Ireland Special | apples-burger-blog

Handsome Burgers

49 Dominick St Lower, Galway City, H91 P08F

Purpose: Burger Assessment
Good for: Greasiness
Verdict: When you walk into a joint plastered with burger accolades, you're expecting something specials - and unfortunately it wasn't. Now I don't know whether it was the patty or the caramelised onions, but the fat was dripping off it which overwhelmed my taste buds with a greasy mouthfeel. I'd like to say that was a shame, and to an extent it was because the patty was pretty good, smashed so crusty but not too much, the bun held out, the sauce was very nice and the pickled cucumber very, sweet onions also nice despite the fattiness. Probably needed more cheese (American), but that's not unusual. Fries were also crispy, looked like recooked and tested a bit greasy as they would in that case, but worked OK. Couple of local beers, the Handsome was pretty nice.
Burger: Greasy
Cost: £££

1 Quay Ln, Galway, H91 P64V

Purpose: Burger Assessment
Good for: Niceness
Verdict: Nice because the place is welcoming, and the burger was OK. Continuing a theme, had an overall greasy mouth feel but it didn't affect the taste. It was almost two burgers in one, with the periphery being meat, bun and cheese, and the middle being mustard. And bun, meat, cheese, onion, pickle, but mainly mustard. If you like burgers with mustard as the only sauce, you're in here. Funnily enough, it wasn't a problem, with the salady bits it raised the taste quite nicely. Bun was also fine, but wilted a bit toward the end. Chips were like chips shop, and crispy so quite nice. Minimal beer selection, but again it's OK. Possibly even nice.
Burger: Not an epic
Cost: £££

Stillorgan Shopping Centre Dublin A94 Ef64 Province Of Leinster

Purpose: Burger Assessment
Good for: Burgers
Verdict: A nice fresh tasting burger, with plenty of fresh salad. Standard bun isn't great, but does the job, supported by a nice burger sauce, lettuce, onion and tomato as normal but for some reason tastes more fresh. I selected American cheese for standardisation, but may be better with the other free cheese options - it was somewhat drowned out. Also drowned out was the meat which is a shame as it was quite nice. Fries were a bit soft, so disappointing and in true Diner style no alcohol.
Burger: Fresh
Cost: ££

The Parnell Centre 198 Parnell St, Rotunda, Dublin 1

Purpose: Burger Assessment
Good for: Taste
Verdict: We're going for a reverse sh*t sandwich here folks, and this is the first letdown. There's no beer, so I didn't bother with a drink although the shakes looked OK. The fries were inedible, undercooked horribly. The Wowburger sauce was nice though (although I used it at Wayback - see below). The burger was OK, except that it had a greasy feel and taste that didn't sit right. Obviously burgers come with a fat content - allegedly fat is flavour, I'm not convinced) but this just put me off a bit as it detracted from the overall. Otherwise the meat was OK, the bun was soft and lasted and the self selected onion/lettuce/tomato/cheese/ketchup/mayo added the expected flavour and crunch. So maybe just me.
Burger: Greasy
Cost: £££

Purpose: Burger Assessment
Good for: Burgers!
Verdict: Luckily, in the midst of disappointing burgerdom in Dublin, BoBos stood tall. There are a series of bottled craft beers and additional draught, plus wines etc., so that's a good start. Follow this with crisp skin on fries and we're on the way. And the way leads to an excellent burger. It looked like it would be overwhelmed by the sauce, but the meat comes through nicely, bit of beefiness and nice chewy texture. Bun quite dry but not stale, which added a nice contrast. Plenty of salad for health and just enough mayo to add a tang. The whole thing tested like quality and the ingredients all worked together to achieve a sum that allowed the parts to shine but was greater than them at the same time. To coin a phrase.
Burger: Great
Cost: £££

Purpose: Burger Assessment
Good for: Weirdness
Verdict: Firstly, feel free to go and try the other burgers, which looked pretty good - but having the same patties aren't going to be grand, as they might or might not say in Dublin. The Cheesy burger is exactly as it says on the tin, and looks like in the picture, bun, cheese, meat. Sounds OK, I don't mind simple, but simple has to be good but it simply wasn't. Although the patties had a decent chewy texture they had no real beef flavour, char or crust, just a lot of seasoning. Add this to nothing but an upside down bun - no, I have no idea either - and standard burger cheese, and you get something only memorable for the bizarre build. I'd strongly suggest adding the usual veg/sauce if you fancy one, maybe that would force them to put the bun the right way around (or maybe they were having fun with me). Or have something else, or go somewhere else. Again,, no beer, so I didn't bother - Guinness was on the horizon, literally and figuratively. The only saving grace was the chips, which despite being ubiquitously skin on were crisp and tasty.
Burger: Why?
Cost: £££