Burger freakshakes?! — Heliot Steak House (Hippodrome Casino)

You may be wondering how I found myself in such a flashy environment intended for ‘high rollers’, so I’ll tell you a tale…
Two days before #NationalBurgerDay and I still had absolutely no plans. Don’t get me wrong, there was no shortage of phenomenal looking burger specials, but I couldn’t find anything to easily fit into my schedule at a convenient location.
Thankfully along came the Hot Dinners newsletter, which included a roundup of majestic burgers to ogle. Surprisingly there were a good number that I hadn’t been made aware of, including the titular burger freakshakes from Heliot Steak House in the Hippodrome Casino.

I suddenly had plans. It was like someone had concocted the special just for me — famously a liker of both burgers and milkshakes.
Everything from the concept to the presentation to the specific ingredients had my brain and stomach screaming “yes!”. I can’t help but think of it as a super-decadent, and frankly more appealing, alternative to a wine & cheese pairing board.
And so it was that I found myself strolling into a casino in central London on a Thursday lunchtime, baffling a number of in-the-dark staff with my request for burger milkshakes.

To be honest it was quite quaint how unprepared they were to have someone asking for the freakshakes. Whilst they were intended for the Steak House that didn’t open until 5pm, the Hippodrome’s channels were very clear that they could be acquired from 12 in the bar/lounge.
The bar staff sought help from a manager floating nearby, who seemed incredibly pleased that someone wanted to try the special. He apologised that they didn’t have a menu for them, but they did have a nice big A3 photo — more than I needed.
My anticipation hit its peak as, after a reasonable delay, a waiter emerged from the kitchen and ever-so-carefully tiptoed over to my table with the platter, not wanting to upset the delicate stacks he was bearing.
I was met with perplexed yet impressed (perpressed/implexed?) looks from staff and patrons alike. Perhaps rightly so.

Deciding to work from left to right, I picked out our first specimen.
I’m not sure whether my taste buds aren’t as discerning as I’d like, or the reporting of this phenomenon was a bit off, or the kitchen had slipped up, but the burger and milkshake pairings didn’t quite match up to what was advertised. That didn’t matter one bit though, and I’ll speak to what I think I got.
This was a lobster tail slider with avocado and a house Marie Rose sauce seated atop what I believe to have been the blood orange shake.
As you might be able to tell, this wasn’t an easy one to just pick up and eat given the size, arrangement and presence of tails!
Regardless I fumbled my way through and was a very happy bunny.
I don’t usually go in for lobster but they didn’t skimp on it here and it was all lovely, meaty and juicy with just the right amount of batter. The sauce worked perfectly with the seafood flavour, and you just can’t go wrong with the millennial-bait avocado can you?
As for the milkshake I was pleasantly surprised in a number of ways!

Firstly I was approaching the whole endeavour with a bit of trepidation because I had no frame of reference for what quality of milkshakes the venue could produce — they could have been powdered nonsense for all I knew — but this was a solid ice-cream-based and nicely thick offering.
Secondly it was really tasty! The blood orange flavour was refreshing both in terms of novelty (not one I’ve tried or even seen before) and in its light fruitiness on the palate.

Next up was the obligatory veggie burger — specifically with roasted field mushroom, peppers, courgettes and a chilli sauce — astride a passion fruit shake.
I could make cheap jokes about vegetarian burgers all day long, but this was genuinely brilliant.
They clearly didn’t stuff this one by half (as was the case across the board in fact!) and all of the components were tender and juicy.
The sauce was finger-licking good too, though I didn’t detect much chilli in there!
Another great fruity shake to accompany this one. The unthinkable happened in this case, where some of the ‘burger juice’ dripped into the jar, but I can’t say it impacted on the experience.

This one was too tall for its own good (or rather for the good of my photos)!
It’s also where we seem to depart from the expected menu a bit. This was introduced as the pork slider, however its construction more closely resembles that of the promised “prime rib-eye burger” given the bacon, lettuce and tomato.
I’m assuming a substitution had to be made due to a shortage of ingredients or something, but sadly I wasn’t that impressed by this burger.
There was certainly a solid amount of meat, but it was a very dry affair. The equivalent advertised burger included truffle sauce, but whilst there might have been a hint of it here there certainly wasn’t enough.
I also can’t help but feel cheated out of prime rib-eye. Sad face.
To keep the disappointments coming, the accompanying milkshake in this instance was strawberry. I’ve never really liked strawberry shakes. Granted on this occasion the taste was closer to actual strawberries than your typical artificial strawberry flavour, but it still didn’t do much for me.

Saving the best for last in classic fashion, we have the slow-cooked pork belly slider complete with bacon and house BBQ sauce, straddling the fan-favourite vanilla shake.
And this was most definitely my favourite of the burgers. So messy and meaty, sweet and sticky.
It was advertised as pork belly, and I feel like I should take them at their word, but with regard to how it felt to eat I couldn’t help but think of pulled pork interspersed with some beef rib meat for whatever reason.
The promised guindilla pepper was missing from atop the slider, but that was probably for the best!
Can’t fault a well-made vanilla shake, and that’s all I have to say about that.
Wowzers. What an experience.
Needless to say the chips were an entirely superfluous addition. I managed to eat 2 or 3 before taking my leave because I felt bad for them, but quite clearly I didn’t need the extra sustenance! I was actually full to the point of feeling slightly ill for the rest of the afternoon — having tried and failed to get one of my skeptical colleagues to accompany me — but that’s no fault of the freakshakes.
Let’s talk value. This generous platter comes to £24, to which my initial reaction was “that’s a bit steep!”. However I think that was just because I was going to be consuming it all on my own. Breaking it down that comes to £6 per shake+slider combo, and thinking about it that’s crazy good value!
For just a milkshake like this in London — and often of worse quality — you’re usually looking at £5, and probably another £5 or £6 for the burger if not more given the sizes. And with Mr Hyde’s #NationalBurgerDay discount it was £19.20, or less than £5 per unit — a true steal.

At that price I would be rounding up a friend or 2 or 3 and indulging in this monstrosity again before it disappears forever after the 27th. To be quite honest, if they sold them individually at £6 each I would be all over that all the time.
Whilst burger & milkshake is now a classic accepted (and delicious) combo, a full burger and large shake often tends to be too much. A slider of this size — and they really are impressively sized sliders — plus the sensibly-sized shake could basically be my ideal meal. When I’m not in a Japanese mood of course.
So I must close by congratulating the mastermind behind this special; I applaud your imagination and your talent. Even the most underwhelming “freakshake” was still good quality, and this was an experience I would happily repeat (albeit with some assistance).
I visited Heliot Steak House in the Hippodrome Casino at Leicester Square on 24/08/2017 and paid £19.20 (20% off £24 standard price) for 4 burger freakshakes. And chips.
