Review: Shake Shack opens first branch in Cambridge

American fast food chain Shake Shake opened its first branch in Cambridge - located at 1-2 Petty Cury, Lion Yard - on Thursday (12 June).

The new establishment - the 17th branch to open in the UK - also boasts a mural by Beatriz Lostalé, a UK-based Spanish illustrator.

Her artwork celebrates Cambridge’s iconic green spaces and community life, blending the city’s landmarks and parks with Shake Shack elements in a colourful design.

I popped along on Friday (13 June) to sample the menu - which is quite varied and which has a couple of options designed to tie in with June being Pride Month.

I went for the ShackBurger, from the main menu, which is a cheeseburger with lettuce tomato and Shack Sauce, a secret recipe that is similar in taste to burger sauce - and I loved it, both the sauce and the burger.

To accompany it, I had the Chipotle Cheese Fries, which are crinkle cut chips topped with chipotle cheese sauce, cherry peppers - which I’d never tried or heard of before - bacon and spring onion.

Jasper, the manager, informed me that these fries are limited edition and will only be available until 7 July, before the next specials are unveiled.

The fries were very tasty and I had never tried chips with these additions before. It is definitely a combination I will try to recreate at home, minus the cherry peppers.

Also available solely through the month of June are the Pride milkshakes (essentially a doughnut-flavoured milkshake - again, delicious), the Double SmokeShack burger (which also has cherry peppers and bacon, like the Chipotle Cheese Fries - my wife had it and very much enjoyed it), and the Dragon Fruit Pomegranate Lemonade - an interesting and very refreshing combination.

As a sign of the chain’s willingness to help out in the local community, £1 from each Pride milkshake is being donated to local LGBTQ+ charity, The Kite Trust.

We had a side order of chicken bites (they come with the choice of BBQ or honey mustard sauce) and were more than satisfied by the end, thanks to the generous portions and sizes.

The fries are quite ‘loaded’ and, in some cases, may be enough for two people to share.

The quality of the food was impressive and the meat seemed less greasy that that which you may sometimes find in other fast food chains. We’ll definitely be back.

Since the original Shack opened in 2004 in NYC’s Madison Square Park, the company has expanded to more than 430 locations, including more than 260 in 32 US states and the District of Columbia, and more than 140 international locations across London, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Singapore, Mexico City, Istanbul, Dubai, Tokyo, Seoul and more.

The first European location opened in London - in Covent Garden - in 2013.

For more information, visit shakeshack.com.