Kua Aina London: the best burger in Soho?!

Kua Aina London: 26 Foubert’s Place, London, W1F 7PP (just off Carnaby Street for geographical context) 

I know we can’t go out and visit restaurants, bars and generally live our best lives right now, but I’m hoping this serves some inspo for when we can go out again. I for one cannot stop thinking about the first burger that I’m going to have once lockdown’s lifted; we’ve had some great BBQ ones at home but nothing beats a dirty restaurant burger after a couple of drinks! 

You know what it’s like, you’re desperately fancying a fat burger for dinner, but come 4pm on a Friday everywhere in Central London is either fully booked, or charging £25 for a fancy burger PLUS fries (no thank you). This was my exact situation a couple of months ago; you can’t think of anywhere to eat and Google just isn’t bringing up the kinda vibes you’re after. A lot of burgers recommended are either pretty boujee like Hawksmoor or Mac & Wild, chain places that we’ve all been to countless times like Honest or Five Guys, are way out of central, or are pop up or food market places where you can’t sit at a proper table and relax. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with any of the above, but sometimes you just want a burger after a few cocktails that you’ve not had to book a week in advance but also isn’t somewhere that you often end up in at 11pm after the pub (Five Guys Piccadilly Circus I’m looking at you). 

Cue our great discovery just off of Carnaby Street; Kua Aina London. I’ve walked past this a couple of times before but assumed it was just takeaway, as from the front it doesn’t look huge. Don’t let the first come, first served seating put you off, we walked straight in to a table at around 8pm on a Friday night. 

Kua ‘Aina, or “Koo-a eye-na”, means “back country”, but is more often used to describe a country bumpkin in Hawaii. For native Hawaiians it can mean those who actively live Hawaiian culture and keep the spirit of the land alive”

The reason that I’m writing this is that I just don’t think Kua Aina gets the publicity that it deserves, I’ve worked in central London for over two years and had never heard of it. I think most of us are guilty of heading straight to somewhere like Hache, Honest or Shake Shack when we’re after a burger. And it definitely does deserve the publicity! Food, drinks and atmosphere were great. 

If you know Harry and I, you’ll know that we had to begin with a cocktail. I think Harry’s tried the Mojito in almost every restaurant or bar we’ve been to, and I went with the Mango Daiquiri. At £6.95 these are such a reasonable price for London; I’m ashamed to say that I no longer bat an eyelid at paying that for a single gin these days (sadly). 

It’s also a ‘must’ of Harry’s to try the wings in every place that we go to, so as well as a burger each we ordered spicy buffalo wings and chilli cheese fries to “share”. And by share, I mean Harry eats two thirds, I eat a third. I’m a bit of a fried food wimp and get full really easily at American style places so this suits me fine, I can have a few chilli cheese fries and one or two wings on the side without Harry moaning too much that he has to share. All I would say is that if you’re big eaters, although listed as ‘to share’, the chilli cheese fries weren’t really big enough for two people. Maybe get them and a portion of normal fries as well. 

I had a ‘Magnum PI’ burger with bacon and cheese, because if you have the option of adding bacon and cheese why on earth would you not?! Whilst Harry ordered ‘The Big Chilli’ because, if you hadn’t already guessed, the boy loves anything with chilli added to it. Writing this post while we’re in lockdown is really hard as I’m literally salivating at the thought of a burger right now. I’ve not had ‘restaurant food’ for four weeks which, for me, is a bloody great record. 

Because I’m a little piglet that looks at the dessert menu before anything else, I then topped it all off with the triple choc chips fluffy american pancakes. Much as I love dessert, I am often too full, so it’s a rarity for me now when we eat out. Maybe because we didn’t have a full side of fries each, on this occasion I could definitely fit pancakes in. Hoorah! Not gonna lie, when they came I thought the pancakes may have been a little dry, with chocolate chips sprinkled on top. However the pancakes were still so hot that the chips all melted into a milk and white chocolate sauce. Drool. 

Top tip: order a couple of sides to share if you’re going to have dessert, or at least one side each if you’re not a dessert person.

Kua Aina London was such a great discovery, great food, great service and great prices. I’ll definitely be going back once the UK’s out of lockdown, and it should definitely go on your list of restaurants to try too.

Top tip: head to Be At One on Greek Street for happy hour 2-for-1 cocktails first!

Where’s your favourite place to get a burger? Let me know below. And don’t forget to check out my other foodie posts here…

Becca x