Back when Wimpy was a fixture on almost every high street in the UK, their tagline was “the home of the hamburger”. This was a time when McDonalds was a distant dream for most of us, and nobody had even thought of putting the words “burger” and “gourmet” together.

Wimpy is not a fast food chain, nor is it a true café. Rather it’s a strange combination of both. It pretty much introduced the concept of the US diner and fast (ish) food to us Brits. Well after all it was originally an American company, born in the 1930s and named after the famous burger eating character from the Popeye cartoons. It was bought by Lyons in the UK back in the 1950s to refresh their by then tired and outdated tearooms.

A menu of burgers, fries, mixed grills, breakfasts and of course the desserts…oh the magic of a brown derby when I was a kid

Most of the Wimpcy restaurants have long since disappeared, but I am pleased to say there is still one near to me.

So how do they stack up in this modern age?

Really well I am pleased to confirm! I opted for the half pounder with cheese and a side of onion rings (much tastier than fries). The burger is big and beefy with a firm, tasty brown burger roll.

The patties are freshly cooked to order and that makes a big difference, succulent but surprisingly un-charred, the flavour is meaty and well seasoned.

The small amount of lettuce was completely drowned in Wimpy special sauce…which is a good thing!

As the special sauce is so loved it was copied and has now transformed itself into a very British institution…burger sauce! For any of our overseas readers, burger sauce in the UK is kind of like thousand island or Russian dressing, and we love it!

My large portion of onion rings was delicious, not too greasy and they go fantastically with obligatory (in my book) Heinz tomato ketchup.

It’s not on a par with today’s gourmet burger joints, but it is way, way above the standard fast food chains fare. That does mean it is priced accordingly, but you do get table service (all the self service bar based Wimpys became Burger Kings in the 1980s).

Speaking of which, one of the things that came out of the Burger King/Wimpy link-up is that BK took the spicy bean burger for their menu…and in my view ruined it. The original Wimpy spicy bean burger is the only veggie burger I would drive out of my way to go and get. If you have never had one or haven’t eaten one in a while, go try it out.

Although no longer the home of the hamburger, all in all it is still a pleasant experience and one which ignited memories of me begging my folks to take me in whenever we walked passed a legendary Wimpy!

Do you have one near you? If not do you miss them? Most importantly do you have fond memories of the wonderful Mr Wimpy?

Wimpy UK

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The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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There were a good number of tasty looking options including chicken, but I went for something classic. They call it the guv’nor, a beef burger with bacon, cheddar cheese, pickle gherkin, mustard mayo, tomato and lettuce.

Upon ordering I was told they don’t do frites any more only classic chips. Later investigation online only seems to add to the confusion, they still show “skinny fries” on their online menu and the list of burgers has definitely changed. It seems like their website has some catching up to do.

They are also licensed so beer and wine is available, unusual for what is basically a fast food restaurant.

The food turned up, and the burger was good…very good

The well seasoned patty was cooked medium how I like it. The succulent beef worked well with the tangy melted cheddar and salty bacon, although the bacon was a little tough, perhaps it had been sitting around awhile. That said it didn’t take too much away from my enjoyment. The mustard mayo worked splendidly with the crunchy, sweet gherkins and the big slice of tomato and crisp lettuce added freshness. All the flavours came together very well.

The white untoasted bun did suffer a little from the medium cooked juiciness of the burger and it did become a little soggy towards the end.

The chips were great. You could taste they had used fresh potatoes, and the outsides were crisp with a nice fluffy middle. No complaints in this department.

The onion rings had a pretty good flavour but suffered from something which seems to happen a lot with onion rings at these kinds of restaurants. Why oh why do they need to be so soaked in fat? I did shudder a little as I ate them, the oily batter coating reminding me of those dreaded school lunchtime spam fritters. Too greasy for me so a bit of a let down, but I’m sure some people out there must like that kind of thing…

My partner chose the vegetarian burger, straight up with Emmental cheese. I tried some and it was excellent, firm and good tasting. What I found nice was that it didn’t try to “be” a beef burger. It had its own excellent savoury flavour and both myself and my partner considered it a very good veggy option

So overall a good experience, you can taste thought and quality ingredients have gone into the food. The total price we paid for the 2 x burgers, 1 x fries, 1x onion rings and a coke was £18.85.

The Fine Burger Co currently have 3 sites in London: St Pancras Station, the O2 Centre and the ExCel Exhibition Centre. This small chain is owned by The Fine Food Company, which has several other “Fine” brands. You may find all of their food brand stalls at outdoor events, as only the burgers have made it to permanent static sties. I will certainly be looking out for them.

So Fine Burger is well worth visiting for a quick bite, the burgers are fine…just fine.

Have you tried Fine Burger yet? Do you have a favourite burger joint?

Author information

The Food Curator

The Food Curator (AKA Michael Robinson) is an aficionado of all things food and bon viveur based in London. A passion for cooking and dining has driven him to put fingers to keyboard to bring you his thoughts on the world of food. When not writing, eating or cooking he has a love of American muscle cars. Pop on over to my Facebook page and let's start a Facebook food revolution together: http://tinyurl.com/thefoodcurator

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The post Are the burgers fine? appeared first on Food on the Blog. Post by The Food Curator