Review: Side Street burgers on Leith Walk

I was amazed at how low cost the Side Street burger menu was, and that was before I took advantage of the 50% off for their opening Saturday on Leith Walk.

@edinburghreviews

Girdy went to the grand opening of @sidestreetofficial and their Leith Walk (Edinburgh) opening. We had drums and pipers, drones and lots of local interest. Tasty burgers too!

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Arriving at 4pm, the opening hour, I was almost immediately immersed in the lively atmosphere: a piper and drum playing, a drone in the sky, cameras rolling, and a queue of curious locals. Despite the buzz, the queue at Side Street, a takeaway venue, moved swiftly. I soon walked out with my order in a shiny Side Street bag, becoming customer number 90. The quick service was impressive.

Reviewing any venue on its opening night is harsh because it’s the day when kinks in the system that still need to be worked out pop up and cause problems. If Side Street did have any issues, though, I couldn’t see them. I must have spent about 30 minutes waiting with the crowd to get in, then about 5 minutes from the doorway to the counter, and then at most 10 minutes from the kitchen to get my food.

If there’s anything to call out as a “they’ll work it out later” wobble is that Edinburgh isn’t on Side Street’s list of locations. London, Rochdale, Manchester and Bonnyrigg are. Fair play to Bonnyrigg.

Side Street’s food

There’s a lot wrong with the world today, but the rise of craft burgers isn’t one of them. Wait; is ‘craft burger’ the correct phrase? The artisan burger? The glorious gluttonous burger?

Side Street is all about the mash burger, with temptations like the ‘Cheesed Up Smash Burger, ‘ which consists of two hand-crafted beef patties, house seasoning of double cheese, lettuce, onions, and burger sauces in a soft seeded brioche bun.

I had the ‘Caroline Reaper Tender Burger‘, a spicy three deep-fried chicken tenders with lettuce, onion and mayo in Side Street’s soft-seeded brioche. If spice doesn’t tickle your delights, then pick a different tender burger, but I loved mine.

I also, ahem, don’t judge, had ‘Texas BBQ smoked Brisket Potato Tots’, and this was even better than the Reaper Burger. Along with the slices of melting brisket, there was melted cheese and BBQ sauce.

In the future, I imagine it’ll be possible to eat at the little shelf-table along one wall of Side Street. Maybe they’ll add stools. However, for opening day, with the small takeaway packed to bursting with hunger Leithers, there was no chance of eating in, and so I took my bag to Leith Links.

Let’s find out! I’d be delighted to return to Side Street and test that theory.

I think there’s a risk of Side Street bags making their presence known on Leith Links. The new burger bar is right down at the bottom of Leith Walk.

A drawback of cheese sauce-covered food (besides the calories) is that it doesn’t travel well. I was also especially worried about the ‘Texas BBQ smoked Brisket Potato Tots’ because I was originally going to order a side burger and fries and changed my mind at the last minute. I didn’t think to ask about cutlery. Would I get to Leith Links and have to scoop my fingers into lava cheese to get to my brisket and taters? No! Phew. Side Street had provided plenty of napkins and a plastic fork. A wooden fork would have worked just as well, but I was grateful for any way to shovel that delicious food into my mouth.

The Just Eat Bonnyrigg menu says my ‘Caroline Reaper Tender Burger‘ costs £7.49 and ‘Texas BBQ smoked Brisket Potato Tots’ £11.99.

I’m sure the Leith Walk menu is several pounds cheaper (collection is often cheaper than delivery). I apologise for not noting the price. We were sharing the menu in the queue, so people didn’t get to the counter and didn’t know what to order. I then traded my receipt in to prove I was customer 90 to collect my food.

Wonderfully, I only paid 50% due to the special opening night, so today’s food was a delight.

Side Street’s vibe

It seems to have taken an age for Side Street to open on Leith Walk as that coming soon shop frontage has been up for a thousand years.

It seems that the time has been spent wisely, although the front of house area is elegant and simple in design. I speculate that much of the construction time has gone into the kitchen. I also suggest, with the evidence of one visit and how the kitchen didn’t crumple under the weight of interest on day one, that the time to open has gone into staff training, too.

Was there any drama in the busy queue while I was there? Nope. People laughed, joked and waited their turn. Some lads behind me seemed to take a bloomin’ age to get their order straight, work out who’d pay and then faff around doing so, and the staff kept their smile. A couple ahead of me spent their entire 30 minutes+ in the queue planning what they’d order and how they’d customise requests, picking which one would check the food before leaving the shop, and sorting out any errors. Sure enough, the couple found something unsatisfactory and returned their bag to the counter to ask Side Street to sort it out. I don’t know what the issue was, but Side Street swapped their order quickly and without faff. If the couple had food intolerance or allergies, then, of course, they had to check for errors and get the order fixed.

Me? I got my food with a wink.

Things to do in Leith

Side Street is a smash burger bar at the bottom of Leith Walk. It’s clean, low-cost, quick, and tasty, and surely that’s all anyone can ask for? The menu is large, but not immediately so, and as long as you’re a meat eater, you’ll surely find delicious calories to treat yourself to.

In this corner of Leith, as noted, you’re not far from Leith Links and if you want some delicious pudding to go with your Side Street then Krema Bakehouse is open until 6pm on most nights. After 6pm? Then there’s The Dog House Leith, not for brownies, but pints.

Shopping? You’re in my element here with Logan Malloch, Argonaut Books and Ancient Robot Games all neighbours.

You’re also super close to a tram stop.

Overall

I really enjoyed my Side Street food. I’ve never queued that long for a burger in my life, but I’m glad I did here.

I was impressed that the little takeaway withstood the tsunami of interest from Leith locals. I hope all the staff are still standing at night’s end and nothing gets damaged.

My gut feeling is that Side Street will thrive in Leith. It’s found (for better or worse) that a post-pub niche location and price points will work well.

I want to go back.