Burger Week Part 4 - Lucky Chip @ the Player Bar, Broadwick St, Soho, London, Thurs 7th Mar

On to the fourth instalment of the never to be repeated Burger Week. The evening was intended to be a reconnaissance of a few cocktail bars for a future event. Four establishments made it to the shortlist and a little earlier than usual I made my way to High St Ken, to meet up with Claire, my fellow recon scout for the evening.

A little after 6 we joined forces outside the PC World to make our short way to the first port of call Bodo's Schloss. Bodo's Castle is an alpine themed Austrian establishment on the site of the former Connoisseur Club Casino, at the Eastern end of the Royal Garden Hotel next to Kensington Palace Gardens. Bodo's was quite charming and the restaurant area that we were in rapidly filled up and had a large private party in the disco area.

Thankfully we managed to get a very wobbly table in the restaurant area to enjoy our steins of Stiegl. I'd have preferred a Gosser as that is more prevalent in Graz, the second largest city in Austria and where part of my family originates. Like my maternal grandmother's family, Arnold Schwarzenegger also hails from Graz, as did my first and only, boy's road bike from the local Puch Werks. Bodo's made me feel very nostalgic for an Austrian restaurant my family frequented for many years near the Lancashire - Yorkshire border, run by an Austrian - English couple who I was surprised to see on 'A Place in the Sun: Home or Away' many years after they closed their restaurant.

Recon complete it was a faff to get to our next stop in Soho due to uncomplimentary public transport and a lack of cash for a cab. Eventually exiting Oxford Circus tube we made progress towards the heart of Soho and the innocuous entrance to The Player Bar, next to the Agent Provocateur shop on Broadwick St.

The Player Bar is apparently a Soho stalwart and has been serving quality cocktails off and on since 1998. Not a bad pedigree for an area whose fashion changes faster than the changes of the seasons. TPB has for a year or so now offered quality burgers thanks to the people at Lucky Chip on its menu. Bodo's has a similar arrangement from the chaps at Speck Mobile (also to be seen at Kerb) for their food. Both Lucky Chip and Speck Mobile have their own take on Sliders (the small burgers, not the underrated US TV show starring Jerry O'Connell, the fat kid from Stand By Me and John Rhys-Davies, Gimli the Dwarf from Lord of the Rings).

After the descending the precarious when sober, lethal when drunk, stairs to TPB basement, we got a seat in the busy, but not oppressively so bar. It was snug, and dark. Definitely more of a drinking place than a full on dining experience. Sat on my mushroom stool I was lucky enough to get sufficient light to be able to squintingly read the menus. Claire on a banquette by the wall was less fortunate. The food menu is basic with a choice of two, from a selection of 7 or 8, sliders with fries. The cocktail menu was good but concise. That said it seemed to be the kind of place where you could happily order off menu with the minimum of fuss.

Cocktail wise we both opted for a Grapefruit Julep, very refreshing and satisfying, and a suitably pink drink to enjoy in the heart of Soho in order to blend in with the locals. Since this was a recon mission the camouflage was key. For food I made the mistake of ordering first as Claire was trying in vain to get a single lumen of light on her menu. I hate ordering first as I love to ensure that there is some variation on the food that the party is ordering. If everyone orders the same thing there's no opportunity for sharing or comparing the relative merits of our choices. There's also no opportunity to enter into the subjective competition of who's ordered the best items.

Nevertheless we went for the El Chappo, an aged beef patty with smoked bacon, roasted jalapenos and blue cheese and the Royale wit Cheese, another aged beef patty with applewood smoked bacon, tomato, onion, ketchup and mustard (and cheese?). I'm a believer, mostly, in nominative determinism, and so like the Ari Gold, couldn't resist the Royale wit Cheese, due to its significance in Quentin Tarantino's tour de force Pulp Fiction. Unsurprisingly Lucky Chip's Royale wit Cheese was far superior than eating a McDonald's Quarter Pounder with Cheese in France, but was underwhelming overall. The El Chappo was far superior in my opinion and I'd happily choose it again, the RwC I'd substitute for the Pulled Pork.

It's difficult comparing these sliders with the superb burgers I'd consumed earlier in the week. It's a different experience and if I'd had these in a week where I wasn't mainlining burgers they would have probably rated higher. Lucky Chip also provide different types of buns dependent on the slider ordered and I'd have liked to have tried some of the other options from the sesame seed buns that both our choices came on. Portion size is also worth mentioning. Two was a not quite enough, and it would have been good to see the option of adding a third slider for additional charge.

The fries by the way were perfectly satisfactory, nothing amazing, but well executed. Condiments on the other hand were sadly lacking from the dinky table that we were forced to do a Chicago Lean. This lack of self-service was compounded by the psychic ability of the staff to avoid eye contact at all costs other than asking for the bill, so getting some ketchup or other sauce was a nigh on impossibility.

The Watermelon Julep and El Chappo were superb, the Royale wit Cheese good, service perfunctory, and Health and Safety of the steps sub-par. All in all a good 3 out of 5 experience. I'd be hard pressed to go for a repeat visit of an evening with so many other excellent food choices of all varieties within easy walking distance, but I would be tempted to return for lunch if I was nearby at the time. That said I haven't yet sampled Honest or Dirty Burgers or Burger and Lobster that are nearby.

Burger Week to be completed - Part 5, Sports Bar and Grill Farringdon, Cowcross Street, Farringdon, London, Sat 9th Mar

P.S. As time was wearing on we skipped the third bar on our list and, in keeping with new traditions ended the evening in a Tiki Bar. Kanaloa, is a well concealed celeb friendly establishment, near Chancery Lane tube. Decor and ambience were superb. Lei's were hoisted on us at the entrance, but the very large venue was quiet on entering. It filled up relatively slightly with a few office shindigs entering, but still failed to fill the place. The music as in Lucky Chip was too loud for an old fart like me.