Lunch in Jo’Burger

Anyone who says the words ‘I’m not going to get drunk tonight’ AT THE SAME TIME as drinking a series of large martinis (ingredients: neat vodka!) is clearly a genius.  And when a genius has a raging hangover, they deserve to be brought somewhere good for a curative lunch.

This was the state that our pal Maria Crispy and I found ourselves in last Saturday after a Friday night party.  Those martinis were chased down with all kinds of other stuff, and we were in rag order the next day.  I could only berate the unfair universe that inflicts such pain on decent people, but Maria had enough wits about her to suggest going to Jo’Burger in Rathmines to get a big dirty burger for lunch.

There are loads of gourmet burger places in Dublin now, and Jo’Burger is one of the more popular ones, as well as probably the hippest.  They have nice or painfully trendy touches, depending on your perspective, like hand drawn graphics, a dj playing there in the evenings and menus bound inside old Beano annuals.  There was a respectable crowd there when we arrived, at around 2pm, but we had no problem finding space at one of their long benches.   They have a very attractive offer on their menu for a €10 lunch – you get their ‘pure’ burger (a burger with tomato, lettuce and relish) and a choice of either a drink (including wine or beer) or a side of fries. Given that the burgers are all at least €10, and fries cost €4, this is a pretty decent deal.  However, the deal isn’t available on the weekends – fair enough, but I think that should be clear on the menu.

After a noticeable wait, someone took our orders. I ordered a Zondi beef burger (it comes with green thai curry mayo, chilli and coriander and costs €11.50) along with a side of chips (€4) for my tiny sidekick, as Jo’Burger don’t have a kids menu.  Maria ordered a beef burger with hummus and chipotle relish and a side of sweet potato chips.  The delay in taking the order wasn’t the only blip in the service: our food took quite a long time to arrive, and the sides arrived well after the burgers, although our waiter did apologise for that.  I had been told on ordering that burgers were cooked medium, but the burger that arrived was distinctly rare.  In a normal, non-chronically hungover state, I would have sent it back.  But measuring up the time it took to arrive, I decided to live with it.  Shameful, I know.

This kind of thing was all a bit dismaying, but as Maria pointed out, there’s still loads to love about Jo’Burger.  The burgers arrived in a huge enticing tower of buns, meat, toppings and condiments; all of which are extremely good quality. Also, the chips were fantastic.  Whatever oil they were cooked in had an excellent flavour.  I’ve frequently grumbled here about the way gourmet burger places charge extra for chips, but when they’re as delicious and the helpings are as ample as the ones in Jo’Burger, I have no problem with them.  It’s a great lunch, and really worth the trip to Rathmines if you can make it during the week when the €10 offer is on.

Do you like Jo’Burger? Or is there a better gourmet burger to be had elsewhere?