Gourmet Burger Kitchen have recently expanded their reach in Brighton & Hove by opening their doors at the Marina’s newest quarter. Its quirky décor and wonderful staff don’t scream commercial at all to me and for this reason I like it. Since it came to Brighton its popularity continues to flourish. Even on a recent dismal, drizzly evening the restaurant was full and the atmosphere energetic. The only thing I could flaw is having to queue to place your order – and that’s down to laziness mixed with delusions of grandeur, nothing more.
The menu here is accommodating and generously packed with every conceivable burger to suit your mood. After painstakingly ‘umm’ing and ‘ahh’ing our way through the menu, our food arrived promptly. We quickly realised that chat can wait, thouugh hot and handsome burgers can not. My dining companion opted for The Habanero Burger (£8.95). Stacked with mozzarella, habanero jam, house mayo and salad, it complimented the well-seasoned beef. This really was packing some heat which exploded in his mouth, delicious, sweet and spicy with silky mozzarella working its magic to soothe and balance the ‘POW!’ of habanero; this was undoubtedly the best burger at the table. Habanero jam is comparable to a blazing hot pepper jelly and with the aide of a trusty fresh and fizzy elderflower cordial (£2.45), he was just about able to handle it.
I am known to eat a rather large amount so decided to get stuck into The Stack Burger (£11.95). It’s loaded with grilled chorizo, Red Leicester cheese, house onion rings, smoked chilli mayo, rocket, pickled onions and house relish accompanied by chunky skin-on fries (£3.35) and GBK Homeslaw (£3.00). The Stack is exactly that – and looks impressive. Melting Red Leicester oozed down the medium-cooked burger; this is a heavy-duty salty combination of flavours that begs to be devoured in hearty mouthfuls. The Homeslaw was light, tangy and tasty and pleasantly took the edge off the cacophony of flavours I had challenged myself with, while the hot chips worked beautifully with their GBK salt and thoroughly satisfied my belly. After heroically eating everything in front of us, we washed our burgers down with Old Rascal ciders (£5.05), which ended our feast with a fruity twist.
Gourmet Burger Kitchen is at 44-47 Gardner Street, Brighton, BN1 1UN
The new Marina branch is at Unit 2 The Boardwalk, Waterfront, Brighton, BN2 5WA
