Smoked Fish and Hamburger Products

Hamburger Products was a smoked and cured fish shop in Brewer Street. They prepared everything themselves in a small factory in Bloomsbury, and either sold it to take away or to eat at the curious semi-circular counter. Curious because it was built round the largest stoneware pot of rollmop herrings ever. Finding a couple of starters for my menus in those days was never a problem: pop around to Brewer Street and see what they had on the slab. One special offering caught my eye, a large sturgeon, which had been caught in British waters and presented to the Queen. She sold it on to be smoked by the Richards family who owned the place. (Confusingly, Richard’s, the excellent fishmongers next door, was owned by a completely different family.) Unfortunately, like so many other shops in this book, this admirable business was driven out of Soho by rising rents.