Mention the word 'burger', and most people will probably think of unappetising junk food.

After all, the insipid, mass-produced offerings from the multinational giants have turned this simple, humble dish into something of a bête noire for the goodfood brigade.

Indeed, when I told a colleague that some friends and I had visited the new Gourmet Burger Kitchen (GBK for short) in York, she thought she had misheard me.

Gourmet and burger in the same sentence - surely some mistake?

But no. When burgers are done properly, they can be fantastic.

And GBK does burgers properly - without a polystyrene box or a golden arch in sight.

Although the idea originated in New Zealand, GBK started off in London and is only now expanding north, with new branches in Leeds and Manchester as well as here.

My friends and I visited on a Monday night when it was, inevitably, rather quiet. We'd been told there was no need to book ahead and, sure enough, when we arrived at about 7.15pm only a handful of people were there.

The eatery is somewhere between an upmarket diner and a restaurant. It is not as charismatic as it might be and the bench-seats and basic décor create a functional and un-homely feel.

But then in a place such as GBK, people are here for one thing and one thing only: the burgers. There is no starter or dessert section to the GBK menu - purely main courses.

It offers a vast, wide-ranging array of mouth-watering and extravagant burger concoctions, with a total of 32 on offer - 14 Aberdeen Angus beef options; five chicken; five vegetarian; five house specialities; and three junior dishes. On top of that, there are four salad dishes available.

We went for a varied selection.

From the beef section, Dave went for the blue cheese burger with added bacon (£6.95, plus £1.60); while AJ took the barbecue burger (£7.05) with additional cheese, chorizo and bacon (£1.10, £2.10 and £1.60 respectively).

Rachel chose the chicken, Camembert and cranberry burger (£7.75) but opted for onion jam instead of the cranberry sauce.

Clare went for the veggie burger with Camembert (£7.55); and I went for the Greek lamb burger (£7.35) from the specials list.

On the side, we had three servings of chips (£2.55 each) between the five of us, with two dips: blue cheese and barbecue (£1.45 each).

All five burgers were gargantuan and sublime. Dave said the beef was delicious, and felt the aged stilton dressing finished it off superbly; while Rachel said the chicken was succulent and enjoyable, and thought it went well with the Camembert and onion.

My Greek lamb, listed as a new addition to the menu, was complemented perfectly by the layers of houmous, cucumber raita and chilli sauce; while AJ described his dish as an "extravaganza" of good food.

Using a knife and fork always seems a bit unnatural with burgers, but the lofty servings meant we had no choice but to break them down a bit first.

None was more towering than Clare's vegetable and Camembert dish, which came stacked with layer upon layer of red pepper, sweet potato, aubergine, Camembert, mushroom and more, carefully held together with two wooden skewers.

For a meatless burger, it was mightily impressive and Clare had to reluctantly accept defeat before the end.

We all shared the three communal pots of chips, which were golden, chunky and crispy as all chips should be. The dips were both excellent, with the pungent and powerful blue cheese particularly impressive.

On finishing the burgers we were offered ice-cream or coffee. In the interests of the review, we had a couple of portions of ice-cream - one vanilla and one sticky toffee. It was tasty enough but the presentation was very disappointing, coming in two small plastic tubs straight from the freezer.

A little more thought would have made for a far better end to the meal.

That notwithstanding, we all left GBK very satisfied and as we compared thoughts next door in the Judges Lodgings pub, agreed it was a welcome addition to the city's culinary scene.

Our total food bill for five burgers, three portions of chips, two dips and two portions of ice-cream came to a pretty reasonable £56.60.

Gourmet Burger Kitchen, 7 Lendal, York.

Tel: 01904 639537

Gavin visited on Monday, November 12.

factfile

Food: ImpressiveService: AmiableValue: ReasonableAmbience: ComfyDisabled loos: YES