The Definitive Guide to Burger Joints.

After an utterly delicious meal at the new Cattle Grid restaurant in Kingston, I came to realize me and my boyfriend often choose burger restaurants when eating out. And so here it is, it may not be definitive but it's here anyway, our guide to burger joints. (OK, it's written by me but I have taken his comments into consideration, I promise.)
The first one shall be brief, The Handmade Burger Company. I haven't been there for a few years, and I've never been with Joe, but my main memory of that place includes amazing onion rings and a delicious fish finger burger. Lovely fresh batter, just what I fancied. And as I haven't seen a fish finger burger available in any of the other places I'll be mentioning, Handmade Burger earned themselves this entry!
Next! Gourmet Burger Kitchen. We've been a couple of times in the last few months and they haven't disappointed. The burgers are lovely and there's a good range. However I often want to opt for their "smaller portion" burgers and that leaves me with less choice while Joe still has the whole menu to choose from. However, they do really nice skinny chips. And not just skinny chips...really skinny chips. Think Mcdonalds chips, and then imagine them split into quarters and loads tastier. Yep, exactly. Gorgeous! They also have free jugs of water and monkey nuts on a stand near the till which I like. When there I tend not to get a drink and just have the water. I prefer that to soft drinks anyway!
"What's next?" I hear you cry! Well, Byron. Beautiful restaurant. I based my desire to go there on the décor rather than the fact they were a burger place. It just looked so lovely, and it was. We shared nachos as a starter, had a side of chips and shared a dessert too, and the fact I was able to cope with that suggests their burgers were on the small side. It may just have been that I had a chicken burger rather than beef and I find that less filling, or maybe they were smaller than a lot of places. But really, I don't see a problem with having room dessert. Especially not when it's an Oreo sundae.
And today we visited The Cattle Grid. We'd never heard of it and only found out one had arrived in Kingston when we passed on our way to the cinema. We spent a good while glancing back and drooling at the giant picture of a burger that is in place of a window. Joe raved about the spicy buffalo sauce on his burger and the melted brie in mine was gorgeous. I'm not even big on cheese. We were even wittering on about the burger buns which I suspect had a hint of tomato and herb about them. However it was a strange place to be eating as we were the only customers. Genuinely, just us until about 10 minutes before we left. Fair enough it was early, but it was a very strange feeling. Although it did mean service was excellent!
Now before I come to a conclusion, I would like to give an honorary mention to the burger van at uni. No fancy tricks, and so no prizes, but inexplicably delicious burgers that are there when we need them most...on the way home after a night at the union!
But back to the matter at hand. Where is best? Well, GBK is winning on the chip front, even if Joe is confused by the rosemary on top. And Byron and Cattle Grid get points for having waiters. Having to get up and order your own food is only useful when you're a in a big group and want to keep your bills separate. Handmade Burger is flailing behind as I haven't been for so long. I haven't found one near me at uni and until I do, they're out of the running. In all honesty, there is little question to it. The Cattle Grid is my favorite. And even if you don't like burgers you'll probably enjoy a meal there as they do steaks and have a good selection of salads too.
However there is no reason to take my word for it. You should try them all. Soon. It's for your own good.