Even Loyal of Lisvane, Enthusiastic of Ely or Partisan of Pontcanna would have to admit that triptych finds the Welsh capital in unusually esteemed company. But that's exactly what has happened with the recent opening of Burger and Lobster on the first floor of the old Habitat building in The Hayes. It's an impressive space, certainly:
The chain has garnered fame- notoriety- for its no reservations policy in London. Queues of up to 90 minutes are not uncommon there, but this is Cardiff and things run at a less fevered pace, so bookings are easier to come by. It's a spacious, airy venue, with booths for groups and smaller tables dotted around overlooking the bustle of The Hayes.
There's something beautifully bullish about naming your resturant after your sole menu items. It cuts to the chase, rather. As does their website, viz:
Q. Why can't I find a menu online?
A: You can! We serve burger or lobster- take your pick.
Q: Do you have a vegetarian option?
A: Nope. We know burgers and we know lobsters.
That insouciance, that 'we know what we want to do, and we are single-minded in its pursuit' is rather refreshing. When most restaurants strive to be all things to all diners, when Italian restaurants offer ribs and burgers, this attitude is a draw. Stripped-back I suppose. The chance to add bacon and cheese to your burger, or to have your lobster steamed or grilled, adds some level of option, though we are hardly in the realms of giddy fancy with the addition of lobster roll. I struggle to think of a smaller menu. Five Guys this ain't.
You are not limited to the £20 lobster, though: there is a chalkboard which lists larger specimens (of which, more later) should they take your fancy.
Yet the restricted number of options is in no way refelcted in any paucity of presentation or skimping on the ingredients. Quiet the opposite: the air here is of things done simply, but done very well. Details count, even small ones- iced glasses for your locally-brewed beer, that kind of thing.
Given I'd tried their lobster roll at The Depot, there was little discussion to be had. One burger, one lobster. Steamed, by preference. The burger, as rare as they recommended. Those of you following our CUB quest to find Cardiff's Ultimate Burger will know a recurring gripe is the failure of kitchens to send out patties cooked anything but well-done, even failing to enquire what your preference is.
Fear not- here you're asked how you'd like yours cooked, and the medium-rare I asked for was duly delivered. I'm guessing they take this stuff seriously here- there's a clue in the pink plastic marker embedded in your bun like some golf tee- and they certainly deliver. The ten-ounce steak burger was a healthy pink throughout and certainly the juciest burger I've come across to date in these parts. Perhaps they're onto something with this insistence on combining three cuts of corn-fed Nebraskan beef; perhaps they're just huge Springsteen fans.
The bibs provided will come in useful and are not the sole preserve of the crustacean-inclined. The seeded brioche just about held together- this is a 10oz patty and at medium-rare level it will get messy. Bacon and cheese, salad and a pickle: that's your lot, and that's fine by me. The trap of believing that 'more is more' in burgerworld sadly proves irresistible for some, but I'm old-school. Let the burger speak for itself. Fries were nicely skinny and salty, the salad small and dressed with balsamic vinegar.
And so it damn well should be a fine burger, I hear you chorus- £20 is pretty steep, especially in a town in which the £10 burger meal is still a fairly new idea. It's tempting to adopt the glib line 'overpriced burger, underpriced lobster' here but it does have a ring of truth.
The service was excellent- efficient, friendly. They even brought out their current prize specimen- an 11lb-plus hulking brute whose pincers looked capable of snipping through lift cables- to show my little daughter. Yes, I was tempted. And no, I didn't. Not this time.
If the lobster is the aristocrat of the seafood menu- after all, they are literally blue-blooded- then this was the crusty patriarch of some long-established royal dynasty. Its smaller cousin (subject?) arrived with the house salad and fries. Happily, they assume some passing acquaintance with lobster here: pick and cracker are provided and you're expected to do the crushing and cajoling and winkling.
Which is as it should be, in my book: something as majestic as homerus americanus demands some effort, some interactivity. It's a ritual. Why should everything be easy, anyway?
As you'd expect from a titular dish, the lobster was good. Very good. The garlic and lemon butter was a luxurious addition and the sort of thing you could easily order more of just to dip your fries in, even when all that sweet meat was gone.
All in all, Burger and Lobster have landed with a bang. In an undeniably stylish venue they do what they do well. The burger clearly demands serious consideration among the very best of its kind in the city; the lobster is very competitively priced against the usual £25-per-pound typical local rate.
The beauty of its pared-back pricing structure and menu ensures little dithering or time-wasting, I'd imagine: you know what your hoices are. You know what you'll pay. If that appeals, you'll love it; if it doesn't, you won't.
But at least you can't claim you didn't know.
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