# The best hamburgers in the UK! **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 13, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-hamburgers-in-the-uk/663382 "2013-07-13T03:03:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 24
**Author:** ![Smid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/838e76/32.png) [@Smid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smid)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2013, 11:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-hamburgers-in-the-uk/663382/24 "2013-07-14T11:50:11Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I don’t remember the burgers of the early 80s, but the mid-90s to early-00s, I couldn’t believe how bad the burgers could be. Or maybe not “bad,” but not what I’m used to as an American. I remember Wimpy’s, and some other random burgers I’d get from street-side vendors in the UK (Wolverhampton, specifically), and they were awful. McDonald’s was actually fine. Tasted pretty much just like McD’s back home. Having lived in Wolverhampton for a number of years, I suspect the street food you refer to there is the appalling “Mr Sizzle”, without a doubt the most appalling burger of all time, rolled out down the football ground and late at night to catch the unsuspecting drunk. Wimpy is largely gone in the uk (I am surprised someone mentioned seeing one in Berlin, I only ever saw Wendys for a long time in Europe, McD’s took until late 90’s to make it over there), it didn’t go out of business, it got bought out by Burger King. It went out of fashion (and Burger King in the UK has too, that has all but disappeared from the high street and is a motorway service station/train station chain). I personally think the Wimpy Quarter pounder (it still exists in some places) with cheese is the best chain burger in the uk, far superior to the McD’s effort and the pressed thin pate cardboard of BK. However, here a burger is far less about the food and far more about the toys for the children, and in that sense BK also lost out a long time ago And yes, I’ve ate Burgers in the US, Vegas, NY, LA and SF. Though yet to try that In and Out place, seems a shame to use a chain over there… > [@](#): > > The weirdest for me was in Budapest, around 1999. There was an American-themed diner, full of '57 Chevy, Elvis, jukebox-type memorabilia. It might even have been called “The American Diner.” So I ordered a cheeseburger and fries. What I got was something closer to an open-faced meatloaf sandwich. I mean, seriously. An open-faced burger? WTF? And it’s not like the hamburger is unknown there. This is a place where there was one intersection (Oktagon) that had a Wendy’s, a McDonald’s, and a Burger King on three of its four corners, so it’s not like there wasn’t a frame of reference. (And, besides, in general there were plenty of McDonald’s and BK’s scattered across the city.) I really could not figure out what the fuck they were thinking. > > A hamburger is not rocket science–it’s about as simple a preparation of ground beef as you can get. Yet it’s (or at least it was) nearly impossible to find a simple American-style hamburger outside of US chains out there. It’s like everybody thought there must be something more to it, so started including various spices and fillers in the meat, not realizing that, really, it’s just ground chuck (or similar, e.g. short rib, brisket, etc.) loosely packed, salt and peppered, and cooked properly. It boggles my mind. It has probably improved now. Having visited Budapest about 10 times now, I’d say I’ve never been tempted to try a burger in many places apart from that one I tried in that “English Bar” (I think it was called Bulldog or something) by the Danube. I’d be on the goulash or the other massive chunks of meat they serve in their restaurants. Horses for courses (no, wait, that’s in France). --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-hamburgers-in-the-uk/663382)._