Cambridge Foodies

I haven’t been back to Ben’s Yard since it opened back in June, so I decided to pop by for a spot of lunch.

For people who haven’t read our review from the grand opening, click here.

When you first enter the restaurant, the first thing you notice is how pleasant it is. As you would expect being a purpose built building, it is open plan, vibrant and with lots of light. It also has good access for wheelchair users with disabled toilets and tables that are easy to get your chair under. High chairs are available for children which was helpful as I had a baby with me at the time.

The last time I visited Ben’s Yard the service was impeccable and today was no exception. The staff are friendly, attentive, polite, and couldn’t do enough for us. They were also quite forgiving with the mess my 10-month-old son left behind (which I apologised for profusely) 🤣

For a full look at their menu, click here.

I decided to go for their ‘Big Ben Beef Burger’, a 3oz smash burger in a brioche served with onions, American cheese, burger sauce, lettuce, streaky bacon, all topped with maple syrup. This is then accompanied with chips and a slice of watermelon.

I thought it would be interesting to try their smash burger to see how it compares against specialist burger joints in my burger league table.  If they could keep up with the likes of Grill Plug then bravo! Especially since their menu is diverse and looking to cater to all tastes rather than specialise on burgers.

The Big Ben Beef Burger hit all the right notes. It looked the part, tasted great, and was nice and juicy. The maple syrup was a nice touch, giving a lovely sweetness which added an extra dimension to the burger.

There was absolutely nothing to complain about with their smash burger but it felt like it was missing a bit of character. Perhaps this is to be expected, as Ben’s Yard is a restaurant designed to be accessible for families and the wider general public rather than die hard foodies? Nobody is going to be disappointed with it but nobody will be laying in bed thinking about it for days after either. It’s just a well executed take on an ordinary smash burger but that’s absolutely fine.

My guest ordered the smoked salmon and cream cheese bagel served with red onion, capers, and cucumber. This was under their sandwich menu and came to a much more competitively priced £10.95.

I didn’t get a chance to try any of it (and quite rightly, it wasn’t my lunch! 🤣) but she did say this about it…

The bagel was lovely, generous smoked salmon and cream cheese. The bagel tasted quite nutty, but the salad had too much dressing, I found it quite strong, but generous portions, fries were tasty

Sorry for the short and sweet review. As mentioned above, we have already covered a lot of the details in the previous review.

Ben’s Yard is trying to be an accessible, comfortable place with a menu balanced enough to please everyone, which it does really well. I have never had anything from their restaurant that has disappointed me but hardcore foodies will struggle to get excited. The smash burger isn’t going to contend with places with Gorilla & Lamb but it is certainly a quality burger.

Ben’s Yard is the safe bet for brunch, lunch, family, and a mid shop pit stop.

Thanks for reading!