Restaurant – Shake Shack

This Summer saw the invasion of the American fast food joints, and no, we’re not talking about McDonald’s. These so-called ‘gourmet’ fast food brands came in the form of Shake Shack and Five Guys. Needless to say, the press soon took it on themselves to start a who’s-better-than-who war. Opinions have been divided and, in the, frenzy, we decided to try Shake Shack first.

In true American style Shake Shack fills up a large area of Covent Garden market, with what seems like ever-sprawling eating areas in all directions. From the moment you arrive you straight away feel that this isn’t your average fast food joint, apart from the American manager that is. On the day we went the queue was about 100 yards long, so even before we sat down we had a feeling that they weren’t competing with your average McDonalds. Then we cast our eye over the menu and it quickly became apparent that the prices weren’t comparable, either, with the average meal costing around £12. But then again you wouldn’t expect to find Wine and Brooklyn beer on a regular fast food menu either. The cost, though fairly pricy at first glance, quickly becomes good value once you bite into the Double SmokeShack burger. It tasted exactly as expected, but better – the bun was soft, the meat perfectly seasoned and the sauce, well it’s fair to say, was hard to beat.

This got me thinking, why aren’t all fast food joints like this? As the enthusiastic manager soon told us, it was all about acting small. This is not something you would associate with the ever-expanding American chain, now on its 33rd location worldwide. What the manager meant by acting small, it became clear, was sourcing local ingredients where possible, and this has been done to great effect in the UK outpost. There’s a Cumberland sausage hot dog and Aberdeen Angus Beef in the burgers. But the manager also stated that whilst it’s important to include local ingredients, there are just some scenarios where you can’t substitute. A case in point would be the buns, which were of a bounciness unparalleled in the UK (Waitrose, take note.)

The cynics out there will say: “do we really need another burger bar in London?” Well in short, and in this case, yes. Expect this fast food joint to soon become an establishment in its own right.

By Harry Jarman