Burger & Lobster Manchester
Ian Jones, Food and Drink Editor![](https://www.creativetourist.com/app/uploads/2016/10/IMG_2172-623x438.jpg)
To the first-timer, Burger & Lobster might seem like an unusual conceit for a restaurant. With a menu consisting almost entirely of – you guessed it – burgers and lobsters, it goes against the growing trend for vast, phonebook-thick menus. To limit the offerings to two simple choices suggests one of two things: sheer folly or a single-minded faith in the concept. Which is it?
As you’d expect from the old Ship Canal offices on Manchester’s affluent King Street, it’s a beautiful breath-taking space. Clean, elegant and with hints of the original Victorian Gothic-style architecture, the first thing you see upon entering is a huge wall full of lobster tanks (apparently the biggest in the North-West). Peppered with cosy booths and walled-off secret areas, it also features an impressively large bar area. It’s a huge building, with hundreds of covers, totally packed-out on Fridays and Saturdays. Even on a quiet Sunday evening there’s a distinct buzz to the place, with groups of trendy twenty-somethings and tables full of young date-night couples. The soundtrack helps. A skilfully-mixed playlist of R&B and classic hip hop, it suits the mood and clientele perfectly, creating a rousing but relaxed atmosphere.
![Lobster Roll](https://www.creativetourist.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/IMG_2216.jpg)
But how about the food? First off, unless you like olives forget about starters. It’s not that kind of place. Burger & Lobster fits into the gap between American diner and upmarket sit-down meal, offering up just a handful of dishes, along with a couple of ever-changing specials. That’s not to say it’s boring, as the intriguingly-named Seven Samurai demonstrates. An East Asian twist on the standard lobster roll, this is a boxy toasted sandwich heaving with fresh lobster, Chinese cabbage and Burger & Lobster’s very own secret weapon: a creamy sauce made up of seven eye-popping ingredients, including orange peel, ginger and an array of Japanese peppers. It makes for an intoxicating set of fiery flavours you’d be hard-pressed to find anywhere else. Far from a light option, this is next level indulgence, taking the standard lobster roll to all-new heights.
The most popular choice is the King St Combo, a stacked platter of lobster (grilled, steamed, or half and half), with a towering Mayfair burger on the side. This is a meal so messy it comes with a bib to protect your clothes from flying debris and dripping juices. Not for the squeamish. Again, the quality is excellent. The lobster is fresh, fleshy and plump, and comes with a buttery garlic dipping sauce that could hold its own anywhere. The burger, cooked medium, matches up well. The meat is top-quality Nebraskan beef, robust but tender and crumbly when bitten, full of mouthwatering juices. Even the salad is a delight, made up of fresh leaves with a sweet vinegar dressing, sprinkled with the ideal amount of tangy Parmesan cheese. It’s all too common for restaurants to treat salad as a pesky afterthought, so it’s heartening to see it given the care and attention it deserves.
The quality is excellent. The lobster is fresh, fleshy and plump, and comes with a buttery garlic dipping sauce that could hold its own anywhere.
The drinks warrant a special mention and go some way to explain Burger & Lobster’s popularity with hip, young Mancunians. The Drunk Lemonade, a cocktail only available in the Manchester branch, comes highly recommended by our cheerful, likeable waitress. She’s not wrong. It goes down effortlessly – zesty and deceptively potent. The Bloody Mary is another success, including the unusual but not unwelcome addition of sherry. The oddly-named 8 Steps To The West is a bourbon-based cocktail, combining pear, elderflower and rosemary, and rubber-stamps the venue’s skill when it comes to cocktails. With such a large section of the venue dedicated to the well-stocked bar, you’d expect decent drinks but these would take pride of place at the city’s best cocktail bars.
![Burger & Lobster](https://www.creativetourist.com/cms/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/KitchenPass.jpg)
There are reports that it’ll be moving venue in the new year, but it’ll be a shame if it does. King Street badly needs a venue like this: easy American-style dining, geared towards stylish young diners who don’t want to compromise on quality. If you’re looking for stuffy fine dining with a sprawling menu, Burger & Lobster probably isn’t for you, but if you want excellent food (minus the tyranny of choice), along with even better drinks then this is one of Manchester’s best.