burger & lobster

I don't even know how many times I've passed different branches of Burger & Lobster, or seen photos from there on Instagram, or read blogger reviews, and made a mental note to prioritise it on my restaurant wishlist.

I actually think that it was those photos I saw that made me keep putting it off; as delicious as they looked, I was still sceptical of spending 20 pounds on what looked like a tasty but average-sized lobster and fries. The whole lobster seemed more reasonable - but then again, it's the rolls that kept popping up on my radar.

When my sister requested to go to B & L on her recent trip to London (she currently lives abroad so we try to cram in as much as possible whilst she's here - lots of food involved, of course), it was the perfect opportunity to finally try this place out.

Let me start this with a bang:

Yep.

We deliberately went at a bit of a weird time as it was a Saturday and we knew the queue would get crazy later on, so after a short wait, we were sat down in a cosy booth at 5:30pm, hungry from (very successful) sales shopping.

After asking the lovely waitress what the most popular pick was from their short menu (whole lobster steamed or steamed & grilled, lobster roll or burger), she told us enthusiastically that the lobster roll would definitely be the staff's favourite. She put it like this: "If you asked any of us what we wanted from the menu, we'd all be GIMME THE LOBSTER ROLL!"

No need to say more. E, my sister and I all ordered the rolls immediately.

How wrong I was about the "average-sized" roll assumption. This thing is hefty. The brioche is so soft and feels like carb-y cloud heaven, and there's a whole lot of lobster meat in there. Dip that monster into the insanely gluttonous garlic butter, and there's no going back.

I was honestly prepared to be underwhelmed, considering all the popularity and hype over this place (too much of all that makes me a bit wary sometimes), but I stand corrected. We were all thoroughly impressed and wouldn't hesitate to go back.

If you're planning to go (which you should be), try to target off-peak times as there was already a long queue forming by the time we left, around 7pm. On weekdays you're probably better off, but it seemed like a tourist attraction as well so aim for an obscure time or take a book to read while you wait. The wait is so worth it.

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