The Burger Bulletin: Jo'Burger

I've eaten fairly well in Dublin this week but I haven't really had much in the way of choice, dining-wise, so this evening I decided to find my own place to eat. Luckily, the owner of one of the independent coffee shops I visited earlier in the day (of which more to follow) recommended a place that sounded right up my street. It was a bit of a hike from the convention centre--well, three miles or so--and I thought I was about to reach the countryside when eventually I spotted Jo'Burger across the road.

Menu/reading matter at Jo'Burger

It was fairly busy but there was enough room for a little one at the long, cafeteria-style tables, and before long I was consulting my menu, which came inside a Tiger 1975 annual. As for the food, unsurprisingly, burgers feature prominently, although there are also salads. The choices are similar to Gourmet Burger Kitchen in many ways: you pick your meat first (I went for Irish beef) and then what, if anything you want on top. Extras like cheese and bacon cost either 1.50 or 2.50 Euros. I would have liked to have had a bacon and/or cheddar burger, but somehow, this did not feature in the long list of choices. Instead I went for the "pure" burger--just the burger, Jo'Burger relish and the bun (I had my salad on the side and my burger, as ever, medium rare). I also ordered some sweet potato chips, which were expensive at 4.95 Euros, but the portion was large enough for me to take half home for later.

Ginger lemonade, sweet potato fries & pure burger

The burger itself was very good--juicy, flavoursome and perfectly medium rare. I also ordered a ginger lemonade, which was great--ginger can often overpower other flavours but at Jo'Burger, you just get huge chunks of ginger in your lemonade, adding just enough of a gingery kick. At about 9 Euros even for the boring pure burger, fries not included, Jo'Burger isn't particularly cheap but the quality justifies the cost. 

Jo'Burger: worth the trek

The music was cool and the crowd was young and hip. No one seemed to be playing any of the board games that were available (then again, they may just have been boxes holding cutlery if the menus are anything to go by). The staff weren't especially friendly, but that's only compared to pretty much everyone else I've met in Dublin, all of whom have been helpful, chatty and interested. The location, on Lower Rathmines Road, is a bit of walk from the centre of town--20 minutes from Temple Bar, perhaps. But a bonus of this was that on the way back to my hotel, I discovered a whole load of interesting-looking restaurants and bars on Aungier Street and Great Georges Street. Now at least I'll know where to head next time I come to Dublin.

Jo'Burger. 137 Lower Rathmines Road, Dublin. Website. Twitter.