It’s been a little under a week since We Don’t Give A Fork opened its doors on Guildhall Street. They throw themselves amongst competition that will immediately include places like The Ferret and Solita – both of which are very popular. It’s no surprise that a few people have asked me whether I think Preston really needs another burger place.

Fair enough. There are certainly other things we need. The nearest place for sushi (tell me if I’m wrong in the comments) is in Lytham, for example. But although Preston has numerous options when it comes to burgers, there’s nowhere that rivals the best options elsewhere in the country. That goes for brilliant chains such as Meat Liquor (Bristol, originally) and independents such as Original Patty Men (Birmingham). Now, if We Don’t Give A Fork reaches that level, then Preston absolutely needs that burger place.

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We popped in around 5pm on Friday afternoon and it was heartening to see the place already busy. Mark O’Rourke, owner, told us that he’s been as busy as that all week. Everything here is as local as possible and prepared in the kitchen, so that’s a pretty hectic first week for them.

The menu is simple enough. You choose a burger type from beef, chicken and vegan. You choose a type of cheese, which includes vegan cheese and halloumi and then you pick a sauce. There are some house specials on there too but we opted for simplicity. You can upgrade fries to different options and there’s also a fridge full of beers. We weren’t too imaginative with our choices from there but there’s plenty for those who wouldn’t be ordering a Heineken.

More: New burger bar to open in Preston city centre 

The card machine wasn’t working, and nor was the Wi-Fi, but they’re problems that can be easily resolved. The food arrived relatively quickly. The burgers came in foil, on a tray, with the fries stacked alongside. You don’t get a fork.

The first burger was beef. It had Mexican cheese and the hot sauce. There were two patties and it came in a brioche bun. It absolutely was not drenched in a variety of toppings and sauces to keep the flavour interesting. The burgers were cooked perfectly – just the right amount of pink to ensure the meat retained all of its flavour. Far too many places cremate their burgers and it’s promising to see this is how burgers will be served here, though you can ask for it to be well-done if you insist. If I had any feedback that wasn’t wholly positive, it would be that the chilli sauce does nothing to separate it from something you might get elsewhere.

The second one was the vegan option that is made up from chickpeas and sweetcorn. It’ll come as no surprise to sceptics that it didn’t wow quite in the same way as the first. That said, nobody who has this will feel in any way left out. It is not a vegan burger that serves as a box-ticking exercise. It was tasty, fulfilling and the sort of thing you can see yourself ordering no matter what your dietary preferences are.

The fries we had were sweet potato and curly fries. They were tasty but both left as much as an impression as you would expect when the burgers are as impressive as this.

The whole meal (two burgers, two fries, two beers) came to less than £20, although that takes into account the 25% discount you can get at the moment. The question is still whether We Don’t Give A Fork surpasses the competition enough to justify its existence.

More: First look inside new burger bar We Don’t Give A Fork

The answer is a resounding yes. At first taste, this should be the best burger place in Preston. By a long way. In terms of potential, with a few tweaks they could be one of the best anywhere in the country. It’s really that good and you have to try it.

Blog Preston was invited to try We Don’t Give A Fork, but we ordered anonymously and paid for our own meal. We’ll be back in a few weeks for a full review.