Gourmet Burger Kitchen

131 Chiswick High Road
W4 2ED

020 8995 4548


Although billed as a family blog, it's fair to say some family members are more enthusiastic about this challenge than others. Eldest Miss West4urants likes the variety, she's always up for trying something different, the quirkier the better. Mstr West4urants recognised early on that going out more often would significantly increase his chances of getting some meat to eat. But youngest Miss West4urants is not really a foodie, her perfect meal is a plate of rice cakes while watching 'Grey's Anatomy'. So if we couldn't persuade her to come somewhere new with us, we'd have to go somewhere old she likes to go. And as there isn't a Wagamama in Chiswick, that meant a trip to Gourmet Burger Kitchen (or GBK as it likes to be called, channeling the KFC vibe).

Three Kiwi guys opened the first GBK in Battersea in 2001, "changing the UK burger scene forever" their website modestly claims. The Chiswick site opened in 2004, on the premises previously occupied by The Chiswick. (Opened in 1994 by the team behind The Brackenbury, The Chiswick was by some distance W4's best restaurant before La Trompette came to town.)

We're about 50% too old for GBK. The target market appears to be 4 to 34: from young children watching iPads, through teenagers racking up reward points on their GBK App to young parents with iPhones texting their friends to avoid talking to the young children.
The ordering system is lifted straight from McDonald's: you queue up to order, and if you're one of the few not to have the App, they will accept credit cards.

The burger options include the Taxidriver, the Habanero, the Blazing Sombrero and the disgusting-sounding Kiwiburger (with beetroot, pineapple, fried egg and cheese). Miss W4 and I both kept it simple and went for the cheeseburger (£6.55), which is the standard test of a burger joint. I have to say it's a pretty good burger - decent meat, well cooked - in a depressingly standard Mother's Pride white bread bun. The skinny fries were ok but the sweet potato fries were exceptionally good - crisp outside, sweet and soft inside. Well worth £3.95.

Mrs West4urants had the Goats Cheese Salad (obviously): grilled goat's cheese, vegetable crisps, beetroot, semi-dried tomatoes, hazelnuts, mixed leaves, pomegranate dressing. She was under-whelmed (obviously - it's a burger joint).

They serve a good range of beers, including Meantime and Brewdog, as well as a wide selection of giant milkshakes from which Miss W4 eschewed the Jager Shake in favour of a strawberry one (well, it was a bit early for alcohol, even for her).

Food (for 3): £28.50
Drink: £8.50
Total: £37.00