Brighton is quite literally spoiled for choice when it comes to burgers. We’ve got MEATLiquor, Burger Brothers and Coggings & Co to name just a few (we did have The Troll’s Pantry at Hobgoblin but they are, woefully, no longer there) so Smashburger has launched on North Street amongst fierce competition. Everyone’s dying to know how they match up to what we’ve got already and I went to one of their early openings to find out..

I dragged my friend Dan along (this is Dan..)

and we had a really lovely evening trying some of the restaurants favourites.

I’m starting with our least favourites first so that we can get to the really good stuff at the end. These were served toward the end of the evening and they’re probably what you’d go for if you were looking for a “healthy option”. The first is grilled chicken with lettuce, tomato and cucumber on a seeded bun which was good but paled in comparison to the flavours we’d tasted earlier on, and the second is their vegetarian option, portabello mushroom with swiss cheese and avocado. While there’s nothing wrong with serving a portabello mushroom as the veggie option at a burger joint, I’d probably just swerve Smashburger if you’re a vegetarian looking for a good burger. We’ve got so many places in town that make amazing veggie patties from scratch and cater to vegetarians (and vegans, too) with the TLC you can expect in Brighton.

This is the buffalo and blue cheese sauce served with fried chicken instead of a burger (this is possible with most of their burgers) and it was just gorgeous. The fried chicken was succulent, the amount of heat was bang on and you can’t go wrong with blue cheese.

Smashburger’s side game is very, very, very strong. Like seriously. Order the fried pickles and thank me later. If you’re feeling like you need something properly vegetabley to complement the amount of grease you’re consuming, the veggie frites (flash fried green beans and carrots) are great. Oh, and if you get fries, do not leave without trying their truffle mayo.

Pictured above are my two absolute favourites: the stilton stack and the truffle mushroom swiss. The stilton stack has bacon and haystack onions, which are not a thing I had come across before but am now obsessed with (if you have a recipe, hit me up ASAP).

If you’re a long time follower of Cate in the Kitchen, you’ll know I’m actually not a huge meat person, so it took me by surprise to find that these two incredibly meaty burgers were my favourites. I don’t know whether it’s because I had somebody who passionately believes in the Smashburger method of searing burgers (packed very loosely into a ball, thrown straight on the grill and pressed immediately) before I ate them, but I really felt like I could taste the difference when it came to it..

Will you be going down to Smashburger to see what you make of it? Which of these burgers look best to you? Let me know in the comments!

53-54 North St, Brighton, BN1 1RH

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