Has Glasgow reached peak burger? Recent openings such as Handmade Burger Co, Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Five Guys, which join the likes of Burger Meats Bun and Bread Meats Bread in St Vincent Street/West Nile Street burgerland, strongly suggest it has, leading to much cynical grumbling from locals (good as many of the above restaurants may be). Another new opening, Steak Cattle and Roll on Elmbank Street, has been met with particular distaste from some quarters, being as it’s replaced the iconic King’s Café chippy.
Of course, long pre-dating brioche buns, side-servings of 'slaw, free soft drink refills, pulled-pork aplenty and other tropes of this newly imported, very Americanised burger culture, there have always been plenty of places in Glasgow to get a consistently delicious beef, chicken, pork, vegetarian or other kind of patty served in a bread roll. We’re not talking as far back as Glasgow’s nostalgically remembered Buck Rogers Burger Station theme restaurant on Queen Street in the 1980s, of course, but rather about stalwarts of the local eating and drinking scene that were making burgers a sloppy art form well before the hipster burger surge. Here’s a round-up of five of the best.
Stravaigin – Classic Beef Burger
The day Stravaigin’s café bar stops serving a handful of old faithfuls – chiefly Belhaven Best beer-battered fish supper, haggis, neeps and champit tatties, and the classic beef burger – is the day the west end erupts into revolt. Theirs is a classic, British-style take on the burger – a hunk of good beef, served on a soft white bap with big Maris Piper chips, plum tomato and leaf salad. Enough said.
The Arches – Bucky Burger
It’s a notorious fortified wine synonymous with Scotland, in burger form. The Arches' famous ‘Bucky’ burger is pork meat infused with a Buckfast and soy reduction, served with root vegetable coleslaw, hand cut chips and pickle. It’s delicious, we promise. We can’t promise you won’t feel a strange urge to get into a fight after eating one, however.
Mono – Spicy Seitan Burger
A legendary burger completely free from meat or indeed any kind of animal produce – how can it be so? Chefs at vegan music café-bar Mono have made the seemingly impossible possible with their “wheat meat” based spicy delight, a bun-based bite topped with barbecue sauce, American mustard, dill pickle, onion and beef tomato so seitan-ically tasty you’ll forget you ever needed meat in the first place.
Lebowski’s – The Big Lebowski
The Dude, Dudeness, Duder and El Duderino of beef in a bun. Film-themed bar Lebowski’s has long been synonymous with good burgers, and The Big Lebowski is their most gluttonous achievement to date: a double stack of their own exclusive aged minced rump steak burgers with double-melted Lockerbie cheddar cheese, and as many of their range of 28 additional toppings as you dare squeeze in. “Seriously not for the faint-hearted,” they say – consider that a health warning.
Nice’n’Sleazy – Sleazies Burger (RIP)
Okay, so it disappeared a few years back from the iconic Sauchiehall Street music bar’s menu, but this bacon and cheese topped cheap’n’cheerful greaseball served in a plastic basket optimally with curly fries was long a Nice’n’Sleazy institution. The good news is that in its place has come a range of fine replacements courtesy of Meat Hammer Ltd, from the Pignut (haggis, chorizo, smoked cheddar) to the Perez (veggie burger with stilton, salad and BBQ sauce).