Food is as subject to fashion as hair, heels and handbags, and it seems only yesterday that posh burger restaurants were springing up on every London street corner. Some are still with us, others flip beef patties no more. Joining what’s left of the fray is the intriguingly named Guerilla Burgers. A guerrilla is, of course, a kind of renegade soldier: early indications suggest this enterprise will end up one of the winners in the capital’s burger wars.

The Venue
James Street is an attractive thoroughfare running north from Oxford Street near Bond Street Station to Wigmore Street. It is here that Guerilla Burgers competes with restaurants of every kind. The look is ‘50s American burger joint cleverly funked up for 21st-century metropolitans. There’s a mix of marble- and wood-topped, clothless tables upon which sit metal buckets of relishes; simple wooden or moulded grey plastic chairs; a blue bar; eccentric, mismatched chandeliers and spot-lighting. Windowed panels run the full length of two sides of the large, high-ceilinged room and will surely be flung open in summer.

The Atmosphere
Staff, some with authentic American accents, are terrific, friendly in that direct but warm transatlantic way, informative, efficient. A jug of tap water arrives – and is replenished – unbidden, a welcome American import. Diners are young and casual with a smattering of babies and children. Classic hits of the ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s, mainly soul but with the odd rock track chucked in, play at just the right volume.

The Food
We know it’s naughty but we just can’t resist a burger every now and then. These days, clever places like Guerilla realise it doesn’t have to be naughty at all: we can have our patty and eat it, for what could be more virtuous than slaw without the mayo, ground turkey meat and sweet potato?

Amid homely starters like cream of tomato soup in a mug (£3) and “nice little chicken bites” (£4), crayfish cocktail (£5), a modern cross between avocado prawns and prawn cocktail, is a winner. A generous portion served in a chunky jam jar, it has plenty of juicy seafood and ripe, diced avocado amongst its salad leaves. The Marie Rose sauce has been deliciously spiked with smoky barbeque flavours. Raw slaw salad (£3) is virtuous but doesn’t feel it, comprising a really interesting selection of salad leaves, slivers of apple, and toasted seeds and walnut pieces.

For mains, there are salad and taco options and even hot dogs but it’s really about the burgers which, in a modern twist, are all available in ground beef or turkey, or you can substitute a non-ground, grilled chicken breast. Thankfully, the burgers are of modest, British proportions (150 - 160g) rather than authentically, transatlantically gargantuan.

A beef rodeo burger (£6.50) arrives slightly pink in the middle, as specified by the menu. It is tasty and tender without a trace of gristle or bone. The barbeque sauce has just the right strength of flavour. The bun is toasted and there’s a nice touch of deconstructionism with lettuce, beef tomato slices and pickle served on the side so that you don’t have to pick out anything you don’t like. The oval metal tray on which it is served, however, might strike you as either fun or reminiscent of a US penitentiary. Meanwhile, the biggest compliment one can pay Guerilla’s turkey burgers is that you don’t notice they are not beef. The cobb variety (£6.50) features meaty, salty bacon, agreeably punchy blue cheese and avocado.

The crinkly-cut fries (£2/£3) will instantly transport you back to the Findus freezer bags of your childhood, and there’s nothing wrong with that. They arrive piping hot and judiciously salted. Whether smothering them in (admittedly delicious) vegetarian chilli and melted cheese (£4) is a good idea depends on whether you mind at least some of your chips going a bit soggy. Staff recommend the sweet potato fries (£3/£4) and is right to do so; with their toffee-ish crunchiness and sweet flesh, they are the hit of the night.

Ice cream concoctions dominate the brief dessert list but staff are again on song by recommending the plain two-hour-baked cheesecake with cherry compote (£4.50). The biscuit base is impeccably crisp, the filling unctuous, the sour compote a perfect foil.

The Drink
There’s a compact list of wines, beers and softs plus just a couple of cocktails, of which a generous goblet of Guerilla Punch (£5 or £18 for a jug) delivers a massive blackberry hit (from Creme de Mure) with a good backbeat of booze from vodka and dark rum. It would be a tad sweet for some palates. The cocktails may be large but the wines come in unusually small tumblers of just 125ml. The house rose (£2.75 or £14 a bottle) is surprisingly and agreeably dry but with plenty of fruit flavours, an absolute steal at the price. As previously mentioned, jugs of iced tap water arrive unbidden and are topped up.

The Last Word
This guerrilla is fighting on two fronts. Even if the burger peak has past, it still has to compete with plenty of outlets around London offering ‘gourmet’ versions, and it is situated on a street of nothing but restaurants of every type and price range. But with keen pricing (three courses and half a bottle of wine will come in at comfortably under £30 a head), faultless service, a fun vibe and a delicious product, it’s hard to see this Guerilla being vanquished.

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