The Posh Burgers of Chelsea
Is this the best burger in London? The meat is organic from grass fed cows, butchered by virgins on a full moon. The farm that supplies the meat is family owned, but the virgins may be imported from Eastern Europe. The burgers are served on saturdays at the Duke of York Square market in Chelsea, London from a stall run by Woodwards Farm. Will and Kerrie who run the farm are occasionally on hand, but mostly the burgers are cooked by smiling, well scrubbed farmhands.
A burger from Woodwards has become part of my Saturday morning ritual. There’s usually a long queue for the £5.50 burger and the anticipation is part of the experience. The burger is served on a freshly baked roll with condiments including a spicy home-made relish. I usually accompany mine with a glass of prosecco from a nearby stall.
I don’t know how many of the stalls at the Duke of York Square market are actually run by farmers. However, there’s usually a Moët champagne bar, plenty of yummy things to eat, and music from an unkempt singer who wears a beret and sings sad songs about how he ended up playing guitar at a farmer’s market in Chelsea. The crowd is a mix of locals and tourists, with a decent sprinkling of Russian women wearing too short skirts, and dripping with jewels and botox.
Everyone who’s not a vegetarian has their own favourite choice of burger (I must point out that most cows are vegetarian – and look where that got them). However, when the sun is shining and the wind wafts the smell of grilling meat over the heads of the posh denizens of Chelsea – the Woodwards Farm product is unbeatable.
