IRELAND’S BEST BURGER 2019
HANDSOME BURGER, GALWAY
National Burger Day’s 2019 winner was Handsome Burger from Galway! It grew out of a pop-up market stall set up in 2017 by Rory McCormack and Cathal O’Connor, friends who each invested €350 in the business and took their burgers on the road.
They now have a restaurant on Dominick Street in Galway!
McCormack and O’Connor describe their winning Handsome Burger with Cheese as a classic, made with fresh, local Galway produce. “We use a mixture of brisket, shoulder and chuck beef, a fifth-generation family butcher’s, and we keep the fat content high, at around 20 per cent,” McCormack explains.
The burger is topped with sticky onions, which they cook for five hours in chicken fat, sugar and pepper, along with a mustard-based Handsome sauce, the recipe for which they will not divulge, and melted Cheddar cheese. Freshly pickled cucumbers, which they make themselves, are added instead of gherkins, for “their nice crunchy texture”.

BEST NATIONAL BURGER AT A...

Most Creative Burger Build
The Butcher Restaurant

FAST FOOD CHAIN NATIONAL
EDDIE ROCKETS

FAST FOOD CHAIN INDEPENDENT
Romayo's

RESTAURANT
THUNDER ROAD CAFÉ, DUBLIN

HOTEL
Harvey's Point (Tawnyvorgal)

PUB
Judge Roy Beans Newbridge
BEST INDEPENDENT TAKEAWAYS

CONNACHT
Cafolla's (Castlebar)

LEINSTER
Tony's Pizzeria (Dundalk)

MUNSTER
Chicken Hut

ULSTER
Johnny's Ranch

NORTHERN IRELAND
THE CHIPPY, LIMAVADDY
BEST INDEPENDENT CHAINS

CONNACHT
BLUE THUNDER, CLAREMORRIS

LEINSTER
Mullen's

MUNSTER
Doolys Waterford

ULSTER
Friars Rest
BEST GOURMET BURGER SPECIALIST

CONNACHT
Flipside

LEINSTER
The Hungry Moose

MUNSTER
West Cork Burger Company
