Burgista Bros (Siirgista) – Shepherd’s Bush, Baker Street

Shepherd’s Bush, West London

Following our popular interview with Burgista Bros’ (now known as Siirgista Bros) Group Executive Chef, Chris Large, about this international franchise’s vision and ethos, we finally got round to meeting the effervescent Mr Large at his Baker Street branch and trying his meticulously conceived gourmet burgers.

This particular branch is far more cramped than the one in Shepherd’s Bush, which we also visited to try their Chef’s Special Duck me Burger.

The warm interior lighting coupled with the restaurant’s mix of the modern and semi-rustic immediately makes you feel very welcome. The kitchen takes up about half the space and is right there with you – loud, busy and buzzing.

Having just recently opened, this place is immaculately clean, particularly the basement storeroom which we were lucky enough to visit as part of our dime tour.

Apart from fries, everything else, Chris told us, was all in-house made – prepared fresh every morning before the doors open.

Another interesting tidbit is that the cutlery for use is made from 100% biodegradable corn flour, or corn ‘starch’ as it’s known to our Yankee cousins across the ocean!

SHAKES – Strawberry £3.49, Chocolate £3.49, Vanilla £2.99

Some very decent shakes here particularly the chocolate, which had a slight bitter aftertaste owing to the evident use of dark chocolate followed at the end with delicate little chewy bits of caramel resting at the bottom. Very satisfying.

The honeycomb was subtly sweet though a little bit on the milky side, so be sure to specify your preference vis-à-vis consistency. Nothing outstanding.

As for the strawberry, then although its consistency was more to our liking – thick and creamy – we weren’t too keen on the addition of a strawberry syrup that tasted like the Nescafe milkshake powder we would have before bedtime as a kid!

QUESADILLA – flour tortilla filled with smoked cheese, fresh pepper, onions and coriander, £4.75

The tortilla pouches were pretty well made. With a crunchy, char-grilled exterior and a cheesy filling, these went well with the subtly spiced chunky guacamole dip.

CHEESE MELT – breaded cheese sticks with dipping sauces, £2.99

These cheese melts are what they are. Crunchy on the outside with what tasted like a Cajun inspired coating, and soft and mildly flavoured cheesy on the inside, these were complemented by a spicy sauce. Not too bad.

SPICY BUFFALO & BBQ WINGS £2.99 each

Now these were some wonderful little wings in that they were large and meaty and full of flavour, just as wings ought to be.

The freshly made and succulent Spicy Buffalo wings delivered just the right combination of tang and spice, while the chunky BBQ variety were coated in loads of finger-licking sweet and sticky sauce.

A close run between the two, but we reckon the BBQ just tips its rival to the finish line.

All their meat comes from free range British farms. All burgers are 4.5 oz, seasoned with Maldon sea salt and served on a brioche bun with game lettuce, beef tomato, red onion and their signature sauces.

CHEESEBURGER – lettuce, heritage tomato, red onion and their own burger sauce, topped with your choice of smoked Applewood cheese, cheddar or American slice, £7.49.
ROSEMARY FRIES – cooked in rapeseed oil and lightly seasoned with rosemary salt, £1.99

A simple cheeseburger with the patty turning out well done.
Hence, although slightly on the dry side, the burger had a mild sweetness to it from the crunchy onions. Couldn’t really taste the Applewood cheese though.
The crunchy fries on the other hand were absolutely outstanding with a soft and fluffy interior and a good amount of rosemary salt.

Incredibly addictive; all we did was sit there nonchalantly munching on these.

CHICKEN BURGER – A whole free range chicken breast, marinated with rosemary and garlic, cooked on the flat grill, on baby gem lettuce, heritage tomato, red onion and topped with crushed avocado guacamole, £6.49

The chicken burger was slightly on the dry side.

However, it worked quite well on the whole with the taste of the fresh ingredients coming through nicely and the guacamole giving it a slightly tangy background taste.

This won’t really knock you off your feet, but it’s pretty good for what it is.

PORTABELLO BURGER – lettuce, heritage tomato, red onion and their own burger sauce, topped with roasted sliced Portabello mushroom, tomato and black olive chutney and shaved black summer truffle, £9.99

This was a good ‘un.

The moist meat was beautifully cooked and went really well with sweetness of the relish, and the earthiness of the Portabella mushrooms.

But what really made this work was the copious sauce, which brought the whole thing together perfectly.

BBQ BURGER (Baker Street)- lettuce, heritage tomato and their own burger sauce, topped with house-made BBQ sauce, smoked Applewood cheese and crispy fried onion, £7.99

BBQ BURGER (Shepherd’s Bush)

There were a number of oversights with the Shepherd’s Bush BBQ burger.

The first was a major one with the buns turning out on the cold side.

The second was a minor one in that despite both branches adding red and crispy fried onions, the Bush branch weren’t nearly as crispy as they should have been.

Having said that though, the BBQ sauce they used was incredible with a depth of taste that really brought this burger alive.

Pity about the cold buns.

VEGETARIAN BURGER – secret recipe Quorn and roasted vegetable burger on lettuce, heritage tomato, red onion, their own burger sauce, roasted sliced Portabello mushroom, houmous and house-made tomato & black olive chutney, £7.99

This was a solid vegetarian burger.

The Quorn was meaty with loads going on to keep you interested right down to the last bite.

It had a delicate sweetness to it delivered by the tomato, onions and burger sauce, while the mushrooms gave this that extra dimension.

A really good burger if you’re looking for something different.

CARROT CAKE MUFFIN – with cream cheese frosting, £1.50

This was especially recommended by Mr Large. And it was a pretty good one too. Fresh organic carrots with sweet icing sugar which was perhaps a little more than it should have been in proportion to the size of the muffin. Nevertheless, a lovely little end to the meal.

In fact, they have an assortment of muffins that are all freshly made, as well as a variety of cookies and biscuits (£1 each) too, to choose from.