The opportunity arose, in 2014, to collaborate with Golden Age Public Houses and create a branded food offer in The Royal Oak pub on York Street in Marylebone. What we cooked up was Burgerac’s Burgershack, a project into which I put all the knowledge and passion acquired over years of blogging about London’s best burgers via my Burgerac blog to good use.
Both the menu and the brand itself were inspired by the awesomeness of the lovingly aged native breed, grass-fed beef supplied by Nathan Mills of The Butchery (who I’d wanted to work with on something for some time before this project) – and also by a desire to create delicious comfort food that delivers nostalgia as well as great flavour.
While the food I designed for Burgerac’s Burgershack has drawn praise from the Evening Standard, Shortlist, Cool Hunting, We The Food Snobs, London’s Best Burgers, and also Giles Coren (food critic for The Times), I’m equally proud of the graphic identity of the brand too – which I art directed, calling on illustrator Rob Flowers and design duo Crispin Finn to create illustration and brand identity respectively. And I got to put my food photography / blogging experience to good use too in order to promote regular specials via the website (designed, built and maintained by me), a regular newsletter and social media.
Burgerac’s Burgershack started as a collaborative creative experiment and wound down its operations at The Royal Oak and also at The Social at the end of 2016 with everyone involved having learned a hell of a lot about how best to dish up burgers, beers and good vibrations.
WHAT THE PRESS SAID
“A laid-back joint where high quality burgers and good times reign supreme.”
Karen Day, Cool Hunting
“Had a cracking cheeseburger at Burgershack residency at The Royal Oak. The fried mustard double [Hubba Hubba] was king.”
Giles Coren
“9/10.” London's Best Burgers
“A sort of burger temple.”
We The Food Snobs
“Another week, another burger pop-up. But this one's different: Burgershack is set up by burger blogger / patty obsessive Burgerac and offers a well-executed menu.”
Shortlist
“If you’re a true burger fan you’ll know all about the brilliant Burgerac blog. Now the man behind London’s best guide has started his own burger-serving project.”
Victoria Stewart, Evening Standard
"Burgershack's residency at The Royal Oak pub in Marylebone was such a stonking success it was made permanent. And now it's invading The Social on Little Portland Street..."
Mr Hyde
“Send a note round to the crew immediately, book a table and get together for a meat up!”
Rosie, The Londoner
Collaborating with David Henckel, I created Sonic Sandwich as a very straight-forward food offer that London bar and music venue, The Social, could operate out of its tiny kitchen.
As well as sourcing ingredients, honing recipes, on-boarding suppliers and organising the kitchen for the operation, I created a Sonic Sandwich logo to have a suitably hand-made aesthetic. I then called upon regular collaborators Crispin Finn to redraw the logo professionally, and also Rob Flowers to bring illustration to the brand-identity parade.
Beyond designing the menu and a brand identity to go with it, Dave and I also organised a programme of DJs to provide “music to eat sandwiches to” on Friday lunchtimes for a period of several months after launching Sonic Sandwich in 2018. These LunchtimeListens sessions were recorded for posterity and archived on Mixcloud.
P.S. For its Food Issue (March 2017) Creative Review magazine interviewed me about my various food-related endeavours for an 8-page feature and chose to adorn the front cover of the issue with Rob’s Sonic Sandwich illustrations. Well chuffed!
In 2011, I started blogging about the burgers I was discovering under the guise of Burgerac, a burger detective hot on the trail of the finest burger in London and beyond.
The blog was soon being recommended by The Guide (The Guardian), mentioned in The Sunday Times’ Style magazine – and even name-checked in print by the likes of the Evening Standard’s restaurant critic Fay Maschler.
Writing the blog has given me opportunity to meet amazing, inspirational chefs and restaurateurs, eat awesome food and do all kinds of crazy burger-themed stuff – like working with artists to create original burger-themed accessories and homewares; judging nationwide burger contests; hosting a burger-pop up food and art event in London (in collaboration with BurgerMonday / Young & Foodish) and subsequently taking the Burgermat Show concept to Cape Town and Dublin; publishing a burger art and recipe book commemorating the Burgermat Show with Nobrow; and creating my own iPhone app (Burgerapp) that enabled users to find my pick of London’s best burgers.
More recently I collaborated with Golden Age Public Houses to transfrom my blog brand into an actual eatery: we created Burgerac's Burgershack, a kitchen pop up brand that resided at both The Royal Oak pub in Marylebone and legendary central London music venue and bar, The Social.
The Burgermat Show was a group exhibition and food pop-up that I cooked up in collaboration with Daniel Young of Young & Foodish.
For the two-night only ticketed event on 27 and 28 June 2011, I invited 24 illustrators to create original burger-themed artworks to be displayed as high quality signed paper placemats all set on tables upon which attendees were served an amazing burger cooked up by chef Fred Smith specially for the occasion.
For more images of The Burgermat Show event, check out Facebook and also Flickr.
As well as the original London event, The Burgermat Show also popped up for one night only at The Royale Eatery in Cape Town, South Africa, and also in The Damson Diner in Dublin. The Royale Eatery still features the “Burgerac” burger on its menu that I designed in collaboration with them specially for the event.
Photography by Leo Cackett.
Project Logo by Crispin Finn.
Created in collaboration with app publisher Blue Crow Media, I designed and launched my very own iPhone app, Burgerapp. The idea for the app was simple: to allow users to easily find the best places to get a burger in London by perusing my personal selection of tried, tested and rated restaurants and burger joints.
You can view restaurants by rating or browse them alphabetically, or simply see at a glance which burger destinations are nearest to your current location and read about them, gleaning crucial need-to-know info about each place to help you decide which one you’d like to head to.
The app also featured regular in-app tips and burger related news to help guide users to the best of London’s burgers.
Burgerapp was available fromApple’s App Store from 2012-2016.
WHAT THE PRESS SAID
“The battle among foodies to be the first to discover a brilliant new burger is hotting up. Now there's an app for that.” The Independent
“Finding a slammin' burger in London just got easier with Burgerapp— an iPhone app that geographically organizes the burgers featured on the popular blog Burgerac. Filled with tips, photos and reviews, the app is a useful tool for adventurous burger fans and tourists alike.” Cool Hunting
“Burgerapp has all the info you could ever want for hunting down a burger: appetising pictures and where to find the best near you, plus latest news from the London burger scene. When you get home you can check the tips on how to make what you just ate.” Evening Standard
“Any hunt for a London burger should start here. The app's reviews of more than 50 restaurants and burger stands come from renowned blogger Burgerac. Look out for the Craft Beer London and LondonCoffee apps from the same developer.” The Telegraph
“Make sure you're never too far from a great burger with this app that tells you where London's best are. There's a map, plus tips and recipes for both burgers and their condiments.” Jamie
“For the truly burger-obsessed, London blogger and self-styled 'burger detective' Burgerac has produced a burger iPhone app, telling you the best burger near your location.” The Week
“Going Up.” Sunday Times Magazine
“App of the week.” Shortlist
“A burger lover's dream.” Grazia
