If you’re chained to your desk dreaming of a hunger-busting lunch, you’re in luck, because we’ve put together a guide to the very best burgers in London. It’s just a little food porn to tide you over until you can actually get your chops around a high quality burger!

We challenge you to make it through this post without dribbling over these banging burgers and London burger restaurants – but if you do succeed, you’re no friend of ours I’m afraid… Anyway, here’s our rundown of the best burgers in London: 

1. The Dip & Flip by, er, Dip & Flip

These legends cook up the most amazing, food-coma inducing beef burger you will ever put into your mouth. Think beef, cheese, pickles, and a beautifully soft bun – and then you dunk it into deliciously meaty gravy. It’s a revolutionary combo of flavours, if you’re prepared to get a little messy. Add in some garlic mayo and you’ve got yourself a real treat here.

Find Dip & Flip in Clapham Junction and Wimbledon – addresses are available here.

2. The ‘Ari Gold’ Cheeseburger, Patty & Bun

One delectable beef patty with all the toppings, plus some finger-licking smokey mayo, all huddled together in a beautiful brioche bun. Simple burger perfection – Patty and Bun does exactly what it says on the tin, and since they’re all over London, you’re never too far from a cracking burger.

Find your nearest branch here.

3. The Mac Daddy, Dirty Bones

Make a list of everything you crave on a hungover Sunday and we’re pretty sure you’ll mentally create this burger. Carbs, cheese, carbs and meat. Nailed it. The Mac Daddy is a badass combo of brisket and dry aged steak topped with pulled beef short rib, mac & cheese and an espresso-spiked BBQ sauce. Fault it, we dare you.

Find Dirty Bones in Soho, Kensington, and Shoreditch – locations here.

4. The Crazy Lamb Jalfrezi Burger, Baba G’s

Beef may be the everyman’s choice for a burger, but Baba G’s hero lamb in a wonderful way. Their Indian-inspired, high quality burgers are all great (there’s a cracking veggie option on tap here too), but the Crazy Lamb Jalfrezi Burger features spiced patties, onion bhaji, mango pulp, and mint cumin raita. Pair that with a side of their poppadom nachos – ‘Pachos’ – and you’ll be grinning from ear to ear.

Find your nearest location on their website.

5. The Tribute, Honest Burgers

To be honest, all of Honest’s burgers are pretty epic, but the Tribute is a very good choice – think Honest beef, bacon, American cheese, burger sauce, French mustard, pickles, onion and lettuce. Have we made you salivate yet?! They often also do special guest burgers too, and they’re different according to which restaurant you’re in (for example, you’ll find the Market burger at the Borough Market branch, the Rib Man at the Dalston branch, etc, etc). Besides the burger, the chips alone are a reason to visit Honest Burgers. They’re covered in rosemary salt and they’re honestly banging.

Find them all over London (literally everywhere) – locations are here.

6. The Buffalo Vurger, The Vurger Co

Six entries in, I think it’s high time we introduced a vegan wildcard to this roundup. We’ve long nursed a soft spot for The Vurger Co and their insane vegan burgers, and finally the world has started to take notice. Plenty of great stuff to try here, but The Buffalo Vurger (crispy ‘chicken’ patty dipped in buffalo hot sauce, vegan mozzarella, gherkins, crispy onions and house-made baconnaise) comes out on top for the spicy, smoky mouthful that keeps you satisfied from start to finish.

Find them in Shoreditch and Canary Wharf – full info here.

7. The Bacon Double Cheeseburger, Bleecker Burger

We’d all love to be Bleecker founder Zan Kaufman, who traded in a high-flying career as a lawyer for a life of burger-slinging. Sadly, we can’t all do that – but we can eat what she’s serving, and it is goooood. When the burgers are this good, you may as well double up – it’s still only £11 – and whack on a side of angry fries, in what we’re dubbing ‘The Full Bleecker’.

Find them across London – locations here.

8. The Dexter Cheeseburger, Four Legs at The Plimsoll

Bursting onto the food scene with a tsunami of hype was Four Legs, a pop-up foodie that arrived at the old Compton Arms in Islington with a secret weapon: The Dexter Cheeseburger – with melted cheese of course – was immediately crowned as one of the best burgers in London. Classic and simple, it’s supposed to evoke memories of childhood trips to McDonalds – and by all accounts, they’ve nailed it. The team have restored it and have reopened The Auld Triangle pub in Finsbury Park as The Plimsoll. Get involved!

Find it at The Plimsoll, 52 St Thomas’s Road, Finsbury Park, N4 2QW.

9. The Double Pastrami, Salt Shed

The sheer genius of doubling the meat content by adding a chonky slice of pastrami. Just breathtaking. Salt Shed’s mighty meaty creation is heaven in a bun, with Montreal pastrami brisket and beef patties slathered with burger sauce, cheese, fresh slaw, and the all-important pickles. Dee-lish. (They also boss the steaks if you’d like to break up the burger monopoly, just FYI.)

Find them at Boxpark Shoreditch, Pergola Olympia, and Hawker House. More info here.

10. The Totti, Baggio Burger

Okay, so nothing will ever replace pizza in the heart of your average Italian, but Baggio Burger – one of our favourite burger restaurants in London – are giving it a try. Comfortably the only joint on this list of the best burgers in London inspired by a cult Italian footballer, the buns here are flavoured with tastes of the Amalfi Coast and named after other figures from Italy’s glittering football history. Take the Totti, which is a dry-aged beef patty drenched in truffle and porcini mayo, molten Taleggio cheese, Eat17’s bacon jam, and rocket. I know you won a World Cup, Francesco, but this might be your greatest honour yet…

Find them at Crate St James Street and Trader Wembley (from Autumn) – more info here.

11. The Samuel Hell Jackson, Biff’s Jack Shack

Come for the name, stay for the messily indulgent vegan burger at this beloved burger joint. Secret London legend and not-vegan Georgie was absolutely blown away by Biff’s Jack Shack, with the chipotle slaw, maple chipotle hot sauce, jalapeños, American cheese, and barbecue sauce of The Samuel Hell Jackson just shading the battle of the burgers. Grab one, but for goodness’ sake, don’t skip the wings.

Find them across London – see your nearest branch here. 

12. The Buttermilk Chicken Burger, Eat 17

We’re long overdue a good chicken burger, and there’s one I just can’t get out of my head. Eat 17’s gloriously crispy chicken burger is only available in Walthamstow, but it’s well worth the pilgrimage; slaw, aioli, spiced tomato chutney, and jalapeños make this an absolute winner. I’ve had it at least four times, and that’s not nearly enough.

Find Eat17 at 28-30 Orford Road, Walthamstow, E17 9NJ.

13. The Bacon Butter Burger, Burger & Beyond

These guys go above and beyond, but we guess that’s kinda the point, given their name. It was a complete toss-up between this and The Bougie Burg (patty, American cheese, steak sauce, bone marrow (maise), and caramelised beef fat onions), but c’mon, how can we turn down bacon and butter? That’s pancetta bacon and burnt butter mayo FYI, and it’s a winning combo.

Find them at 147 Shoreditch High Street, E1 6JE. More here.

14. The Frank, We Serve Humans at Signature Brew

These guys are the unsung heroes of the London burger scene in one of the best burger pop-ups in London. The Frank quite frankly is a glorious brioche bun filled with their signature aged beef patty (made with brisket and short rib), blue cheese, truffled aioli and pickled red onion jam. It’s well worth making the trip to Signature Brew for – trust us.

Find them at The Collab in Walthamstow – details here.

15. The Cheeseburger, The Stag

We addressed the question “Has anyone had any really great burgers?” to the Secret London office, and someone suggested The Stag pub’s cheeseburger. We don’t really know too much about it other than the fact that it’s the best burger Ollie has ever had. We trust Ollie, he’s a reliable guy. And it’s got melted cheese and burger sauce – what more could you want?

Find The Stag at 67 Fleet Road, Hampstead, NW3 2QU

Also published on Medium.