.

Chilli & Basil – in terms of flavour, easily the strangest and most challenging. The basil was certainly there, but the chilli is what piqued our interest as it was left to linger, and for quite some time too, at the back of our collective throats.

A good finale to an interesting overall review.

Even the toilets were interesting!