Making Burger History. Five Guys at lunchtime on opening day

I only found out about Five Guys yesterday. My mate’s really into burgers, and we’ve done all the usual suspects: Byron, MeatLiquor, MeatMarket: all the places where you expect double hunks of meat in your bun exchange for an hour or so’s salary, with chips on the side. Places where the toppings are fresh and carbophobes like me can have salad in lieu of a bun.

The new kid in town, Five Guys opened its first branch UK today, in honour of American Independence Day in Covent Garden, at the end of Long Acre, and the queues wound practically to Leicester Square. But I’d discovered a phenomenon. You can order online. It’s really simple. Register, pick what you want on your burger, set a time, and go collect. You can even save your favourite toppings for next time you’re feeling like a dirty lunch. This way, you can beat the queue.

Except, this time, on opening day, the process was a little congealed. There was pandemonium on outside as the hungry hoards queued around the block. Those that had played the system were allowed in by smart American –trained servers, and told to queue and re-order – the site got swamped, and the red hatted burger crew was sweating to keep up with demand.

I found a seat and waited for my friend, helping myself to the self-serve cola that came in every flavour for lime to cherry vanilla – it made a nice change, but it wasn’t exactly a taste sensation.

I’d say the same about the food, when it arrived in a grease drenched paper bag some 40 minutes later, although the crew repeatedly apologised for the delay and offered the waiting crowds drinks as they frantically called out order numbers. The burger – I’d gone for plain with salad and pickles, was tasty, the fries, cooked in peanut oil, were crisp and rich – better for having their skins on – and so plentiful I could hand them out to my team in plastic cups when I returned to the office some 20 minutes late from lunch.

My friend’s bacon cheese burger was lacking cheese, but whether that was the frantic crew’s fault, or my own ordering blip, who knows? It was a great lunch. I felt like I was making fast food history.

But whether this chain will go down in burger history in the UK, as it has done in stateside, remains to be seen amongst hot completion form established contemporary posh burger bars. Those queues will no doubt subside like a hastily made double decker burger.