Boo Koos: Cornwall’s American Diner of Dreams

If you’re looking for the juiciest burgers in a classic American-style diner setting, Boo Koos is the place for you!

Boo Koos has been around for a few years in Helston, selling its well-known ‘Shimmy’s Shakes’ and building up a reputation for the biggest, baddest burgers in Cornwall (I say baddest in the most complimentary of ways, FYI 😉). After seeing success from its infamously cosy premises in Helston, they recently opened a second, much larger branch in Falmouth too!

This was music to my ears, as the only reason I’d never been before was because Helston has always felt a bit too far away, and it’s always been hard to get a table for a bigger group of friends, so having one just 20 minutes down the road from me is just what I needed.

As well as its classic American diner feel inside, with wooden booths and walls plastered with vintage signage, Boo Koos have a pretty epic set of menus too. There’s the ‘Mighty Boo’ menu of enormous 18-ounce prime steak burgers if you’re up for a classic ‘Man vs Food’ eating challenge that’ll win you a “I Fought The Mighty Boo” t-shirt if you complete it, along with full Vegetarian, Vegan, Gluten Free and Dairy Free menus too!

That’s right whole menus for each of those – not just a few items on the same menu! Pretty impressive…

Boo Koos owner Lisa is from Texas, and partner Dave has lived there with her for many years, so you can see they’ve put a lot of thought into authentically delivering the real Texan / Americana experience here to Cornwall. And I am so here for it!

Of course, they also sell great American-style drinks too, like quirky flavour ‘sodas’ (I chose a Cherry Fanta) and delicious Shimmy’s Shakes as well. Plus there are lots of sides to choose from (including personal portions of fries with toppings, or entire trays full of fries designed to share, which is what we do). With every burger you can choose to have it Small, Regular or Grande (or MIGHTY I guess if you’re crazy!).

I was very grateful to have Liv with us for my first visit to Boo Koos, as she’s been lots before and talked me down from accidentally ordering a Grande size burger… I eat a lot and love burgers, and was worried just a Regular wouldn’t be enough for me, but BOY am I glad I listened!

The pictures don’t quite do it justice (don’t judge me, the lighting wasn’t on point for great food photography 🙈), but honestly this Regular size boy was B I G! All three of us got Regulars and we barely ended making a dent in our tray of cheesy fries… oops.

I guess 7oz is pretty big when you think about it… I’m not sure how I ever thought I could manage 12oz (Grande) 🤪. I definitely won’t be entering the Mighty Boo challenge any time soon…

Liv and I both chose the Cajun Fried Chicken burgers (I added chilli cheese, plus spicy onion rings), while Keda went for the Peppercorn Bacon steak burger, which I had a taste of and can confirm is a totally delicious combo!

Mine was incredible too – super juicy and the perfect amount of sauce, cheese and everything. I will do better and go back to try their Vegan options at some point though, but this looked just too good to resist!

Do they look a bit like heart attacks on a plate? Bad food photography lighting aside, yep they kinda do. But isn’t that kind of the point of a US diner experience? As a treat every now and then, this is officially my new go-to and official best burger in Cornwall that I’ve tasted (so far!).

To find out more about their menus (and what good value it all is!), head over to the Boo Koos website.

Where’s your favourite burger place in Cornwall? Let me know in the comments!

PS. This is not sponsored/gifted – just love the place and had to share!