Since reviewing Bunsen and Wowburger a few years back, I wasn't expecting to find another burger place worth writing home about. Claiming to have found the best burger in a city is always controversial territory because everyone has their own favourite and most of the time Bunsen would be cited as the no1 go-to place.
Wowburger has been my personal favourite for a while, probably not made with the highest quality ingredients but very satisfying in the case of a dirty burger craving (you can't be a food snob all the time after all). There's a game changer though and after two visits I can already tell you that BuJo in Sandymount probably serves the best burger in the city right now.
The wall at the entrance contains their list of their Irish suppliers (White Hart Farm, Coolhul Farm, Bogues Farm, etc.) and ethos regarding sustainability (green renewable electricity, compostable packaging). It's reassuring and almost makes you feel good about eating a burger.
Chef Grainne O'Keefe from Clanbrassil House is their culinary director and has created their compact menu. There is a choice of three burgers: a BuJo burger, a bacon cheeseburger and a vegan burger. The sides are triple cooked fries (salted, with rosemary or spicy seasoning) or deep fried pickles with sriracha mayo. Desserts come in the form a milk shakes and the drinks menu has some great Irish options like Wicklow Wolf Beer, Dan's Kelly cider, Glenilen Farm cordial or 3FE coffee, there's also wine. You order at the counter and are a given a buzzer which vibrates when your food is ready to be collected.
We both went for the Bujo burger (€8), two chargrilled beef patties with nice smoky flavours with thin onion slivers, tomato, pickles and some tasty bacon for good measure (extra €1.50). It's a magnificent burger with perfectly oozy cheese on top. Each patty is encased in a good quality brioche bun from Coughan's Bakery in Naas, which doesn't fall apart even with the juices and moisture from the tomato. We made the right call by ordering the deep fried pickles; they are really good with the contrasting textures of the pickle and the super crispy panko crust, going down a treat when dipped in the chili sauce mayo dip. We shared salted fries which were good but came as crinkle fries, a bit cheap looking if I'm being honest, I definitely preferred the fries with no crinkle and rosemary salt from my first visit.
The bill came up to €28.70 (Mr. FFID had an evil American fizzy drink and I had water) which felt good value considering the suppliers used. After I ordered my burger, I saw that the burger of the month was a Kimchi-Cheese (with kimchi, Irish garlic aioli and crispy onions) which truly sounded awesome. I won't make the same mistake again so always check out what's the current offer before ordering. With their good burgers, strong branding and attitude towards provenance and sustainability, I sense BuJo has the recipe for success and could easily see it opening more outlets in the future.
BuJo
6A Sandymount Green
Dublin 4
BuJo's website
Disclaimer: this is an independent review, I paid for my meal
