Lifestyle: Restaurant Review – Hamburgers by Anderson’s, Birmingham

YOU may not think it to look at me but I’m not a big burger fan.

I find them extremely filling but unsatisfying as a meal at the same time.

But I am aware that the word hamburger covers a broad church – everything from the provenance-unknown ‘delights’ supplied by mobile catering vans near football grounds to the Whoppers and Big Macs from the High Street fast food giants, all the way through to the higher-end products offered by the likes of Gourmet Burger Kitchen and Handmade Burger Co.

To this latter group locally must be added Hamburgers by Anderson’s, launched as a ‘pop up’ or temporary restaurant within Anderson’s restaurant in St Paul’s Square in Birmingham’s Jewellery Quarter. It is open at lunchtimes Monday to Friday.

The idea is to get the brand up and running before transferring it to a unit of its own in central Birmingham.

At the moment much of its business is done by delivering to local businesses – using the delivery service Deliveroo – so it was perhaps unsurprising that the restaurant itself was fairly quiet when we visited one lunchtime recently.

Not that that put us off.

The Anderson’s hamburger offering amounts to seven different burgers – four beef, one chicken, one tuna and one veggie – alongside sides of smoked chicken wings, skin on fries, coronation coleslaw and house salad.

It should go without saying that it was the beef that we had come for.

Anderson’s is best-known for its steaks and other cuts of meat and it has taken this expertise into sourcing the beef for its hamburgers and the cooking process.

The restaurant’s management says it has been keeping an eye on the burger culture in the UK in recent years and also the pop-up and street food culture. It decided now was the perfect time to join the fray whilst maintaining its own high standards.

“We do not want this to be just any burger, but one of the best, with the Anderson’s touch. We have been working on our recipe for the beef itself for the last eight months alone,” the restaurant’s owner said at launch.

With such a verbal drum-roll, it even had a non-burger lover like me chomping at the bit.

So without further ado my dining companion and I made our choices. I went for the PHAT Burger (no tittering at the back) at £8.50. This is a beef patty, combined with Emmental cheese, jalapeno mayo, jalapenos, salsa, lettuce, beef tomato and pickled onion in a brioche bun.

My companion chose the Smash & Grab (£7.50) which is two beef patties smashed flat with Double Red Cheddar cheese, dill pickle, ABG smokey mayo and chipotle ketchup, also served on a brioche bun.

I suggested that I might have her two patties and dill pickles in exchange for my one patty, beef tomato and pickled onion but she wasn’t playing ball.

We also ordered sides of skin on fries with rosemary salt (£2.75) and a house salad at £2.50.

What became immediately apparent as soon as the hamburgers arrived was, firstly, one would have needed hands like Pat Jennings to hold the burger and take a bite out of it without everything spilling out of the sides and the back and, secondly, that the spillage situation would have been a lot worse if it wasn’t for the ability of a firm brioche bun to hold things together.

This is always a problem with overfilled hamburgers and can lead to that ludicrous situation where you end up eating your burger with a knife and fork.

The hamburgers at Anderson’s, though, just about held it together and such problems were anyway soon forgotten once we’d got ‘stuck in’ because then all we could think and talk about was how good the beef is – juicy on the inside with a char-grilled outer edge.

Cooked medium rare, these burgers are sumptuous things as far removed from the High Street offering as I am from the Slimmer of the Year title.

My PHAT burger had a lovely kick from those sweet and spicy chilli marvels, jalapenos, but nothing could overpower beef of this quality.

It was obvious that a lot of care and attention had gone into the creation of combinations for these burgers and I would have liked to have confirmed that by tasting my dining companion’s Smash & Grab but by the time I looked up from my own food, all I could see was an empty plate and a face that looked like it had been dipped in vats of smokey mayo and chipotle ketchup.

It was a bit like dining with a hungry Scooby-Doo.

Anyway, I wasn’t surprised that Anderson’s had pulled it off. If there’s one thing it is known for it is excellent meat and sometimes, with all the add ons and sides and flavourings, we forget that this is the essence of a good burger.

Talking of sides the chips and salad couldn’t be faulted but I think that when Hamburgers by Anderson’s goes live at a venue of its own it will need to expand its offering in this area.

I wish it well with its new venture and I will watch its progress with interest.

I’m still not a big hamburger fan but on the rare occasions that I fancy one this is where I will be heading.

The best hamburger in Brum? I’m probably not enough of an aficionado to make that call but these big boys certainly take some beating.

Hamburgers by Anderson’s is at Anderson’s Bar & Grill, 30 Mary Ann Street, St Paul’s Square, Birmingham, B3 1RL. Tel: 0121 200 2515.