Honest Burgers

Having lived in London for 23 whole years, 14 entire weeks, and 5 long days, I’ve grown not to trust London weather. The day could look really bright and sunny, so you slip on your summer clothes and run outside only to find that it is 2 degrees in the middle of March. A slight exaggeration, I know, but you Londoners know what I mean. So today, when I woke up and saw the sun blaring through the window, I sensibly layered up and headed outside. Little did I know, it was incredibly hot reaching up to 23 degrees and there I was wrapped up in my numerous long layers – well done Halal Girl.

Anyways, the point of this post is to tell you guys some great news. A famous non-halal burger chain is now offering a halal option on their menu and today was their very first day! Honest Burgers kindly invited me to test out their new halal chicken burger offering in their Tooting Branch only, and I couldn’t resist the opportunity to see what their food was all about!

Let’s get to the food..

The lemonade was deliciously sweet, fizzy, and refreshing – perfect for the sweltering weather outside. My friend had ordered the Ginger Ale [£3.00].

Five medium-sized wings arrived that had been fried and covered in a sweet, tangy bbq sauce. The wings were of good quality and had a nice, subtle crunch. The sauce was not too overbearing and the flavour was good but not anything out of the ordinary.

I’ll be honest, chicken burgers aren’t my favourite – they tend to be quite dry and lacking in flavour; so I was a little apprehensive about what I had ordered at first. I was pleasantly surprised. The chicken had been deep-fried with a layer of breadcrumbs and poppy seeds to give the burger a super crunch, and was then accompanied with a juicy tomato and tangy mustard mayonnaise. Considering they had used a thigh piece for the patty, the meat was really soft and moist, and you could definitely tell that the chicken was of good quality. I did feel the chicken meat itself could have done with more seasoning and some may not be a fan of the nuttiness from the poppy seeds, otherwise this was a good chicken burger.

The burger bun was fantastic and seriously the best burger bun I’ve had in a long time. They are also able to provide a gluten-free bun. When you took a bite, the glazed, fluffy bun provided just the right amount of squidge and managed to hold together throughout the meal. The skin-on fries were excellent and had been sprinkled with a delectable rosemary salt – incredibly moreish when dunked into the chipotle mayonnaise[£1.00] I had ordered on the side.

We thought we would be a little different and instead of the onion rings, we opted for the coleslaw. Sadly I found the coleslaw to be quite dry and tart because of the beetroot. Do try the onion rings if you do plan on visiting!

The bill would have amounted to £30, excluding service, for two people so £15 each. A relatively decent price and certainly less extortionate than we’re use to at our halal burger joints. You may find the price tag for the chicken burger (£9) a little expensive but this was a good quality piece of chicken and included fries too. The staff were really kind and helpful, and there was also no long wait for the burgers to arrive!

Rest assured, Honest Burgers have been super careful that no cross contamination will occur between their halal chicken and non-halal products and they use a completely separate fryer for the halal products. Although I was slightly jealous of my friend’s non-halal beef burger cooked to a juicy medium, it was really refreshing to see a famous non-halal restaurant to have a halal option on their menu (thank you Honest Burgers!). Please be aware that at this point in time, only the Tooting branch are able to offer the halal chicken burger and wings.

Let’s hope this actually hot weather continues for the rest of the week!

Disclaimer: I was invited to dine at Honest Burgers