St James Quarter is now home to some of the most exciting and accessible restaurants in the city with several top names now offering their fare there.
From celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay, Jimmy Lee and Gary MacLean to foodie favourites like Ka Pao, Maki & Ramen and East Pizza, there is an option for every palate.
However, when it comes to burgers, two spring to mind – Gordon Ramsay's Street Burger and El Perro Negro but if you're heading out which is better?
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Heading out with £16 to try both, Edinburgh Live wanted to see which would be our pick in a taste test.
With a slightly more up market offering and promising "honest-priced burgers with bags of flavour", the first Street Burger restaurant north of the border generated a lot of buzz when it first launched on level 4 of St James Quarter at the tail end of last year.
While Glasgow import El Perro Negro have won the Best Burger in the UK title not once but twice offering smash burgers that have impressed not only customers but also bloggers and industry judges.
The Burger picks (both £16 with fries)
Street Burger - The O.G.R Burger, which comes with grass-fed Hereford beef, topped with smoked cheese, house relish and salad.
El Perro Negro - The Top Dog burger, which comes with grass-fed, dry-aged beef, topped with bone marrow and Roquefort butter, double bacon, caramelised onions and black truffle mayo.
Appearance and portion size
The GRSB O.G.R when it arrives is perfectly formed and but oh so small, with a modest portion of seasoned fries.
Both El Perro Negro's signature Top Dog burger and their regular fries are both bigger in size than the GRSB.
Each burger looks incredible appetising, though the GRSB looks cleaner with its greenery, EPN's burger looks like the kind of dirty, comfort food you can't wait to get in your mouth.
Winner: El Perro Negro
The Fries
Though there are more of the El Perro Negro fries and they are still excellent, the seasoning on the GRSB just hits different and elevates them just about their rivals. Both sets of fries though were delicious, crispy and incredibly moreish.
Winner: Gordon Ramsay Street Burger
Buns
While the GRSB bun was perfectly adequate, the extra care El Perro take to create their demi-brioche buns in-house shines through. Perfectly matched for their burgers, the abundance of sesame seeds and extra flavour was a definite plus point.
Winner: El Perro Negro
The beef patty
Without taking both apart and focussing only on the patties this was harder than you might expect, however it was clear that the beef used in both was a cut above your normal restaurant fare. Both juicy and expertly seasoned, we really couldn't pick a winner here.
Winner: A hard fought draw
In conclusion:
Overall, the Street Burger was truly exceptional but El Perro Negro just seems to have a much keener grasp of what people want in a burger, they have that 'Oh so dirty, but oh so right' quality everyone loves when it comes to comfort food in spades.
Also the difference in size in portions was readily apparent, with our trip to EPN just leaving us feeling that little bit more satisfied.
You won't be disappointed by a trip to either, but it's clear to see why El Perro Negro are regular finalists and two time winners of the annual Best Burger in the UK, coming out overall winners in our taste test.
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