The entrance to DirtyBurger in Kentish Town is one of the scariest we've stepped through to purchase food. To get there, turn off the main road, go round the back, when you see an upturned oil can with dirty burger painted on it, turn left. The entrance is in the corner, under the fire escape, the doors rusting corrugated iron. As I step through this industrial style entrance, I half expect to find stolen BMW's being chopped for spare parts. But no, it really is a burger shop.
The sparse simplicity of its exterior continues on the inside, not least because this venue is in fact just one big corrugated iron conservatory with a service hatch cut through into the main building to which it adjoins. A wooden ledge runs the length of the walls of the small space inside and a very large communal table sits in the centre. Seats are bolted to the floor adding a little further to the edginess.
The menu is simple: Cheeseburger (£5.50). Sides: Fries, onion rings (each £2.50). The drinks menu was obscured by a pillar and I am still kicking myself that I missed out on a milkshake. Oh well. I buy a Coke (bottle format) which you retrieve yourself from a fridge in the dining area. There's even the day's papers around for you to read to pass the time, though think The Sun here rather than The Times.
When the burger arrives, I love it. The name of the place is so appropriate: with melted cheese and whatever special sauces they put on, within moments of picking it up, my hands are covered in it all and I can hardly pick my drink up as it slides from my fingers, all properly dirty. I may upset several parties with this comment but everything here put me in mind of MEATliquor right at the beginning. There's the loud music blasting through, and like MEATliquor, the off the wall setting nevertheless provides coherency and a venue that feels accessible to all, but not at the expense of a crappy burger. We said in a recent post that some places just get burgers and DirtyBurger completely gets it. They didn't ask how I wanted my burger done, they just serve it proper from the get-go.
We have little reason to regularly visit Kentish Town but DirtyBurger might have just changed that. There are very few places where we'd make a special journey to eat a burger, but that list has just grown in number by one. The oddest surroundings really, but I can't fault what they do here. This is definitely one of London's very best burgers, and at £5.50, it's burger heaven.
The sparse simplicity of its exterior continues on the inside, not least because this venue is in fact just one big corrugated iron conservatory with a service hatch cut through into the main building to which it adjoins. A wooden ledge runs the length of the walls of the small space inside and a very large communal table sits in the centre. Seats are bolted to the floor adding a little further to the edginess.
The menu is simple: Cheeseburger (£5.50). Sides: Fries, onion rings (each £2.50). The drinks menu was obscured by a pillar and I am still kicking myself that I missed out on a milkshake. Oh well. I buy a Coke (bottle format) which you retrieve yourself from a fridge in the dining area. There's even the day's papers around for you to read to pass the time, though think The Sun here rather than The Times.
When the burger arrives, I love it. The name of the place is so appropriate: with melted cheese and whatever special sauces they put on, within moments of picking it up, my hands are covered in it all and I can hardly pick my drink up as it slides from my fingers, all properly dirty. I may upset several parties with this comment but everything here put me in mind of MEATliquor right at the beginning. There's the loud music blasting through, and like MEATliquor, the off the wall setting nevertheless provides coherency and a venue that feels accessible to all, but not at the expense of a crappy burger. We said in a recent post that some places just get burgers and DirtyBurger completely gets it. They didn't ask how I wanted my burger done, they just serve it proper from the get-go.
We have little reason to regularly visit Kentish Town but DirtyBurger might have just changed that. There are very few places where we'd make a special journey to eat a burger, but that list has just grown in number by one. The oddest surroundings really, but I can't fault what they do here. This is definitely one of London's very best burgers, and at £5.50, it's burger heaven.
signposting the way
a somewhat scary door
this is the whole restaurant
as it comes
and after you unwrap your presents
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