Grand Union

Scan its dimly lit interior, and you'll figure that Grand Union is more a style bar than a burger restaurant. The decor incorporates kitsch floral wallpaper, Moroccan-style rugs, a bird cage and green plant-fronds poking from big, black pots. Still, the burgers are thick patties in tall, densely seeded buns, served skewered with a steak knife (although we weren't asked how we wanted the meat cooked). The sharpness of an enjoyably vinegary mint sauce combined nicely with the chargrilled tang of a lamb burger. Better still, the chips are among the finest: inside as fluffy as a little potato cloud, but with an impressively thick, crisp golden coating that belies their single frying. However, ours left a slightly disconcerting oil-slick in the bowl. The menu also lists french fries (ours were disappointingly flimsy) and 'breadless burgers'. Beware the odd misleading description: the chips aren't 'London's best (as rated in Time Out Magazine)', they were rated eighth best. And nice as it was, our GU earth burger probably wasn't the 'world's hottest burger'. Still, with those chips, we'll forgive them.