The Meating Room

Most of the restaurants I get to review are in London so I really appreciate the chance to review a local establishment.

The Meating Room in St Albans (22 Catherine Street) is about 7 months old and a great gem to find.  The owner, Al, knew nothing about restaurants or in fact beef when he decided to change career and open a burger restaurant.  Al did know however that he wanted the best beef in his burgers and the freshest ingredients as well as the freshest, locally made buns and he made it his business to source the best of all of the ingredients.

Al decided, after tasting and sampling loads of beef, that the best beef for his burgers would come from The West Country and be from sustainable farms with good animal practices.  The buns are made daily by a local St Albans baker to Al’s specific recipe.

The result of taking all this care is a simple, lovely menu.  Keep it simple and make it fantastic!

Mr R and I went in one Saturday afternoon and it started to fill up quite nicely whilst we were there but apparently if you want to dine there on a Friday or Saturday evening you need to book.  The reputation for clean food (no additives or fillers, fresh and sustainable) has gotten around St Albans in record time.

We started with a milk shake. Mr R had the chocolate and I had Tahitian Vanilla.  They were thick and creamy and very filling indeed. You can BYOB (bring you own booze) if you want alcohol.

We shared a starter of grilled halloumi cheese with grilled red peppers.

When the main courses came we were really impressed.  We were asked how we wanted our burgers cooked and they came exactly as we had ordered.

I had the house ‘Meating Room’ burger cooked medium rare which came, as all burgers do, with a portion of rosemary sprinkled chips. The Meating Room burger has gem lettuce, grilled beef tomato, red onion, apple smoked cheddar, grilled turkey bacon and BBQ chilli sauce, and boy was it tasty!

Mr R had the ‘St Peter’s’ cheese burger; a beef patty with lettuce, beef tomato, red onion, homemade burger sauce and emmental cheese.

If you don’t like the menu suggestions you can ‘Build Your Own Burger’ customising it just like you want.

This is a small venue but very welcoming and child friendly. I think the grandchildren will love these burgers and look forward to taking them there next time they visit.

I was a guest of The Meating Room and was not paid to write this review.  As usual all opinions and photographs are my own.