England we bring you the real flame grilled burger

Photographer: Richard Langford

It’s quite possible that almost every South African has stumbled into a 24 hour garage at 3am and feasted on one of these gloriously juicy patty buns at some stage in their lives and if they haven’t well, quite honestly, they are either lying or have been living like a hermit in some dorpie (town) somewhere in the middle of the Karoo. Those of us who have uprooted and set up ship in the UK can often be heard among conversation with other SA natives saying things like ‘Jas I’m really craving a King Steer burger bru!’ or for those of us blessed with slightly less saffa accents ‘I’d kill for some Steers chips with 1000 island sauce right now!’. Well we need moan no more for the Mighty Steers has decided to grace London with its very purple presence and where better than Clapham Junction? Clapham gave Durban the Grand and we give Clapham ‘Steers’. 

Photographer: Richard Langford

Since the Brits seem to love our local outlets so much, with Nandos and Spur proving to be very popular, we could no longer deprive them of the mouth-watering, flame grilled, beef burger goodness anymore!

I decided to head down to Clapham (with post grad celebration brother avec hangover in tow) to see if it compared to SA Steers standards, these are my findings:

Not only does it taste just like the home grown stuff the portions are just as big. There is nothing worse than going into Nando’s and placing an order for double the price and you receive half the portion. My brother ordered a King Steer burger meal that gave him jaw cramp when he tried to wrap his gob around it (this is not an exaggeration and a reference can be provided if needed). They do the full works. Remember those soft serve ice creams dipped in the caramel sauce that goes hard? I can confirm they still taste the same as they did when you were a kid.

Photographer: Richard Langford

Photographer: Richard Langford

Conveniently placed across the road from The Slug I am sure many late night boozers will feel right at home when they walk out of the jol (party) and straight into Steers! But it’s not only the jollers (party goers) that are loving the arrival, I met a guy in the queue about 45 years old who didn’t even live in London and had driven for an hour just to pick up his take away Steers on a Sunday afternoon, that’s commitment and a true testament to the loyal Steers lovers.

It’s always risky bringing in something new from another country where it does so well and throwing it amongst the judgement of a new target market but from my conversation with the manageress (and from what I witnessed) most of the patrons were English. Three Brits sitting next to me were overheard saying ‘this is amazing’ between scoffing down flame grilled mouthfuls of meat and burger bun.

Photographer: Richard Langford

So what are the cons? Well the only criticism I have is that there isn’t enough tables but then we are in London and space is hard to come by so we will let that one slip ;)

“Rock and roll is the hamburger that ate the world.”
 - Peter York

Photographer: Richard Langford