A BURGER joint has been crowned the second-best takeaway in the country and a trio of others have also made the shortlist. HENRY HOLLOWAY reports on the city’s greatest grub

WITH the city famed for its food, four popular takeaways have made a national shortlist as voted for by hungry punters.

Produced by online ordering platform Hungryhouse, of Dragon’s Den fame, and organised using a computer algorithm which ranks restaurant popularity, customer reviews, star ratings and return rates as well as hygiene standards.

It serves more than 50 takeaways in Brighton and Hove – with four making its top takeaways shortlist and one voted second best in the country.

SmoQue Grill, a family run burger shop on Islingword Road, very nearly claimed the country’s top spot and was the only burger restaurant in the country’s top ten. The takeaway serves up handmade freshly prepared burgers with each being individually foil wrapped for freshness and being accompanied with a handwritten note.

Sepand Sarmadi, founder and owner of SmoQue Grill, said next year they would aim for the number one spot.

Mr Sarmadi was raised in the takeaway business and started out offering loyal customers his burger recipes for free to see if they liked them.

He said: “I grew up in the business and burgers have always been my passion – I have always loved a handmade burger.

“Eventually I started working in the family business to help support the family – I started making burgers and doing my own tastings.

“I used to offer loyal customers my recipe for free, I started to get positive feedback and it just went from there.”

SmoQue Grill opened at the end of 2013 and climbed to the number nine spot the Hungryhouse’s takeaway list.

This year they were the only takeaway to both retain their spot in the top ten and to climb higher up the list.

Mr Sarmadi said: “It is fantastic news – we are very delighted we managed to improve our ranking for the second year in a row.

“I think it is combination of things which attract our fans – the food stands out but we also provide a very friendly delivery service and the combination comes at a reasonable price. We like to think we offer the whole package.

“Our food is very simply and is always freshly made. The meat and most of our ingredients are sourced every day so nothing sits for over 24 hours.

“We produce it with a lot of love and we hand wrap and customize our burgers to make sure it is right for our customers.

“We fire and wrap every burger by hand. Sometimes our customers ask for a little special message for a loved one to be written with their burger – things like ‘happy birthday’ or ‘I love you’.

“The hard work we put into it has definitely paid off. There is a team behind us now and the small family owned business has grown to have a team of almost 15 people.

“Every one of them is passionate and we are all excited to keep growing.”

He added: “We use a secret recipe to make our beef burgers and we only use fresh, locally sourced 100% British beef – we care about every little detail of every order.”

Scott Fletcher, chief executive of hungryhouse.co.uk, said: “Our customers want to enjoy top quality cuisine in the comfort of their homes, and we know which restaurants keep people coming back for a second helping.

“By sharing that information and showcasing the best takeaways in Britain we can help make people’s food ordering experience even easier and more enjoyable.”