Wednesday 2 January 2013

Tommi's: London vs Reykjavik

Tommis3_zps1c1d5e4aTommi's in London - cheese burger

Tommis_zps80509781Tommi's in Reykjavik

Tommis1_zpsee9593a9
Tommi's in Reykjavik - steak burger and chocolate fudge cake

When Tommi's Burger Joint opened in London several months ago I was excited to try it out, I knew nothing about Iceland at the time but hearing this burger joint came all the way from Rekjavik was an exciting concept. The Marylebone burger joint is in the heart of what I like to call Burger Land with Meat Liquor and Patty and Bun only a few minutes walk away so the competition is fierce.

First of all, I absolutely love the décor of the place, fairy lights everywhere so the place has a lovely warm and friendly vibe about it. It's small but both times I've been it hasn't been particularly busy so getting a table has been easy. The menu is small which is something I prefer, too much choice can be overwhelming and with a small menu it normally means the chefs can really concentrate on the taste of the different burgers. On both my visits I went for the deal of the century which is a cheeseburger, fries and fizzy drink (diet coke thanks). At £9.40 I wouldn't exactly call this the deal of the century, however you can't deny that a burger, chips and drink combo for under a tenner is some sort of a good deal! Now this isn't the best burger I've ever had but I did enjoy it nevertheless, the flavours are simple and understated and I imagine it's on a par with McDonald's but sometimes a simple and quick burger is all you're after and if that's the case then this is the place for you. It's not my favourite option in Burger Land but it's definitely a place I would recommend a burger lover to check out especially as the staff are lovely, it's less than 5 minutes from Oxford Street and the restaurant is a nice place to rest your feet in.

Now talking about the lovely staff on my second visit I knew I had a trip to Reykjavik planned for the following week so after a little chat with the waitresses I left with a list of bar recommendations and told them I would definitely be popping into the original Tommi's in the Reykjavik harbour which nicely brings me on to part 2 of this review. FYI all the bar recommendations I received (B5, Celtic Cross, Bar 11 and Dillon) were excellent!

I spent a long weekend in Reykjavik with a group of friends and our first port of call on the Thursday evening was to check out the original Burger Joint. The London waitresses had told me there were a few different locations but we wanted to check out the original down by the docks. As for décor it is very similar to the London branch but with even more fairly lights and hilarious burger themed accessories making it perfectly festive for our visit in December. I decided to try the much raved about steak burger with chips and fizzy drink followed by a shared slice of chocolate fudge and ice cream. First of all let me just say that Iceland is not cheap, everything is more expensive so there is no point even trying to compare the price to London. I wasn't thrilled by this burger, the steak had an unusual taste and I found myself wishing I'd just gone with the cheeseburger. However, despite the differences in the patty the style of this burger (and the chips) was just like the London branch so in my opinion they've done a great job at replicating the original branch over here. As for the chocolate cake, well I love chocolate cake and this one was huge and delicious, nuff said!

I was in Reykjavik for a long weekend so we hadn't planned on having another burger but after a choice of venue mishap the following night we ended up in the bar B5 which has a little Burger Joint kitchen on the side. None of us wanted another burger but we had 30 minutes before we had to be back at the hotel for our Northern Lights excursion so we didn't have time to go anywhere else. This time I went for the cheese burger deal of the century which by Iceland's standards probably is a pretty good deal and it tasted just like the one I had in London. I wouldn't recommend going to B5 for a burger as it's nowhere near as nice as the original Burger Joint décor wise but I was sort of glad I got to try it out.

The style of Tommi's has definitely carried well across the 3 different branches I've been able to try (I'm not sure if there are any more in Reykjavik but let me know if there is) and the burgers are worth checking out but don't expect any table service or even menus as this a quick style eats place.

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