With restaurants in Camden, Shoreditch and Soho, The Diner is fast becoming a mini-chain in its own right, clearly targeting London’s indie scenesters in their glorious vintage clothing.
The Camden branch, located just off the high street on the slightly nondescript Jamestown Road certainly grabs your attention with its red neon signage and black exterior, much the same as the Soho Pizzeria in fact and inside it’s a similar story with clever black tiling creating a cool, moody atmosphere.
The American influence is most evident however when scanning the vast menu, where ‘fries’, ‘shakes’ and ‘dogs’ abound. Worried that a ‘(hot) dog’ would not suffice, I joined my sister and ordered a medium cooked Cheese Burger at £6.50 and a side of fries to share, from our pencil-thin waitress.
Given that this was a Thursday night at seven o clock, I was most disappointed to find that with the exception of two other tables we were the only ‘diners’ in the place. To make matters worse, the music had been turned down almost as low as the lighting, making for a rather quiet and dark restaurant.
Considering that staff appeared to outnumber customers, the burgers didn’t exactly race out of the kitchen, eventually arriving in rather grubby looking black plastic baskets with Diner branded paper.
First impressions were good however, with cheese melting nicely on top of a thick, juicy ‘pattie’, as those in the burger trade (but certainly not I) like to call them. A decent looking bun sat beneath with the related lid adorned with lettuce, a slice of beef tomato, red onion and a token gherkin.
Quickly seeing off the salad element of the meal I was now left with a manageable burger that could in theory be eaten by hand, without the risk of spilling relish over a fresh pair of cream chinos.
Unfortunately the burger could no longer be classed as medium, having been charred around the edges and ultimately arrived at the table ‘well-done’. This was a shame given the quality of the meat and the excellent sesame seed topped bun, which was obviously fresh and when served warm, tasted fantastic.
The chips were equally delicious with a nice golden colour to them. Heinz tomato sauce bottles are placed on every table as well as a bottle of mustard and cellar of salt, with vinegar appearing to be the elusive condiment. The small pot of relish that arrived with the burgers also proved to be tasty enough.
With room still for dessert nothing seemed to jump out at me from the selection on the menu so we decided to leave it for today and simply ask for the bill. Annoyingly, for what is only a burger joint in Camden, a 12.5% discretionary service charge was added, which I reluctantly chose to pay.
Whilst not somewhere I would rush back to, if I ever happen to find myself in Camden sporting a pair of skinny jeans and looking for something a little more than a ‘Big Mac’ then I would certainly give the Diner another whirl.
The Camden branch, located just off the high street on the slightly nondescript Jamestown Road certainly grabs your attention with its red neon signage and black exterior, much the same as the Soho Pizzeria in fact and inside it’s a similar story with clever black tiling creating a cool, moody atmosphere.
The American influence is most evident however when scanning the vast menu, where ‘fries’, ‘shakes’ and ‘dogs’ abound. Worried that a ‘(hot) dog’ would not suffice, I joined my sister and ordered a medium cooked Cheese Burger at £6.50 and a side of fries to share, from our pencil-thin waitress.
Given that this was a Thursday night at seven o clock, I was most disappointed to find that with the exception of two other tables we were the only ‘diners’ in the place. To make matters worse, the music had been turned down almost as low as the lighting, making for a rather quiet and dark restaurant.
Considering that staff appeared to outnumber customers, the burgers didn’t exactly race out of the kitchen, eventually arriving in rather grubby looking black plastic baskets with Diner branded paper.
First impressions were good however, with cheese melting nicely on top of a thick, juicy ‘pattie’, as those in the burger trade (but certainly not I) like to call them. A decent looking bun sat beneath with the related lid adorned with lettuce, a slice of beef tomato, red onion and a token gherkin.
Quickly seeing off the salad element of the meal I was now left with a manageable burger that could in theory be eaten by hand, without the risk of spilling relish over a fresh pair of cream chinos.
Unfortunately the burger could no longer be classed as medium, having been charred around the edges and ultimately arrived at the table ‘well-done’. This was a shame given the quality of the meat and the excellent sesame seed topped bun, which was obviously fresh and when served warm, tasted fantastic.
The chips were equally delicious with a nice golden colour to them. Heinz tomato sauce bottles are placed on every table as well as a bottle of mustard and cellar of salt, with vinegar appearing to be the elusive condiment. The small pot of relish that arrived with the burgers also proved to be tasty enough.
With room still for dessert nothing seemed to jump out at me from the selection on the menu so we decided to leave it for today and simply ask for the bill. Annoyingly, for what is only a burger joint in Camden, a 12.5% discretionary service charge was added, which I reluctantly chose to pay.
Whilst not somewhere I would rush back to, if I ever happen to find myself in Camden sporting a pair of skinny jeans and looking for something a little more than a ‘Big Mac’ then I would certainly give the Diner another whirl.
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