Best Burgers in Sheffield

This is the one Sheffield burger people argue about most, which is as reliable an indicator of quality as any review. Juno does a small, focused menu – beef smash burgers primarily, cooked in a style that’s become the Sheffield standard for the format. The patties are thin, caramelised on the edges, stacked with American cheese, pickles, and sauces that don’t try to be clever. The bun holds up. That matters more than it sounds. A Juno order takes about ten minutes and you’ll think about it for a week.

Forge is primarily a bakery – and one of Sheffield’s best – but on weekends they fire up a burger service using their own buns, which gives them an obvious structural advantage. The sourdough bun, fresh from the same ovens doing the pastry and bread, makes everything that goes inside it taste better. Good beef, proper cheese, seasonal additions. Worth the walk down Sharrow Vale Road, which is one of the city’s best streets anyway.

On any given weekend evening the burger trader at Kommune is running hot. The beauty of the food hall is that the best traders stay because the market self-selects – if the burger’s not worth eating, people walk to the next stall. The ones that survive are usually excellent. Look for the longest queue and start there.

Craft and Dough on Leopold Square does a good burger alongside its pizza menu. Smoke BBQ on Trippet Lane does an American-style version with the full stack of smoked accompaniments. Sheffield isn’t short of options. The burger is now a serious food in this city, not a grudging concession to people who don’t want the pasta.