When El Perro Negro first opened in Glasgow in 2018, it quickly garnered a cult following and regularly topped blogs and polls as the city's best burger.
And it wasn't long before the burger specialists, led by founder Nick Watkins, were gaining national attention, so much so that when they entered the National Burger Awards in 2019 with their signature Top Dog burger they smashed (no pun intended) the competition and took the crown for the UK's best burger.
A feat they then repeated in 2021, seeing off competition from 14 other top burgers from around the UK, all of which were cooked, served, tasted and judged at a live final in London – and they are even back in the running for this year's final with a new burger, the Big D.
READ MORE: We tried Gordon Ramsay's street burger in Edinburgh and had some thoughts
So with a two-time UK Burger of the Year winner quietly arriving in Edinburgh at Bonnie & Wild’s Scottish Food Hall in 2021, Edinburgh Live decided it was time to try this burger and see what we really thought.
For context, the Top Dog Burger is a grass-fed, dry-aged beef patty, topped with bone marrow and Roquefort butter, double bacon, caramelised onions and black truffle mayo.
Sounds mouth-watering right?
Arriving hungry on a busy Thursday evening, the food hall was bustling, which for us is a great sight and good to see people out and about supporting small businesses and enjoying great food.
Ordering the Big Dog (£12.50) and regular fries (£3.50) from the friendly staff, we grabbed a seat at one of the long tables and waited for our buzzer to flash signalling our burger was ready.
When we were finally able to collect the burger looked as appetising as it sounded.
Well, first off, let's start with the fact it's a smash patty burger, which, in a land of tumbling tower burgers and overstuffed options in crumbly buns, is greatly appreciated.
Seriously, the fact we can actually hold the burger in our hand and take a bite without it dripping everywhere or exploding salad and squirting sauce out the other end is a real Brucey Bonus. There are rules to a great burger and this, for us, should be one of them.
The first bite was pretty heavenly. As down and dirty a burger as you could hope for, with the patty filled with flavour and well seasoned and that black truffle mayo and caramelised onions working so well with the crisp rashers of bacon (another thing we appreciated).
Usually, we find truffle to be overwhelming but the balance in this was pretty spot on. Another big plus point was the in-house demi-brioche buns which held together well and tasted delicious.
The chips were, much like Gordon Ramsay's Street Burger, a cut above the usual fare you find in high street places, with a perfect crunch and fluffy potato, we'd maybe have liked more seasoning but that was us being overly critical.
A good portion size – though smaller than we remember from the Glasgow branch – and plenty of chips meant we left feeling pretty satisfied too for the £16 we spent.
So, there you have it, Edinburgh is home to the best burger in the UK and it seems crazy to us that more people don't know about it.
Was it the best we've ever tried? It was pretty close and to be honest, we already can't wait to go back to try some of the other options on offer such as the Double Smash with Chipotle Mayo (£12) and the Black Dog with Lawson's Black Pudding (£10).
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