I don't think you go into a proper restaurant and ask for a burger, i.e. a fast food take-away item.

Perhaps a meatball in a bun was the nearest thing they had to a burger in the proper restaurants the OP has visited.

What would you call places like Byron then? I know several steakhouses that do great burgers, are they proper restaurants?

I think you'll find proper restaurants only serve things like duck muesli, yorkshire moor hare and burnt milk ice cream.

I'd agree, they certainly wouldn't lower themselves to a burger.

I could be well off-base, but I'd actually be kind of surprised if the Hand and Flowers man never had a burger on his menu.

I don't think he has actually, but I bet you could find a Michelin starred restaurant somewhere that did one. I had a ridiculously good burger in Barcelona at a very highly rated restaurant.

Took about 2 minutes to find a Michelin restaurant with a burger on the menu:-

http://www.sepiachicago.com/

Not quite Michelin star, but a michelin starred chef:-

http://www.barboulud.com/london/

I could well imagine Tom Kerridge dishing up a venison burger

Edit: he has an Essex Lamb "Bun" on his a la carte menu..... I wonder?

Revolucion de Cuba do decent burgers.

Just checked - Jamie's Italian restaurant does an Italian Burger at £10.95 and he's well proper he is.

Copy of an American diner.

Matter of opinion re what constitutes a proper restaurant.

No, that's lamb in pastry.

Well luckily I've proven that plenty of 'restaurants' do burgers anyway, no matter what you decide to call them.

Almost famous

Burger-bars masquerading as restaurants!

Proper restaurants have knives and forks.

You didn't click on the links, did you?

I did, but I didn't see any burgers!

Who eats a burger with a knife and fork?

Yes, Michelin stars and all, I don't think you really looked at them did you?

There are burgers on both of those links. Who says you have to eat them with a knife and fork?

This place is great. It's just a pub that doesn't look too great when you see it but the burgers are lovely. They only do burgers on the menu and do some great combinations. They also do a bacon burger where the entire patty is made of bacon! The patties are fairly thin like you describe too.

http://www.theharley.co.uk/food/