Peckham pop-up cooks the burger of the decade
London indie Whole Beast wins the National Burger Awards Champion of Champions event, seeing off competition from 26 of the nation's finest burger businesses
Whole Beast, the nose-to-tail, live fire specialist based in Peckham, has triumphed in the biggest burger competition in the country.
The business, led by husband-and-wife team Sam and Alicja Bryant, was crowned the winner of the National Burger Awards Champion of Champions event after Sam cooked off against 26 former National Burger Awards winners at a 10-year anniversary celebration of the competition.
Here's how things went down:
The burger, simply called ‘Aged Cheeseburger’, features an aged beef patty, bread and butter pickles, smoked bone marrow, Whole Beast burger sauce, diced white onions, American cheese and a milk bun. It is a mainstay on the Whole Beast menu, which can currently be found at The Montpelier pub in Peckham, south east London.
“It’s mad,” says Sam. “To be invited back to be a part of it and then to win the whole thing is absolutely mental. This is a burger we’ve done every day for a year, so we were kind of relaxed and in our comfort zone. It’s great that what we cook every day has actually won it.
Aged Cheeseburger, Whole Beast
“We know some of these chefs really well, like El Perro Negro, Bleecker, people we really admire. To be competing against them is an honour in itself, but to win it is absolutely incredible.”
In order to win the accolade, Sam first served his recipe to a panel of industry judges during a round of heats made up of previous National Burger Awards winners from the last 10 years.
He was then one of three chefs to make it through to the ‘live final’, where Whole Beast, El Perro Negro and Fattso were challenged to produce their burgers in front of hundreds of evening guests, serving their final dish to an on-stage panel that featured chef Sally Abé and Topjaw’s Jesse Burgess. The Whole Beast Aged Cheeseburger was then named the Champion of Champions.
During the awards evening, the Best Looking Burger went to The Beefy Boys; the Most Creative Burger was won by MEATliquor; and the Bloggers’ Choice Award was presented to Black Bear Burger.
The National Burger Awards will return for its 11th year in February 2025. Entries will open at the beginning of October 2024. Operators can register their interest now by visiting nationalburgerawards.co.uk.
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