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A Great Burger in London Hidden in Bodean's Barbecue Restaurant

Posted by Nick Solares, January 13, 2009 at 10:30 AM

I stumbled across Bodean's quite by accident on the last day of a recent trip to London. Despite being situated just a few hundred yards from my hotel, I did not notice it until I was running some last minute errands before heading to Heathrow. I had planned on eating at Gordon Ramsey's Plane Food at the airport, but curiosity got the better of me and I wanted to see what the state of barbecue was like in the UK. However, when I got inside of Bodean's my mission instantly changed as I first smelled, then heard, and finally viewed what I thought had the potential to be a very good burger. For while Bodean's turned out to be a legitimate barbecue with a battery of Old Hickory smokers in the basement, it was a smoking, sizzling grill that had perfumed the air with the irresistible aroma of charred hamburger and tempted me away from the 'cue.

Bodean's is the brainchild of Andre Blais, a French-Canadian chef who was involved in the mussels and frites chain Belgo back in the 1990s. He later sold the chain and Bodean's has been his main project since opening in 2003. If you're wondering what a classically trained French-Canadian chef who specialized in Flemish fare could possibly know about barbecue and hamburgers, fear not. Aside from undertaking a pilgrimage of sorts through the States by exploring Kansas City and the Deep South in search of inspiration, he also enlisted a real Yank to oversee the operation. It is doubtful that he could have done much better than former member of the "Slaughterhouse Five" barbecue team, two-time winner of the World Barbecue Championship, and son of Kansas City, Bryan Tyrell.

Now I realize that barbecue and hamburgers require completely different approaches in preparation—low and slow versus searing and violent—and it is true that most proper barbecue restaurants in America do not, as a general rule, serve hamburgers. But when it come to barbecue restaurants in New York City, for example, the two universes can coexist. Take the highly regarded burger at Blue Smoke for example, or the potentially great one from Wildwood BBQ just down the road.

Tyrell had Ole Hickory ovens shipped in from the States as well as the grills that put an impressive sear on burgers. He then had to go about educating the British public about the virtues of barbecue. His evangelizing has clearly paid off Boedean's has expanded to five branches since the original location opened on Poland Street in Soho and the Tower Hill restaurant was jam packed on the Friday lunch hour that I paid it a visit. Tyrell may have taught the locals what to eat but he have apparently had a harder time convincing them how to eat it - I was amused to see most diners using knives and forks to eat their 'cue. The Brits may freely adopt American eating habits but they seem reluctant to let their manners slide.

When it comes to burgers you might think that eating it one would be a straight forward but here again unfamiliarity led to confusion. Tyrell originally had the burger served open face with the vegetables on a separate bun half from the beef but locals failed to grasp the concept of simply slapping the two halves together and treated the rabbit food as some sort of salad. The Bodean's burger now comes served assembled.

The plump eight-ounce patty is cooked to order and mine was delivered exactly as requested: rare with a pleasing deep red hue. The outside of the patty had a nice char with some pronounced hash marks. The bread is a generic, sesame seed-studded white bun that is perfectly suited to the task in terms of size, beef-to-bun ratio, and texture—the bun does a good job of absorbing the juices from the beef while retaining structural integrity. It is also nicely toasted, displaying a deep brown burnish. The lettuce, tomato, and red onion that top the burger are all crispy, fresh, and vibrantly colored and the pickles have just the right amount of snap and tartness. The cheese on offer—Monterey Jack—would not be my first choice, but because American cheese does not exist in Britain and the local Cheddar would likely be too pungent, I think it is an acceptable choice. What is not acceptable is the temperature at which the cheese was delivered: It was cold and solid, apparently slapped on a moment before being served.

Biting in to the Bodean's burger elicits familiar textures—bread that resists slightly before yielding, the snap of the rabbit food, the crunchy exterior of the patty, the juicy inner flesh—and flavor profiles—the burnt, slightly acrid char of the hash marks balanced by the slightly sweet character of the beef itself as well as a robust, full mouth feel. There was no doubt in my mind that the beef was corn-fed, a fact later confirmed by Tyrell who had to source it from Ireland in order to get the qualities he wanted in his burgers. Almost all quality beef in England is grass fed these days. The corn feeding is what separates Bodean's hamburger from the rest of the herd. Yes, the supporting ingredients are all very good, but without a decent burger for them to rally around, they would be meaningless.

However, the beef, despite its other fine qualities, was a touch rubbery in texture, although not to the offensive degree of some of the other burgers I have tried in the UK. I suspect that the meat was overworked during grinding. Not that the patty was too finely ground—it was actually pleasingly coarse, but also a bit dense. Despite this minor complaint, the burger was really very good, especially for the UK. In fact, it was the only one of the several that I sampled that I would imagine returning to, and the only one I would recommend.

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Tags: AHT reviews, Bodean's, cheeseburgers, London, reviews, UK