The World’s Best Burger According to Robin Gill

Robin Gill: The Irish chef behind acclaimed London restaurants returns to Dublin for a burger pop-up collab with Dash Burger This Saturday at Hen’s Teeth from 17:00

“I’ve always loved burgers,” he says with a laugh.  “I used to like these Granby burgers cremated to death. They were 12p from Londis. I’d cover them in like, a horrendous, unhealthy amount of ketchup.” He cringes, affectionately. “Thankfully my tastes have evolved.”

And he doesn’t mince words about why.

“I honestly think they’re the best burgers in the world,” he says. “Every single time. I’ve had countless Dash burgers. What Barry [Wallace, Dash’s founder] is doing and all the team there is phenomenal.”It’s an endorsement that carries weight coming from someone whose palate has been shaped by the rigours of haute cuisine and seasoned by the Michelin Man.

For Gill, the appeal of the burger lies in its “accessibility”. It is fundamental simplicity: bun, patty, cheese, sauce, pickles. Burgers are basic. They’re stalwarts. They unify country to country and cross class boundaries. 

When asked why he thinks burgers resonate across the globe, his answer is almost philosophical. “They’re democratic,” he says. “There’s a reason they’re a worldwide phenomenon.”

As foods go, burgers are a great uniter. They’re also a canvas. You can make a burger with or out of most anything. That said, people hate when you take the piss with a burger. They can tell when you’ve added golden truffle oil that you’re just looking to stunt. The burger is the food of the people, and they’ll let you know what they think of your interpretation. 

“You’ve got to be really careful to be true to the original dish and not to play with it too much,” Gill says. And he is right. Humanity went through a phase of creating burgers bigger than peoples heads but the sheen wore thin on those quickly and people came back to the original. The classic. The quintessential. “Bun, patty, cheese, sauce, pickles. The magic is in the ingredients and the execution,” says Gill. 

The chance to collaborate with such a burger nerd offered Gill a welcome challenge: how to honour the elemental pleasure of a burger while nudging it just enough to make it his own.

“It’s really fun to do something that’s slightly out of my comfort zone,” he says. “I’ve spent years doing Michelin food... A burger is about impact.”

As sauces go this one is as flamboyant in nature as it is simple in name,“Loads of shallots, ginger, garlic, dried shrimp, dried kombu seaweed, and some soy sauce,” he says. “It’s big, big, big flavours.” 

“There’s a balance,” he explains. “I’m breaking a few rules with this one, but I still have confidence that it’s tasty. Nothing goes on there unless it makes sense.”

The Oak Room under Marco Pierre White was “as rigorous as a monastery,” he says. “The first three or four months were brutal. Eighty-hour workweeks. You realise very quickly how outmatched you are.” He remembers how kitchen camaraderie formed in hardship: “We’d compare stories and laugh about how badly we were going down on our sections. Eventually, you start getting a hold of it, and then it becomes enjoyable.”

From there came stints in kitchens all over the city that would shape his sensibility. One rooted in classical discipline as well as a fearless embrace of flavour. But throughout, the same values endured.

“It’s about precision” and “ It’s always been about ingredients first.” 

That spirit is alive in his project with Dash. The burger was developed through weeks of dialogue with Barry Wallace, obsessing over patty thickness, cheese melt, pickle acidity, and bun texture. “We really worked through every component,” he says. “This burger is a conversation between both of our styles.”

 “There’s something lovely about coming home to cook something like this,” he says. “It feels... full circle.”

And while Gill has spent a career pairing dishes with rare wines, the burger calls for something else. “Beer, definitely,” he states with an edge of awareness that the offerings on the day will be beer focused. “But lately?” he meanders, “Whiskey highballs. Redbreast 12 is my go-to.”

On Saturday, at Hen’s Teeth in Dublin 8, Gill will stand behind the grill alongside Barry Wallace and the Dash team, handing over carefully assembled burgers to locals, and whoever pops in for the chance. “Plenty of napkins,” he warns. “It’s going to get messy.”