Yen Burger on Southwark Street in London is a Japanese restuarant serving ‘oriental inspired and homemade burgers’. They are situated just over the road from Borough Market and considering the location were relatively quiet when we visited them. I was hoping that wasn’t a bad sign and that it was just a case that they were tucked away just off the beaten track.
We briefly toyed with the other side that listed Ramen & Rice Bowls including a quite tasty sounding Katsu Curry but then the server told us that they were not doing any of that stuff at the moment so we gave up that notion and focussed on burgers. Fair enough, after all that was supposed to be the main theme of the restaurant.
BURGER MENU
The menu tells us that ‘all our beef burgers are freshly minced and cooked to medium unless otherwise requested’ which sounded good to me. Just as I like it so I looked through the options
I spotted the word ‘smash burger’ in the description of the TERIYAKI burger so that made my mind up straight away, my partner in dine was opting for the basic burger with cheese having been let down in disappointment from the absence of the rice bowls so chose the CLASSIC YEN
After that you have to choose a bun type, Yen, Brioche, Sesame Vegan, or Gluten Free. Interesting selection, I dismissed the gluten free offering and while I like sesame seeds I was not wanting to chance a vegan bake so I ended up picking brioche which is never my first choice with burgers or hot dogs.
I found out later than the Yen Bun had a Y stamped into the top bun as a char and I wish I had picked that now
Anyway enough about the breads lets eat some burgers!
DOUBLE TERIYAKI BURGER
The Double Teriyaki Burger was described on the menu as ‘Double smashed Angus beef patties, Double Cheddar Cheese, Lettuce, Shiso, Pickles, Red onion, Turn up sauce‘ and cost a hefty £14 with no fries they were extra
First impressions were that ‘this is one tasty burger’ I would hesistate to call it a smash burger as the patties were a little bit thick for that and they didnt really have that classic charring you expect from the smash on the griddle which was a shame.
Having said that it didn’t detract any much from my enjoyment, happily the meat was juicy and the cheese was plentiful so it was a nice comforting bite. Taste wise it was hard to pick out any meatiness in the flavour as the burger sandwich was overpowered with the teriyaki sauce, not that I am really complaining as it was a very nice sauce.
I am still none the wiser as to what the ‘turn up’ sauce was all I will say is that I wasn’t turning my nose up at it all
In summary it is a good burger, perhaps a little bit on the small side for the money (even though we are in London) and perhaps a bit too clever with the mix of flavours but definately one to return for
CLASSIC YEN
The Classic Yen is described on the menu as Angus beef, lettuce, shiso, tomato, red onion and yen sauce for £10.50. We chose to add cheese for an additonal £1 and that was the best idea we had all day long.
This is a very eatable burger, full of juicy meat and with a soft comforting chew just as I like my burgers. It was perhaps too simple for it’s own good ,relying on the rather excellent Yen sauce for most of it’s flavoring. Again no idea what was in that sauce either. I heard someone describe it as a Japanese Big Mac sauce and that probably sums it up nicely
SPICED FRIES
The spiced chips or Dashi Fries were one of the more interesting tastes on the table. I quite liked the spicing of saltinesess alongside a dusting of paprika (I think). The chips themselves were lightly crunchy yet still nice and fluffy inside
The only downside was that by the time they came to our table they were luke warm at best and cold at worst. To be fair when we commented they offered us a replacement and took the cost off the bill so that was good service although would have just like some hot ones to start with lol
Despite all that I still ate them all and not just because they were good, mainly I was still hungry from my small burger.
If we come back this way again I do hope that they have the ramen bowls on as I am a big fan of the noodles. I love my burgers too but sometimes I do like to vary it up and anyway you will soon find out from upcoming posts that I ate my fair share of noodles to on this trip. Sorry digressed 🤣
Yen Burger can be found at 1B Southwark St, London, SE1 1RQ located just across the road from Borough Market opposite to the Southwark Tavern.
You can check them out on their Instagram profile and their Facebook page
myfoodhunt.com 