Bristol's best burgers

By Erin Lawler, Epigram Food writer

While great burger chains do exist like GBK and Five Guys and great chains do good burgers like Bill’s, Bristol offers a plethora of amazingly delicious, more unique burger places and I am here to rank my Top 5.

1. The Hobgoblin @ Gloucester Road

A cosy and warm pub on Gloucester Road, The Hobgoblin offers the best tasting burgers in Bristol. They offer beef, fried chicken and veggie burger options – even a burger with both beef and chicken on it aptly titled the ‘Cow and Chicken’ which is pictured below – as well as some amazing side dishes. I am probably biased by my love affair with fried chicken, but to me it is the crowning glory of their menu, achieving its golden crunchy best in the ‘Mother Clucker’ burger consisting of seeded bun, fried chicken burger, hash brown, Emmental cheese, tomato salsa and hot sauce.

Not only does the punny name deserve a round of applause but the flavours too. While each burger comes with a side of fries and coleslaw the dirty fries, either topped with pulled pork and blue cheese or bean chilli and sour cream, are completely worth the sickly full feeling that proceeds the meal. While it does not offer discounts or deals for students as some of the other places on this list do I would still say the flavour and satisfaction outweighs the cost.

Image: Epigram Food contributor/Megan Allard

2. Three Brothers Burgers @ Welsh Back

Coming in at a very close second is Three Brothers Burgers, amazingly only frequented by me recently even though I lived in Riverside accommodation in First Year. If the restaurant being on a boat isn’t astounding enough for you they also do a £5 burger deal available everyday 12-5 or for students all the time, which consists of their classic burger or Portobello mushroom burger and fries.

While for some, like myself, a classic burger is a tad too plain, the toppings are great value it being only 50p extra each for crispy onions and American cheese. This place is great if you have dietary requirements as they have gluten free buns on offer and will replace any meat patty with a Portobello mushroom. With the quality and taste of the beefy burger and insanely crispy fries this £5 deal is an absolute steal.

Image: Epigram Food contributor/Erin Lawler

3. Burger Joint @ Whiteladies Road

Burger Joint has to beat out some of the other great “burger joints” in Bristol purely because of its phenomenal deals: with a valid NUS card you can get 15% off your total bill; weekdays 12-3 you can get a burger, side and drink for £8.50; or on weekdays 3-5 you can get a burger, 2 toppings and a side for £6.95.

What makes the burger joint perfect for each individual is that each burger is completely personalised. With their ‘build your own burger’ feature you choose the bun, the burger, the toppings and 1 free side, they charge an extra £1.50 for the parmesan and truffle fries but my goodness do they sound worth it. It is a top picl for students who want good flavour for affordable prices at a handy location.

4. Burger Theory @ St Stephen’s Street

Near Baldwin Street and St Nich’s Market the home of the bottomless burger club is a slight trek if you are living in Cotham/Redland but I guarantee you it is worth it. The beef patties are juicy and the fried chicken has a crunch unlike any other I have had the pleasure of munching. The menu is fun and playful, what you would expect coming from a company who proclaim themselves ‘The Creative Burger People’, with many if not most of the burgers featuring blue cheese and pickles.

If these do not grab your fancy however they do offer some inspired sides like the ever growing in popularity Canadian delicacy of poutine topped not only with the expected gravy and cheese but also with spring onions and garlic fried chicken thigh. Burger Theory do offer some deals like £8.50 for a burger and fries 12-3 Tuesday to Fridays or free fries with a veggie burger on Mondays they do not quite match those of Three Brothers Burgers and Burger Joint.

5. HUBBOX @ Whiteladies Road

Again, situated on Whiteladies Road near Clifton Down Station and Cotham Hill this is a handy spot for students living in Cotham and Redland and offers great student discount of 25% Monday-Thursday all day and Fridays until 5pm. While not exclusively a burger restaurant Hubbox has some great ones on their fully-fun-packed menu alongside the hotdogs, salads, snacks, nachos and loaded fries. The burgers were tasty but I chose the ‘Hey-FC’ burger and the pickled onions were so strong that it slightly took over, but overall was a tasty fried chicken burger with good fries and I have heard very good things about their mac & cheese side.

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Featured image: Epigram Food contributor/Megan Allard