National Burger Day is here, and London, home to the world's best burgers, is the place to celebrate. According to The World's 101 Best Burger Places 2026 list, compiled by the World's 101 Best Steak Restaurants, London's Bleecker comes out on top. The capital boasts three out of the top 10 burger spots globally, with Black Bear Burger at number two and Hawkmsoor St Pancras taking seventh place.
A turnaround for London's burger scene
Only 20 years ago, options were sparse — McDonald's, Burger King, maybe some okay creation at a suburban pub. Wimpy has somehow existed since 1954, with 61 outlets still nationwide. Everything changed 15 years ago. In 2011, Meatliquor opened, and people suddenly realised burgers could be so much more. The Dead Hippie remains one of London's most important dishes.
The 10 best burgers in London
Jupiter Cheeseburger £10 (includes fries)
Jupiter Burger is the work of the Dom's Subs team, behind some of London's greatest sandwiches and east London's best bars (Rasputin's). Inspired by futurist 1950s googie architecture, the grab-and-go fixture in Netil Market is London's answer to America's In-N-Out Burger. The beef comes from Hill and Szrok, the butcher's shop on Colombia Road, and is smashed to become a thin patty but isn't smashed too much. Patties are served in Martin's buns (soft and buttery potato rolls) with twice-cooked fries as standard. The £10 cheeseburger and £12 Jupiter burger are good value. The hot baby peppers are the topping to go for. 13-23 Westgate Street, E8 3RL.
Tommi's Cheeseburger, £10.70
Though the Soho branch of Tommi's closed, there's still one in Marylebone. In a world of smashburgers, big branding and hideous brioche, Tommi's serves classic, old fashioned burgers. An Icelandic brand, beef patties are grilled hot and fast, slipped into soft white buns and topped with lettuce, tomato, ketchup, mustard and mayonnaise. The inclusion of tomatoes is excused because they get simplicity right. 30 Thayer Street, W1U 2QP.
Dumbo Cheeseburger, £9
Many think Dumbo is Paris's best burger joint, certainly better than Junk. Dumbo does smashburgers well: dry-aged beef from top butcher's HG Walter is smashed with a spatula onto hot plates, locking in flavour and cooked to allow a juicy middle and crispy, charred and caramelised edges. Then comes diner cheese, pickles, chopped onions, ketchup and mustard. Is it better than Supernova? They're much the same but Dumbo might edge it. 119 Bethnal Green Road.
Supernova Cheeseburger, £10
This smashburger specialist in Soho has created a firestorm of social media hype. Originally opening for lunch only at its Soho branch, it's now open all day, every day, until 11pm. The two burger options are a patty with American cheese, mustard and ketchup, or an alternative with the intensely flavoured in-house sauce; go for the plainer version to appreciate the crisp patty and gooey cheese. The only other things on the menu are no-frills fries and sundaes. Not everyone is a fan — “It’s just McDonald’s for wankers” was the less generous take from restaurant critic David Ellis. Don't get the house sauce, stick with ketchup and mustard. 25 Peter Street, W1F 0AH, or 39 Thurloe Place, SW7 2HP.
Four Legs at The Plimsoll Dexter Cheeseburger, £14
“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication,” Leonardo da Vinci said. At this Finsbury Park pub, a single beef patty is sandwiched in a glossy brioche bun with American cheese, homemade sauce, diced onion and some sweet-and-sour gherkin; it's the quality of ingredients — including Dexter beef as well-hung as Mark Wahlberg in Boogie Nights — and the skill with which they are cooked which elevates this to the most refined version of a McDonald's imaginable. The Plimsoll comes courtesy of chefs Jamie Allan and Ed McIlroy, a duo better known as Four Legs. 52 St Thomas's Road, N4 2QW.
Bake Street Smashburger, £9
Burger devotees journey from across the capital to a humdrum parade by Rectory Road Overground for Bake Street's smashburger, which is only served at the weekend — Bake Street is a coffee shop the rest of the time — and eaten under an awning outside come rain or shine. A smashburger is a puck of beef mince pressed down hard on the griddle to achieve an all-over charring that seals the meat juices within the caramelised crust; here it's simply served in a brioche bun with cheese, ketchup, mustard and shallots. Owner Feroz Gajia also oversees the smashburgers at Manna in the Arcade Food Halls at Centre Point and Battersea Power Station. 58 Evering Road, N16 7SR.
Bleecker Blue Burger, £11.60
Bleecker is meat and drink for time-pressed diners who don't want to compromise on quality. The story goes that New York native Zan Kaufman had the best burger of her life at Zaitzeff in the East Village, where she began moonlighting from her career as a corporate lawyer. She jacked in the day job when she moved to London and opened Bleecker in a food truck before launching bricks-and-mortar sites in the City, Spitalfields, Victoria, Westfield, Baker Street, Soho, London Bridge, and Bloomberg. The secret is rare-breed, grass-fed beef cooked to order; the burger topped with blue cheese is the perfect match for the tang of meat aged on the bone for 40 days, but there are American cheese-and-bacon burgers for less pungent palates. Various locations.
Blacklock The Blacklock Burger, £14
We'd recommend ignoring Blacklock's chops and wrapping your laughing gear around the house burger. Formerly a “secret” order when the Shoreditch branch launched, it is now on the menu across Blacklock's other sites at Bank, Canary Wharf, Covent Garden and Soho. It's basically a deluxe cheeseburger: two beef-and-bone marrow patties (from Philip Warren butchers in Cornwall) smothered in Ogleshield cheese and Montgomery Cheddar in a sesame-seed bun, elevated by the sweet-and-sour kick of onions caramelised in vermouth. Order some beef-dripping chips. Various locations.
Meatliquor Dead Hippie, £14.25
This now nine-strong nationwide chain is the blueprint for most of London's new-wave burger joints: punny names, boozy hard shakes, impressively inked staff, an indie-rock soundtrack and a backstory involving burger vans, pub pop-ups and finally West End domination. Crucially, Meatliquor introduced Londoners to sloppy burgers of pink-in-the-middle patties discharging sauce and meat juices all the way up to the elbow. The signature Dead Hippie was apparently inspired by visits to Burning Man by founder Yianni Papoutsis, though a Big Mac is the more obvious reference point: two beef patties are fried in French's mustard and piled high with lettuce, American cheese, diced white onion, gherkin and a secret “Dead Hippie” sauce not unlike Thousand Island dressing. Onion rings, crunchy pickles with blue-cheese sauce, deep-fried mac'n'cheese and sauce-drenched fries make fine accompaniments, plus there are chicken and veggie burgers too. Various locations.
Black Bear Black Bear, £12.50
Husband and wife Stew and Liz Down did their homework before opening their sit-down burger joints in Brixton, Westfield, and Clerkenwell, working ski seasons in Whistler (home of the black bear) and taking inspiration from Stew's family beef farm in Devon. The butcher-made burgers use beef sourced from farms in the South West, oak-smoked bacon comes from outdoor-bred pigs in East Anglia, bespoke buns arrive fresh from a baker each day, and everything else (fries, sauces, rubs and pickles) is prepped and made in-house. The Black Bear burger involves two smashed dry-aged patties with bacon, onion jam, Kraft-style cheese and garlic mayo — though side orders are just as big a deal here: brisket spring rolls filled with 12-hour beer-braised beef, smoked bacon and cheese, chicken wings with buffalo and blue-cheese dipping sauce, and steak-rub fries zingy with habanero honey mayo. Wash it all down with pilsner brewed in collaboration with Pillars Brewery in Walthamstow. Various locations.
