I think I’ve subconsciously avoided Islington due to the dreaded nostalgia of finishing uni projects at my alma mater, but I’m replacing those memories with all the good food I’ve eaten here instead. The latest is a collaboration between a chic burger joint and a moody wine bar. Say hello to Godet and Perk’d Up Burgers.
Sylvain Bertozzi, the owner of Binch, a successful wine bar on Greenwood Road in Hackney, has teamed up with chef Ricky Evans, who runs the Delirium Dining Club, to open Perk’d Up Burgers.
Perk’d Up sits within Binch’s new sister bar, Godet, in what was once The Seveney on the corner of Essex Road. Now, it’s decorated with a peachy pink facade, matching indoor walls and homely, black-and-white check curtains. Wooden booths wrap around one of the corners, with a few high and low-top tables on the opposite end. It’s dark, moody and candlelit, with an excellent music selection from the DJ that livens up the place on busy evenings.
While Godet supplies the wine – ranging from sparkling Chardonnays to orange Savagnin – and a selection of craft beers, Perk’d Up serves the food. From Wednesday through to Saturday, the menu offers bar snacks and starters, excellent burgers, a bunch of cheese and sharing plates and churros for dessert.
Sundays are reserved for roasts. There’s a 45-day, dry-aged Yorkshire beef sirloin with horseradish, Yorkshire porchetta with mangalitsa lardo confit apple, Yorkshire Herbes-de-Provence roast chicken and a wild mushroom and root vegetable wellington, with all the classic sides and trimmings. For dessert, there’s the obvious, but consistently classic sticky toffee pudding and the pain au chocolat bread and butter pudding.
Cheeseburger scotch egg
Bacon cheeseburger
Brie, emmental and parmesan croquettes
I stopped by on a Thursday night with a friend and ordered the cheeseburger scotch egg starter to split, diced pickle toppings and all – a decent bite that gets the job done, but nothing out of this world. The front-running starter, which I will order again and again, is the brie, emmental and parmesan croquettes. These little cheese balls came flaming hot, but like children who never learn, we immediately snatched them off the plate. One light pinch and these fireballs burst open releasing cheesy, white, hot strands that we knew would burn, but we didn’t care. We took pleasure with our pain.
The bacon cheeseburger had me by first sight, touch and bite – 40-day, dry-aged ex-dairy beef, double-smashed patty, cheese, bread and butter pickles, crispy shallots, house sauce and smoked, streaky bacon served on brioche. Despite the vivid cheesiness and sauce, the structure held beautifully, and it tasted as good as it held. Each bite was juicy and textured, with a bonus crisp from the patty’s edges, and the brioche was soft and divine. Even sound played into the meal. Maybe it was just a coincidence that the DJ chose to play A Tribe Called Quest’s “Award Tour”, a classic, while dinner started; maybe it was the large glass of the Chateau Yvonne Cabernet Franc that hit the spot; maybe it was fate.
For chips you can choose between skin-on fries with rosemary or fries with rosemary, truffle oil and 12-month comté – both crisp and satisfying, depending how gluttonous you’re feeling on your visit.
We didn’t order dessert as we were too full, but the experience was sweet enough. However I will return for the churros, for the roast, for the wine and the DJ – and for more of those juicy, crispy-edged burgers.
282 Essex Road
London
N1 3PF
February 2025
