Sometimes you feel as though burgers, despite evidence to the contrary, are condemned to be forever a symbol of fast food.
While that may be true when walking down a British high street at 1am on a Friday night, London does have numerous restaurants that fight the stereotype.
Wimbledon's new Burger Shack and Bar, a Young's Pub project in Church Road, is one of these restaurants.
As clean and quiet as the setting of a romcom featuring Hugh Grant, Wimbledon is perfect for the summer and the Burger Shack and Bar is a pleasant foil for a warm evening with its open frontage.
Sat in laid-back sofas, my friend and I chose The Chilli Pulled Pork Burger and The Streaky, along with sides of buttermilk fried chicken wings and cream cheese stuffed jalapenos from its menu merging British and American food.
The most impressive dish of the night was The Streaky, comprising ale onions, cheese, maple cured bacon and shredded lettuce.
A real melt-in-the-mouth treat with a strong, juicy meat taste that doesn't make you feel like a heart attack is round the corner.
Merging the same flavours with different meat, the Chilli Pulled Pork Burger is also delicious with a punchy flavour that stays with you.
The pick of the sides was the cream cheesed stuff jalapenos, coated in crispy batter deep fried with onion batter.
Although pleasant, my friend's chicken wings didn't pack the same standard of batter so I'd recommend opting for the former.
My only complaint would be that the sides weren't instead offered as a starter which, given their size, seemed a little too much coming in one go with our mains.
Fitting with its lovely, relaxed vibe we decided to try some cocktails and went for the Jim Beam Sour - bourbon, lemon juice, soda and sugar - and the Apple and Elderflower Collins - gin, elderflower cordial, soda water and apple juice, both thoroughly good beverages.
There was, however, a particular poor offering on the dessert menu - the Salted chocolate, peanut butter and popcorn.
A strange dish given the high standard of food prior, the combination just doesn't work and comes with so much chocolate it borders on sickly.
The verdict
There's a lovely summer vibe here and it is perfect to kick back with some cocktails and high quality food, centred around its excellent burgers.
getwestlondon gives Burger Shack and Bar three stars out of five.
