What should we know about Dash Burger?
You know about Dash Burger, don't you? Since opening in 2020 in the former Pang site on Kevin Street Lower, owner Barry Wallace's 'George Motz inspired' smash burgers have not only cemented their place on every "Dublin's best burgers" list, they're more often than not in the top spot. Wallace says he spent months in lockdown trying different cuts of meat, with different fat content, with the aim of creating a crispy edge that wasn't burnt, before revealing his recipe to the public in September 2020 (check the technique below).
Dublin did not need another burger place, so the instant frenzy for Dash's smash burgers took a lot of people by surprise, and by the end of 2021 they had a second location on Capel Street (which was the one we visited). We've featured them multiple times, but never actually brought you along on a meal there, so consider that wrong now righted.
What should we have?
As you'd expect from a burger shop, it's a short menu that shouldn't cause too much pain trying to make a choice. Burgers come in double or triple smash cheeseburgers, or there's a chipotle double smash with adobo, and a bacon double cheese. Fries come in regular, cajun spiced, parmesan truffle or chipotle cheese, and there's sides of panko chicken 'tendies' and jalapeño poppers, as well as extra sauces.
Keep it simple with the double smash cheeseburger if it's your first time here, to appreciate the crispy, craggy edges of the two smashed down, ultra thin patties, the grilled onions fused into the meat, American cheese, and buttered, toasted potato rolls. Fries were skin on, hot and crisp, but quite chewy. They're good, but we've had better.
The bacon double cheese comes with properly crisp, streaky bacon and satisfyingly rendered fat (hallelujah), and the chipotle has a spicy sauce that ups the moisture/mess quotient. It really is a case of going for what you usually like on a burger, as they're all champions in their fields.
Parmesan truffle fries were more interesting than the original, with umami-flecked salt and just melting cheese stretching as you pull. Jalapeño poppers were crisp, breaded, spicy shells stuffed with cream cheese, made even better by their sidekick of chipotle sauce. If you like a bit of heat you'll love them.
When it came to extra sauces, we couldn't resist the intrigue of Dash Burger's "secret sauce". It was spicier than we'd imagined, a bit Thousand Island-esque, with chopped up gherkins, and while nice, we wouldn't call it a must order.
Drinks consist of standard softs and beer - with Irish breweries Whiplash in cans and O'Hara's on draft.
Why should I go?
Is this the best burger in Dublin? We can't claim to have tried every one, but it's got to be hovering around the top spot. Sometimes burgers leave us in need of a lie down, bloated and unable to face food for the rest of the day, but Dash's felt more digestible than most - the thin patties and light potato rolls giving all of the savoury joy, less of the swollen stomach afterwards. Whether burgers are or aren't your thing, we don't think you'll regret a stop at Dash Burger.
Dash Burger
159 Capel Street, Dublin 1 and 6-11 Kevin Street Lower, Dublin 8
