"The best of my life!" Where to find the best burgers in New York

You may not know it, but the hamburger is not originally American, any more than Chips, but German. The Hamburger was, and still is, a knife-grinded steak whose meat was mixed with chopped onions and pan-fried. It was not uncommon for German emigrants travelling by boat to the Promised Land to take it with them on the crossing, along with bread. Forced to travel 2nd class, in rather crude conditions, they had to make do with what they had. This is how the meat preparation ended up as a sandwich. And the hamburger, invented during the crossing, ended up in Manhattan, then New York, and finally in the United States!

There are few things in this world that everyone agrees on, and I'm not talking about politics! When it comes to burgers, however, when you find an excellent one, you can be sure you're not the only one! In New York, where the burger is the prince of our taste buds, it's often in small neighbourhood restaurants, or'diners', that the best burgers are cooked, as in the Philis family's ' luncheonette ', which has been open for nearly a century. It's called Lexington Candy Shop. Make no mistake, you're not in a candy shop! With photos of showbiz stars on the walls, homemade pastries on the bar, and small compartments with dark green skai benches, you'd think you were in American Graffitti!

A very good burger is an exception to this rule. It's concocted by Five Napkin Burger, a chain of several New York restaurants. In cosy surroundings that alone make you want to come back, they serve gourmet burgers dripping with cheese. Quite a programme. Your eyes and brain will salivate before your mouth!

In our opinion,Black Iron Burger is THE must-try New York burger! It's got everything we love in a burger: tasty beef with the right amount of saucy flavour, topped with fresh crudités, spiced up with subtle slices of red onion, and a melting cheese generously poured over the top, all sandwiched between two golden, soft buns, heated to perfection. An ecstatic delight!

Shake Shack is a chain, but it's nothing like the fast-food restaurants we're used to in France! It's a New York invention, found mainly in the Big Apple, and has been exported to other major American cities such as Las Vegas, as well as London and Asia. Shake Shack does not exist in France.

Five Guys, on the other hand, has a head start. It recently opened 7 restaurants in the capital's busiest areas: Les Halles, Opéra, Champs-Elysées, Pigalle, Gare du Nord, La Défense and Bercy Village!