Born in the UK, Burger & Lobster became an international sensation by offering just two things: lobsters (your choice of grilled, steamed or in a bun) and burgers.

Back in its home country it has been lauded for offering amazing value for money. In Bangkok, the swanky venue with its plush red leather seats, brass-and-wood tables and packing crate art installations also manages to undercut the competition.

A whole, 700-gram lobster here with fries and Burger & Lobster’s delicious lemon-and-garlic butter will cost you B1,500, which is cheaper than both Crab & Claw and The Oyster Bar. It’s also tasty: taken live from the tank to the steamer and cooked to juicy, simple perfection.

But a good, moderately cheap imported lobster is really the only reason we’d go here. The 6oz original burger is unfathomably pricey (B750) and not very good—the meat grainy and tasteless, the bun dry, the sauce almost non-existent. The fries are another case of “could’ve done better”: a pallid joke compared to the ones at Crab & Claw. For dessert, steer clear of the sticky toffee pudding (B250), which on our last visit had a tough and chewy center—definitely not worth the calories, as they’d say on that other British institution, Bake Off.

Once you factor in a bottle of OK Chardonnay at B1,390 (B290/glass) or a couple of cocktails at B340-420 each, dinner at Burger & Lobster becomes expensive—budget B2,500 a head if you plan on enjoying yourselves (which, if you get the burger, you won’t). But that’s not putting people off.

While the Facebook cries of two-hour-long waits are a thing of the past (you can now call and book tables, while service in the dining room is precise and friendly), it still hosts a packed crowd most nights. We can think of two reasons why: the lure of a cheapish lobster, and the fact that this brand still carries lots of Instagram kudos, neither of which are high on our dinner priorities. Corkage B600

This review took place in January 2018 and is based on a visit to the restaurant without the restaurant's knowledge. For more on BK's review policy, click here.