Le Bun pop up review, Birthdays, Dalston ★★★★★

Tim Talbot and Andy Taylor behind Le Bun have had hit after hit with their distinctively oddball burger formula.

Le Bun's burgers are overflowing with ingredients and succulent, and have all the components of a 'dirty' burger - but the end result looks tidier, and is simply less likely to ruin your clothes. There's none of the needless excess - just buns neatly packed with a pantry's worth of supplies. There's great care taken to source the right companion ingredients to the beef patties. Black truffle, smoked pickles and veal jus are most recent components.

New for Christmas - and for the Birthdays Dalston pop up - is the deliciously sensational Christmas tree-smoked deer burger, soon to launch. The food arrives as it's ready, and dishes not to miss include crispy chicken skin lovingly caked in honey, and some rather sensational (but in equal parts comforting and familiar) mac and cheese with ox cheek.

In that dish, the mac and cheese has a simple creamy velvetiness not dissimilar to canned mac and cheese. Its pairing with tender, smoked ox adds robust texture. An upmarket twist on the classic.

We chased that with the classic duck frites bun, a classy spin on the French dish that could have done with a little more fat to indulge in. The F**king Vegans, with charret fennel, shallot and beetroot, is a testament to Le Bun's unequivocal love of meat and banter. It's also (Says my vegan guest) thankfully refreshingly different.

There's no desserts, which should be easy to drum up to a French-American theme to contrast with the rich meat, and our signature Bloody Mary with mini cheeseburger garnish - ordered entirely for the Instagram moment - arrived with its cheeseburger detached, on a white paper plate, which seemed rather futile.

But these were the only weak moments at this endearingly bizarre burger pop up that will continue to turn the heads of more than just the hip Dalston set.