This was during the lockdown period (early 2021) when they were operating from a dark kitchen. Their new location is listed at the bottom of this post.
To say these guys are the it burger joint in London would be an understatement. Most of my instagram followers responded to my question tag (which trendy London burger joint am I going to review?) by guessing these guys. This place has become so popular, the image of their burger and their mojito bag in a car has almost become synonymous with “London 2021”. Let’s see if they live up to the hype.
First things first, loved the branding! It was quirky and they absolutely owned it. We ordered the ghost burger meal, a boring chick burger and passionfruit mojito. They are known for their usage of wagyu in their burgers. So, the ghost burger is made up of 100% prime wagyu beef, caramelised onions, double cheese, gherkins, red onion, lettuce, ghost sauce served in a demi-brioche potato bun (my preferred bun style). I’ve had a wagyu burger before and I couldn’t really taste the difference, but with this one I really could taste that it was different. It was super delicious – the bun was nice to bite into and it worked so well with the juicy meat. And the toppings were just perfect. Strangely, for me in this burger place what I loved the most and what I crave the most right now is the passionfruit mojito!! It was so refreshing, sweet, sour and just a perfect accompaniment to a meaty meal. I would go back just for this drink. Seriously it was that good. Take note burger/fast food establishments – the drinks game has just been upped. Time to serve some in-house drinks!
Another thing we have to commend them on was their customer service. They were sooo busy we couldn’t get a delivery slot until the DAY AFTER. I spoke to one of the guys outside the place and he told me he’ll sort it out for me. And lo and behold it was ready in an hour (as opposed to 24 – as per my booked slot!). We really did appreciate this as we thought we were going to lose out on the opportunity to try them out this night.
They also provided serviettes (see coqfighter review), but not only serviettes, but also fresh lemon wipes!! I mean come on. That is so thoughtful – it’s the small things…
We also liked the whole experience – this was strange because it was not your typical experience. We drove around in circles for about 30 mins as we couldn’t find the place (lived up to the name – ghostly!). Then we noticed some cars parked outside a street with loads of shed like places and one of those sheds was lit up and there were a few people standing outside. We parked up and took a stab. It was like walking up to a warehouse entrance or a garage. No signs (except for a little white badge on the door) – so all very rugged. We were thinking this place MUST serve good food as it is not your typical instagram hotspot – pretty flowery cafes etc – it is literally the back of a shed or a garage. You cannot dine in nor can you even go inside for takeaway. You have to find them online, order ahead of time, wait outside and wait outside in your car to be called. Why did I put this under “the good”? We loved this experience – it felt like something only true foodies will be going through. The cars kept coming and queuing up – so clearly this place is super super popular! And for good reason! By the way, they are going to be moving to a proper shop front soon in Hackney. So the above is correct at time of writing (March 2021).
There wasn’t much bad about our Ghost Burger experience to be honest. The boring chick burger unfortunately, lived up to its name. A tad boring, lacked spice, but maybe they can argue – they did say it was boring. Maybe we should’ve got the chicks on fire burger instead. The sauce that was served with the fries wasn’t that great and we actually preferred the fries on their own (this is coming from my wife who is the sauce queen!).
The location was extremely difficult to find, especially in the dark. And the fact that they were only open in the dark (during weekdays) it was quite difficult to find. We almost gave up and returned home. However, as mentioned above, this made it into a proper experience for us. It’s like Harold and Kumar’s experience – if they got their burger with ease, it wouldn’t have been a classic!
Another bad is more from our own end – we wanted to order using Ubereats as we had a 50% discount, so we waited till we were a few minutes away. Unfortunately, that discount had expired (oops). This meant we had to order as per the initial recommendation – via their app. It was fairly straightforward, but I feel the checkout page asks for more information than necessary and this can be annoying if in a rush – there should be a quick guest pay option. The good thing was we got an unexpected 10% off the first order and also the prices were actually a lot cheaper (£7 in total) than on ubereats.
Getting there (new location)
Nearest Mosque: Suleymaniye Mosque (1 min drive)
Nearest station: Hoxton
